Veda says debt stress ready to re-emerge

The Reserve Bank's aggressive interest rate cutting has helped keep loan arrears and defaults to a minimum over the past year but almost one in five Australians are still struggling with their financial commitments.

According to the latest Veda Advantage debt study, released yesterday, 16 per cent of people are having difficulty repaying debts and 21 per cent of those are likely to apply for credit over the next six months, saying they are having difficulty paying debts.

The survey, conducted by Galaxy Research for Veda, revealed that 12 per cent of people have missed a required minimum payment in the past three months.

Among people with a mortgage, 13 per cent were late paying a household bill in the past three months.

One in three said they were concerned that rising interest rates would have an impact on their ability to repay debts.