What emerges is a picture of financial pressure building through different stages of young adulthood. Unemployment and insecure work can leave people reaching for credit to make ends meet. Physical and mental health problems can affect earnings while bringing additional costs. High housing costs leave little room to absorb a setback.
Yet the relationship between credit and financial difficulty is not straightforward. Three in five (59%) of the young clients surveyed said their financial difficulties had not yet started when they first used credit.
Three in four (75%) had first used credit before the age of 21, typically through a credit card or overdraft, including student overdrafts. These products can become part of everyday…