Using Plastic to Make Your House Payment?

New research shows that an estimated one million families in Britain have resorted to using credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent during the past year.

Around 6% of households said they had used their plastic in order to keep up with their housing costs during the past 12 months.

People in working class professions were most likely to have resorted to using debt to cover their mortgage or rent at 8%, but 4% of those at the other end of the income scale also admitted they had been forced to use their credit card in this way.

Kay Boycott, director of policy and campaigns at housing charity Shelter, said: "This is a shocking discovery, that over a million households in Britain are in such desperate circumstances that they need to borrow money on credit cards to pay for basic housing costs.

"If people are already struggling to the extent that they fear losing their home, increasing credit card debt cannot be the answer."

The group warned that many of the people who had resorted to using their credit card to cover their housing costs could find themselves facing homelessness this year, particularly as defaulting on their credit card repayments could lead to their property being repossessed in the worst case scenario.

It urged people who were struggling to keep up with their housing costs to seek advice urgently.

It's unclear whether families in the U.S. have resorted to using credit cards to make their mortgage or rent payments, since the study has not been conducted in the U.S.

We'd be curious to know… have you (or someone you know) been forced to use plastic to pay for housing expenses? Use the comment link below to tell us about it. Your identity will be protected, as email addresses are NEVER published along with comments on our site.