Ms. Li settled down in Shanghai after graduating from college this year. Her rentals and daily expenses consume just about all of her monthly income of 2,500-yuan (about 330 USD). However, this doesn't stop the young lady from living out a high-quality lifestyle, but only by swiping her credit card. When the bills come, she has to turn to her parents for help, who are in Tianjin in northern China.
Statistics from the court in Shanghai's Huangpu district show that they have received 1,858 cases related to credit card debt problems in the first half of 2007. Eighty percent of the young card owners involved have to rely on their parents to pay their bills, Jiefang Daily reports.
A recent survey with 1,798 respondents shows that over 90% of them own credit cards, and nearly a quarter of them worry that they might become slaves to their credit cards. Most of the interviewees are young people who have just started working or are still in college. They don't earn as much as they need and often turn to their credit cards.
Some young people even apply for more than one credit card and use one card to pay another card's bills. An office worker Xiao Xia is one of them. Xiao Xia thought that it was a good way to manage her expenses until one day when she quit her job. Then she found herself in real trouble and had to ask her parents to pay the bills.
A judge from the court says that since not all the young people come from wealthy families some parents have to use their life long savings to pay bills for their kids.
According to regulations of the banking industry, the amount of one's credit card bills should not exceed 40% of the total income of the family. However, most of the card holders know nothing about it or just ignore it. Thus the judge advises the young card holders to learn to foster rational consumption habits.
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