Working-class in debt by living middle-class lifestyle
Thursday, April 24th 2008
A study has found that approximately 2.7 million 'social climbers' have an average personal debt of £13,000 excluding mortgages.
Worryingly, many have been re-mortgaging their homes in order to fund this luxurious existence.
A spokesperson said the value in house prices is falling which means equity in their homes is going down by the day. With the mortgage meltdown, many will find it more difficult to re-mortgage.
2,000 respondents were asked in the survey whether they think they are working-class, middle-class or upper-class. They were also asked how much their income is, what they spend their money on and how much debt they have.
This group of people want to experience a middle-class lifestyle which includes private schools for their children, a second home, employing a cleaner and buying designer clothes, despite their modest working-class income.
However, the upshot of this is an increasing amount of debt on credit cards and personal loans,
Cardiff has been named the centre of social climbing. Many people in the Welsh capital believe they are middle-class, but do not earn enough money to pay the bills which come with the lavish lifestyle.
Finally, the survey established that there are 15 million people who aspire to the middle-class lifestyle but, on average, are earning £15,000.
Figures from the Bank of England shows how struggling households have been going on a borrowing spree.
In February, credit-card debt nearly tripled to £350 million while other types of borrowing, such as loans, rocketed to a record high of just over £2 billion.
