People 'should keep on top of credit card confusion'

People with several credit cards should avoid treating money like they don't need to pay it back, it has been warned.

Consumers who have credit cards for multiple purposes, such as one for work and another for purchases, may become confused and fail to keep on top of their spending, according to the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS).

James Ketchell, spokesperson for the CCCS, commented that people need to be increasingly careful and not become detached from their money.

"People need to be...aware this isn't free money," he said.

"They need to really be aware that the money they're using will have to be paid back at some point. It's very easy with credit cards because you're not seeing the money in real terms, so it becomes detached."

Acquiring credit is much easier to do in the UK compared with the rest of Europe, which has resulted in UK consumers becoming used to taking out credit to buy the things they want, Mr Ketchell added.

The average person in the UK had 2.8 credit or debit cards in 2006, the highest number per person in Europe, according to Datamonitor.