IRISH CONSUMERS ARE being forced to borrow to pay their bills, raising concerns over affordability and financial pressure mounting on households.
The independent research was carried out for comparison site Switcher.ie by Coyne Research, and involved 1,000 online interviews with Irish adults aged 18 years and older. The total sample is representative of the national population in Ireland.
In response to the question “Apart from your regular income, which methods did you use to meet the costs of essential bills in the last year?” almost 60% responded that they had to borrow.
This is broken down into 35% using credit cards, while others used overdrafts (17%) and bank loans (12%) to pay their bills.
A further 20% borrowed money from family and friends, while 13% were gifted money to pay for troubling household bills.
The findings also indicated that 40% of people were forced to dip into their savings last year to pay for bills.
Less than a quarter said they didn’t have to resort to any of these measures in order to cover the cost of their bills last year.
Electricity costs in Ireland are the 6th highest in the EU, and the energy bill for an average household now costs €2,060 per year. Meanwhile, broadband costs in Ireland consistently rank amongst the highest in Europe.
But while gas and electricity bills have historically been the biggest worry, the findings show that motor insurance is now an even bigger concern for cash-strapped households, as four in ten consumers (39%) say that their motor insurance bill puts them under financial pressure.
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