(4th November 2003 – Australia) Australians have pointed the finger at excessive credit card bills for the high number of insolvencies during 2002/03.According to figures discussed in Federal Parliament last week, there was a 12.5 percent increase in credit-related personal insolvencies with 5,291 people being declared bankrupt compared with 4,707 the year before.
The average age of people who ran up huge credit card bills was 25 to 34.
However, the number of personal insolvencies for the year actually decreased, although the amount of business insolvencies rose.