It is the slide down the financial chute that everyone likes to ignore. The scandal that brews in 80% of households but is never spoken of. That is the use of credit cards to finance short term debts. Most credit card debt is intended to tide over short periods of financial difficulty. Instead it usually ends up becoming very long term debt, sometimes lasting for over 30 years.

In today's Britain, 80% to 90% of credit card users do not repay their credit card debts in full. They continue to pay minimum payments on a monthly basis and their debts continue to grow till they become unsustainable. As a result every year, about 10% of borrowers cannot keep up with their repayments and are pushed towards bankruptcy. The size of the outstanding borrowing on credit cards today is startling - at £60bn+ it is more than half of the NHS budget.

We, as a nation, are living on a ticking credit card time bomb. And borrowing on your credit card is not cheap. The APR on a typical near prime credit card, meant for those who are deemed creditworthy but do not have a pristine record, ranges from 35% for Barclaycard to as high as 140% for Provident. Bear in mind that these rates are for very long term debt. They apply year on year for the average 10 to 15 years that a borrower takes to pay down his credit card debt in full.

Compared to this, one can borrow against his assets with Unbolted, starting from an APR of 26% and with no risk of falling into a debt trap. A borrower with Unbolted is not liable for anything more than the value of his asset. In the unfortunate event that a borrower cannot repay his loan, Unbolted will sell the asset to recover the dues and any surplus will be returned directly to the bank account of the borrower. It is a more sustainable way of borrowing - for the individual and for society as a whole. It is the smart way to borrow.

Cost of Credit Cards compared to Unbolted