Debt is the curse of young women

Millions of young women have landed themselves with average debts of £4,500, new research shows.

Every woman aged 18 to 28 questioned in a survey had an overdraft, loan or owed money on a credit or store card.

Two years ago, only three-quarters of those asked the same question had debts. The average owed is £4,532, excluding mortgages.

Forty-three per cent had an overdraft, of whom a quarter owed more than £1,000.

The same number owed money on a credit card, with half having a balance of £1,000 or more.

The cost of going to university has also taken its toll. A third of those questioned had a student loan and 28 per cent a graduate or bank loan.

Almost half those with a student loan owed more than £5,000 and 18 per cent more than £10,000.

Store card ownership has almost doubled in two years, from ten per cent in 2001 to 19 per cent this year.

'It is now acceptable to be in debt from an early age,' said Francis Walker, of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service.

'Credit is more available and we have become used to having things when we need them rather than when we can afford them.'

Sam Baker, editor of Company magazine, which interviewed 1,000 women for the poll, criticised the student loan system, adding: 'By the time they leave college, many women are so in debt they feel one more pair of shoes or a lipstick isn't going to make any difference.'