Nearly half of British teenagers intend to get credit cards when they are adults, according to a new survey.

The survey by insurer Axa further revealed that 44% of teenagers aged between 15-17 years are keen to take out a credit card when they become an adult.

The Axa study which specifically looked into the financial habits of British teenagers also found that 18% of respondents are keen to take out a loan when they turn 18 while a further 17% confidently believe that they would be overdrawn.

The survey results could spell a poor future for the credit card market after an experiment giving teens the reins on their families’ budgets for a week showed 70% failed to balance the books.

It found that on average the teens overspent by 16% on their £248.40 budgets – with one spending almost £600.

Throughout the experiment, children often decided to continue to treat themselves to luxuries at the expense of others despite the fact 77% had funds from paid jobs and 55% received pocket money.

Professor Nick Chater, a member of the AXA Financial Task Force, said: “These studies emphasise what a huge challenge budgeting can be when you’re still relatively new to managing money and making regular financial decisions.”