Northern cities show the highest level of ‘credit cruisers’ (people who never pay off their credit card debt at the end of the month) in the UK, according to a study conducted by data analysts CDMS.

Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow top the table for those people who do not clear their credit card debt, while Nottingham, Norwich and Edinburgh are the most likely to clear off their debts.

In contrast, the geographical spread of ‘super savers’ – people who save more than 2% of their income – shows the inverse pattern to the credit cruiser distribution, with Norwich topping the table and Newcastle, Liverpool and Glasgow at the bottom.

Ian Hubbard of CDMS said: “The analysis shows a stark contrast between use of rolling credit card debt in the more northern parts of the UK, compared to the southern swathe.

“In Scotland, the Edinburgh consumer uses rolling credit substantially less than in Glasgow.

“Prudent savers reflect the inverse of this pattern, with the exception of Cardiff, which unusually combines high rolling credit usage with a prudent attitude to saving.”

He continued: “The polarity between different parts of the country means that businesses have to be very careful about where they direct their marketing efforts in order to focus on their investments in sustainable consumer markets.”