Borrowers can ‘benefit from credit cards’
Using a credit card to deal with a short-term financial problem can occasionally benefit a borrower, an expert on debt said today.
A recent survey commissioned for Roof, the magazine published by housing charity Shelter, found that six per cent of people had used a credit card to make a mortgage or rent payment during the previous year.
The charity warned borrowers that using a credit card to make mortgage payments was an expensive way to deal with their problems and instead recommended that they seek independent advice about their financial situation.
Stephen Rose, director of the Debt Advice Bureau, has a slightly different view on the situation and said any decision about whether to use a credit card to make a mortgage payment should come down to a simple financial calculation based on interest rates.
"If somebody's paying considerably less on their credit card than they are on their mortgage then it's a good thing," he explained.
Mr Rose added that if the reverse is the case, then such payments should probably be avoided.
© Adfero LtdYou can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.