Borrowers with bad credit scores often need to turn to mortgage advice in order to find the best deal available for them, but it's unlikely that any advisors would have guessed the findings of a new study from Shelter - over a million Britons have added accommodation costs to their card bills over the past year alone.

Research from Shelter has shown that 1,020,000 Britons have paid for their mortgage or rent in this way in the past year alone, with younger Britons especially likely to do so - 7.5 per cent of those aged 18-24 admitted they'd resorted to cards.

But the problem of bad credit could get even worse if such practices go unchecked, Shelter added, with card interest rates far above typical mortgage rates.

"The number of people hit by the credit crunch, interest rate hikes and unaffordable housing costs are rapidly rising," said Adam Sampson, chief executive at Shelter.

"Ordinary people are being forced to seek more risky and expensive ways to stave off the threat of eviction and repossession," Mr Sampson added.

Britain's collective debt is now well over £1 trillion, according to Datamonitor.

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