Anyone that has ever been a student full time will know that it can be a very financially demanding time, and that there are many periods where you can find yourself with very little or no money available. Despite things like student loans and help from parents – and even part time jobs to bring more money in – many students find that they need to have some form of financial backup to ensure that they are not left high and dry, particularly if they live away from home and have to rely more on themselves rather than on family.

A recent report has shown that many students these days have credit cards, with officials from the Halifax claiming that around one third of students now have cards, and that the average debt on a student credit card is around £220. With living costs, bills, and travelling costs increasing for students just as they are for other people many have found that they have had to use their credit cards more in order to cope with the rising outgoings.

Around 37% of students now have credit cards, according to the Halifax research. However, the average debt on female students’ credit cards tends to me higher than that of their male counterparts. The average credit card debt for female students is £255.50, whereas for male students the average debt is £173.20. The average debt for students in the East and South Eastern parts of the country was £360 each, but in East Midlands it was just £129.50.

The research was being carried out by Halifax to try and find out from students what it was they wanted from their credit cards, and Halifax officials have said that they planned to use the information to try and create a student credit card that really offered what students were looking for.