Barclays hit by increasing bad debt levels

RISING levels of bad debt are continuing to trouble Barclays, after the banking group reported further growth in the number of customers in difficulty.

While Britain’s biggest credit card lender traded strongly in the first quarter, it said that provisions to cover UK bad debts grew at a similar level in 2005, when Barclaycard charges rose 44 per cent to £1.1 billion for the full year.

In a trading update, Barclays said income and expenses were both “significantly ahead” of market forecasts.