Shopaholic Brits A Staggering GBP13bn In Debt

Fri, 27 Aug 2010

Britain’s shopaholics have racked up a collective debt of £13 billion, alarming new research has revealed.

A study carried out by uSwitch.com found that some four million women in the UK are addicted to shopping and that the average female shopaholic has an average personal shopping debt of £3,353 - nearly three times the national average- built up using a combination of credit cards, store cards, personal loans and overdrafts .

However, the research discovered that three million British men are also affected by so called ‘shopaholicism’, and have actually borrowed more than their female counterparts to fund their addiction (an average of £3,425 each).

Men also have much more expensive tastes than women, spending an average of £570 a year on designer clothes compared to just £300 for women. They also splash out more on grooming products, spending around £338 a year compared to a woman’s average expenditure of £191.

One in three women claim they have cut back on their spending because of the current economic climate, but nearly a quarter (23 per cent) say they have not changed their habits at all. A further 4 per cent claim they are shopping more to cheer themselves up.

The study also revealed that 41 per cent would buy an item they really wanted even if meant exceeding their overdraft limit.

More worryingly, uSwitch found that female shopaholics are spending 19 per cent of their income on debt repayments, compared to a national average of 8 per cent, and that 17 per cent have sneaked items onto their partner's credit card .

Commenting on the findings, Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com, said: "In today's celebrity obsessed society, any lessons learnt from the recession have been airbrushed out of the picture."

"Despite the financial constraints, women have carried on copying the lifestyles and shopping habits of their idols and ignoring the debt they are racking up in the process. But this 'spend-emic' has spread and it's clear that men too have caught on to the joys and perils of shopping."

"It's time for everyone to pay serious attention to their spending habits. Short-term debt solutions may seem an efficient way to fund spending, but they can also lead to long-term debt if not managed properly."
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