There is a disturbing credit card trend emerging in the UK that may boil over into the US. Increasingly, people are resorting to their credit card to pay off mortgages or rent payments. A recent report showed over a million householders in the UK fell into this trend with more than six percent of them admitting that they needed to use credit in order to be able to meet their other financial obligations. Just as in the US, many people there are being hit by the credit crunch, interest rate hikes and housing costs all at once and it is making it difficult to stay afloat. In the end, credit card use can only enter someone into a death-spiral of debt that ends when no more credit is available and the customer can not afford to pay the balance.

The trend is also already impacting Americans; however, legislators are working to pass laws to tighten lending practices. These new laws may be aimed at curbing the use of credit cards; however, people will always have the ability to take out a cash advance and spend it on mortgage or rent payments. In the end, it is important for people to seek help as soon as they experience problems paying off their mortgages rather than compound the problem by using credit that they cannot afford to pay back. After all, by transferring your mortgage balance to your credit card, you are effectively paying interest twice! And this can add up-- one couple reported that their $900/mo ARM jumped to $1,700/mo only months after starting to transfer their balances. Be sure to act now before things get too bad.