Five per cent of Scots use credit card to pay mortgage

MORE than 200,000 Scots have used credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent in the last 12 months.

New figures revealed that five per cent of people in Scotland - equivalent to 207,500 - had made the payment on credit cards in the last year.

The nationwide YouGov poll of 2234 adults, conducted exclusively for Shelter Scotland and Shelter, also found that nine per cent, around 373,500 people, have had to increase their work hours or take on a second job, against a UK average of seven per cent.

Meanwhile, four per cent of respondents, around 166,000, said they had moved in with family or friends, which was double the UK average.

Director of Shelter Scotland, Graeme Brown, said: "A reliance on high-interest options such as credit cards to pay rent or a mortgage is a highly dangerous route, and is known to contribute toward uncontrolled debt, repossession or eviction and, eventually, homelessness."