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Credit card debts are affecting people’s ability to take out home loans or pay them off, new research has suggested.
Mortgage Choice's inaugural Money Survey found that 53.4 per cent of the 1,064 respondents were "very worried" or "concerned" about their financial situation.
The survey also founded that 55.5 per cent of respondents had credit card debt – and that 45.7 per cent of those owed at least $4,000.
Mortgage Choice spokesperson Jessica Darnbrough said some people didn’t realise the damage they were doing by only making the minimum monthly repayments on their credit card.
“For example, say you currently owe $5,000 on your credit card which has an interest rate of 14 per cent,” she said.
“If you didn't charge anything else to the card and made the minimum repayments each month, it will take you 21 years and 11 months to pay off your credit card. Worse still, you will have spent almost $11,000 paying off $5,000 of debt."
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