Dependent children push up parents' debt There are concerns about their financial health, especially given the cost of university fees for their children, care fees for ageing parents and an increasing number of people whose mortgages are continuing long past the traditional retirement age. It is also getting harder for younger people to move from their parents' home, due to increasing house prices and unavailability of mortgages, meaning that many children remain financially dependent into adulthood. StepChange warned earlier this month that over 60s typically have larger debts than any other age group - with the typical debts of someone contacting the charity of this age group being £23,000 compared with £17,650 overall. Pensioners had mostly accrued their debts on credit cards, running up an average balance owed of £15,150 compared to the average across all age groups of £10,000. However, it was not just credit card debt which set the over-60s apart from other borrowers - pensioners also owed on average £2,000 in catalogue debt as well as overdrafts and store cards. The only debt category which pensioners do not owe more than their younger borrowers is payday loans. The over-sixties borrowed £1,220 from pay day lenders last year, compared to £1,660 for the rest of StepChange's clients. The charity did express concerns that this type of debt was growing among older borrowers however, with average payday loan debt increasing £100 in 2012 compared to the previous year. Figures from the Office for National Statistics earlier this month showed that one in ten pensioners is worried about mortgage debt. The ONS reported that 11.2pc of householders aged 65 and older "describe their property liabilities as a heavy burden"