Britain has 'third worst credit addiction' in Europe British families are more likely to face January credit cards debts than citizens of nearly any other European nation, research suggests. The extent of Britain's reliance on debt was revealed this week with new figures showing that mortgages, personal loans and lending to small businesses totals more than £1 trillion. Residents in the UK are more likely to increase spending on Christmas this year, compared with other European nations, according to the 12,000-person survey published today by ING, the Dutch-owned bank. Only Romania had a larger proportion of people increasing spending on gifts and other trappings of the festive season. The UK was ranked third in the list of countries which rely on credit cards, behind Turkey where 56pc of people had debt on cards and 32pc in Romania. By contrast, just 6pc of people in the Netherlands and Austria said they had card debts. Neither did British respondents show much interest in repaying the debts accrued after Christmas, with just one in four indicating this was their plan - the least of any nation polled. Ian Bright, senior economist at ING said: ""While many people in Europe recognise the need to continue fixing their personal finances in 2014, it seems that Britons are less convinced. Perhaps this is because we're more realistic about the nature of resolutions made in midst of the New Year spirit - or maybe we feel that better financial prospects await us in 2014. We'll have to wait and see.