One in Five Americans Must Borrow to Heat Homes This Winter

Posted by Paddy , Cliff Schecter's Blog at 7:15 AM on December 19, 2007.

If you're elderly or have no credit? Bundle up baby!!!

For perhaps as many as 27 million American adults, keeping warm this winter will mean borrowing money and 20 million will use credit cards to be able to afford their heating bills, according to a CreditCards.com poll.

Nearly 12 percent of Americans say they will need to borrow money to pay winter heating bills; 9 percent will need to use credit cards to be able to afford their heating bills. The poll, commissioned by CreditCards.com and conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media, surveyed 1,004 randomly selected American adults by telephone Dec. 7-9, 2007 to gauge their attitudes about energy costs in 2008. A majority say they expect oil and gasoline prices to get worse in 2008.

You could always buy your relatives a heating bill gift certificate!!! Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like keeping Granny from freezing to death.

h/t Chris in Paris.

Tagged as: energy, heat

Paddy is a regular contributor to Cliff Schecter.com.