Credit cards are increasingly being used to cover necessities by thousands of people amid the cost-of-living crisis, a charity warned. Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) conducted a poll which found that credit cards or loans were increasingly being used to pay for basics “at least once or in some cases more than once, that they wouldn’t normally use” in the past year.
The charity is running the “Stressed about Debt” campaign, which encourages people who are worried about bills to seek advice either in-person or online. Analysis found that 16% of people (736,498) used commercial credit to pay for food, while 276,186 (6%) people used it to pay energy bills this year. It also found that 138,093 (3%) people used commercial credit to cover housing payments this year, with the same figure also for council tax