Findings from Santander Cards showed that in the first three months of 2010, £2 billion will be moved to new credit cards in an attempt to stop interest climbing on their balances.
Chris Radford, chief executive officer of aap - the UK's biggest buyer of endowment policies - said some of its customers had decided to sell their underachieving endowments in order to clear their credit card debt, rather than simply switching between products.
Switching to new deals to try and tackle debtIt was recently reported by aap that some lenders are clearing their customer's smallest credit card debts first, leaving the biggest amounts to accrue interest.
As such, Britons who are struggling to stay on top of a number of credit card repayments could find a larger proportion of their income is spent on meeting these financial commitments.
Switching to a zero per cent interest card could be seen as an ideal short-term technique for keeping interest down. However, these only last for a short while and consumers will eventually have to start paying higher interest levels again.
The Santander Cards study found that five per cent of people over the age off 55 intend to switch their credit card debt to a different product, with the majority of individuals deploying this technique below this age.
More than 4.5 million Britons will use this technique in the first three months of this year.
Emma Roberts, director at Santander Cards, said: "The number of people transferring balances has risen year on year, whilst the amount being transferred has fallen dramatically; this is a clear sign that consumers are becoming savvier when it comes to managing their finances."
Selling endowment policies could clear credit card debt
However, Britons searching for long-term financial security may want to clear their debt completely.
Mr Radford, from aap, said some of its customers had decided to sell their unwanted endowment policies in order to strengthen their financial standing for the long term.
He added that should aap make an offer to purchase an endowment policy, it will always pay more than the surrender value offered by the insurance company.
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