More than two-thirds of teenagers taking part in an experiment set up by the AXA Financial Task Force blew the budgets they were given for a week’s worth of household spending.
Given a budget of £248.40 each, 70 per cent of the 15 to 17-year-olds went over this amount and one child spent more than twice their budget, racking up a bill of £597.73 in seven days.
Axa is concerned that Britain’s young people are unable to cope with their finances and may find themselves in financial difficulty if they continue to overspend once they hit 18-years-old and can apply for credit cards and loans.
Research conducted by Axa shows 44 per cent of 15 to 17-year-olds are planning to get a credit card when they become adults and nearly one in five are thinking about getting a bank loan.
These concerns were raised soon after PricewaterhouseCoopers reported that in the first months of this year, 25,264 people went bankrupt or entered into an individual voluntary arrangement in England and Wales.
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