Following up on an earlier post about the Olympic Games ticket farce, it has now emerged that many ticket holders could be paying off mammoth Olympic debts for up to 20 years from now. It was revealed that the average spend on tickets was a staggering £1,250 and a good proportion of those ticket sales were made on credit cards.

Olympic Games tickets have already caused a quite a stir in the headlines over the past few months and have been subject to a great deal of criticism because of their hefty price tags and the questionable fairness of allocation. However, it has come to light that many ticket holders will bear the brunt of the event long after the Olympic flame leaves the city of London.

According to uSwitch.com, the average ticket spend of £1,250 could more than double, if paid for on a credit card and only minimum monthly repayments are met. According to statistics, by the time the opening ceremony takes place, consumers will have racked up over £300 in interest. It is estimated that these debts will take in excess of 20 years to pay off and will end up costing the consumer in excess of £1,500 in interest.

The most expensive tickets are for the closing ceremony and can cost anything up to £2,012. Add this amount to the same credit card and the consumer could expect to incur costs of around £500 each year in interest alone on the average credit card. And this isn’t just the media’s usual scaremongering tactics; it’s actually happening.

Stephen Hunt, an insolvency practitioner (ironically) from Hertfordshire, managed to secure £11,000 worth of Olympic tickets after bidding for £36,000 worth. Since learning of his successful ticket application, Mr. Hunt has had to drastically increase his credit limit, landing him firmly in the red. He claims that he is willing to ‘scrimp and save’ in order to witness the sporting event.

To add insult to injury, ticket holders won’t actually find out which events they have tickets for until the end of June.