Crazy for credit cards: Hongkongers aged 18-35 spend over 46 per cent of monthly income on credit purchases

Hongkongers aged 18 to 35 who have at least one credit card spend an average of 36 per cent of their monthly income on purchases made with a card – or HK$8,270 – and take 19 months to pay back their loans, a survey showed.

The study, commissioned by Prime Credit and conducted by Hong Kong University’s public opinion programme, arrived at the average figures after interviewing 497 Hongkongers born post-1980 in August. It found that half of the interviewees ranked buying a property as their most important life goal and 40 per cent believed they could achieve that target within 10 years.

However, almost 80 per cent of those interviewed admitted that in the face of credit card debts, they continued high-expenditure activities such as travelling overseas, buying the latest phone models, and dining at expensive restaurants.

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Dr Robert Chung Ting-yiu, director of HKU’s public opinion programme, pointed out that credit card debt among those born post-1990 was more serious than those born in the 1980s. “Although [the post-90s group] earn less on average, they spend more on credit card purchases – on average, their credit card purchases reach 46 per cent of their monthly salary,” he said. “This is a matter of public education on financial management.”

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