Sydney's Pay-Later Poor

DEBT-stricken families with new homes, cars and plasma televisions in Sydney's sprawling housing estates are relying on charity handouts to buy food.

Welfare agencies report a worrying increase in the number of middle-income families with big mortgages seeking help to pay grocery, electricity and gas bills.

Dubbed the "pay-later poor" by St Vincent de Paul, they live in homes boasting cable television and the latest electrical goods and use credit cards to meet basic living costs.

Many of the families live in so-called McMansions.

Rising interest rates and petrol prices have hit them hard, with the latest figures showing soaring personal debt levels and bankruptcies.

With rates tipped to rise again next month, the blame game has begun, with the State Government accusing Federal Treasurer Peter Costello of economic mismanagement.

St Vincent de Paul Society chief executive officer John Picot said families were seeking cash and vouchers to buy food and clothing, and pay electricity and water bills and other debts.

He blamed a "want-it-all" attitude for the trend.

Those who took up "buy now, pay later" offers and store credit cards often found themselves in difficulty when the interest-free periods ran out, a member of the family fell ill or one of the family's breadwinners lost a job.