澳洲人使用信用卡上瘾 信用卡债务创新高

研究显示，澳大利亚的很多人经济状况堪忧，积累了很多他们无法承担的信用卡债。

AUSTRALIANS are addicted to credit cards and have racked up the biggest ever debt on plastic at more than $52 billion. And the alarming new statistics released by the Reserve Bank of Australia found our record credit card blowout is far from slowing down.

据报道，澳洲人使用信用卡上瘾，信用卡债务已超过520亿澳元，打破记录。澳大利亚储备银行发布的最新数据显示，我们的信用卡债务完全没有要减少的迹象。

The latest jump was fuelled by shoppers overspending at Christmas after they accumulated a record high on plastic for the month of December by plonking $28 billion onto credit. Australians now owe $52.06 billion on cards — a climb of 1.6 per cent from December 2015 when the nation owed a whopping $51.26 billion.

最近的债务飙升是消费者在圣诞节期间过度消费造成的，仅12月一个月内，澳洲人的信用卡债务就达到了280亿澳元。目前，澳大利亚累计信用卡债务为520.6亿澳元，与2015年12月总额相比上涨了1.6%。

Yellow Brick Road spokeswoman Lyndsey Douglas said the soaring national credit card debt was directly "linked to growing household spending pressures." "Credit cards are a convenient tool but they shouldn’t be used as long-term debt or for living expenses." she said.

Yellow Brick Road 女发言人Lyndsey Douglas称全国信用卡债务飙升与不断增大的家庭支出压力有直接的关系。她说：“信用卡是一种很方便的工具，但是不应该用作长期债务或者用于生活支出。”

Some cards attract interest rates higher than 20 per cent for customers so for those who fail to pay off their card in full they will pay a hefty price. Financial comparison website spokeswoman Sally Tindall said while the overall debt on cards was a concern she warned people to avoid getting trapped in a "debt cycle."

有些信用卡向客户收取高于20%的利息，所以那些不能全额还款的人们将为此付出昂贵的代价。金融对比网站女发言人Sally Tindall表示在信用卡总债务堪忧的同时，她也警告人们要避免陷入“债务循环”。

"People are continuing to use plastic more and more and in December it often spikes when they are spending up at Christmas time and they are choosing plastic as a method of payment." she said.

她说：“人们正越来越多地使用信用卡，在12月由于圣诞节期间的高消费信用卡债务常常达到峰值，人们会选择刷信用卡作为一种支付方式。”

"We are relying on credit cards more and more and that’s OK if you are paying it off in full. However the amount on cards accruing interest is down from a high of about $37 billion to about $32.1 billion."

“我们越来越依赖信用卡，如果你可以还清卡债的话，这并没有问题。然而银行卡产生利息的金额已经从大约370亿降到了321亿。”

On a $5000 card debt with an average interest rate of about 18 per cent, by making the minimum monthly repayments it would cost a customer more than $17,100 in interest and take them 33 years to pay off.

如果一个用户有五千澳元的卡债，利率为平均利率18%，每月按最低金额还款，总利息将超过17100澳元，要花33年时间才能还清。

St George senior economist Hans Kunnen said while credit card debt had risen they were climbing at a similar rate to inflation which is 1.7 per cent. "Yes it’s a record, the reason it’s gone up is because prices have gone up about 1.6 per cent as well." he said.

圣乔治银行的高级经济师Hans Kunnen 称虽然信用卡债务总额上涨了，但是幅度和1.7%的通货膨胀率差不多。他说：“没错，这是一个纪录，它上涨的原因是物价也上涨了1.6%。”