By Holly Hales For Daily Mail Australia
Published: 04:10 GMT, 21 February 2019 | Updated: 04:12 GMT, 21 February 2019
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Debt-stressed householders are being forced to take crippling payday loans amid plunging property prices and an industry-wide crackdown on credit.
The crisis follows a year of property price plunges, bank crackdowns and stagnant wages growth forcing many Australians to turn to non-bank lenders to ease their financial woes.
Australia's household debt level to income ratio is already the highest in the developed world.
Experts are warning the situation is becoming increasingly dire for people struggling with financial problems, according to the ABC.
Debt-stressed householders are being forced to take crippling payday loans amid plunging property prices and an industry-wide crackdown on credit
'The online tool, the app, that's a really important part of the story because a few years ago there was almost nobody offering apps for credit,' Digital Finance Analytics data scientist and banking analyst Martin North said.
'These days, a lot of people can actually get credit online, and once you've got into the online environment you've then got much more flexibility to flog other products, often without much visibility.'
Home loan customers often have credit card limits of just $6,000 with an increasing number of customers using payday loans and deferred payment apps like Afterpay to make a series of small purchases.
Former High Court judge Kenneth Hayne's banking royal commission has
