Britain owes £53.5 billion in credit card debt- with personal debt increasing by £1m every 4 minutes. So is this reliance on extensive borrowing leading to a society that lives beyond their means or does it provide people with freedom to live more comfortably? Is credit fuelling unnecessary levels of consumerism? And are the credit card companies exploiting the consumer or is it up to the individual to understand how credit works and to ensure that they don't borrow more than they can afford? Tonight Dispatches Late Night and Live will debate - credit is it a liberating and democratic force or a slippery slope to financial ruin?

Tonight, Chris Tapp of Credit Action will go head to head Stephen Sklaroff, Director General of the Finance & Leasing Association, to discuss readily available credit - is it a progressive force for good or leading us into debilitating debt? Chris believes that available credit is leading to people living beyond their means and ending up in crippling debt. While he considers credit card companies to be lending both aggressively and irresponsibly. Stephen considers credit to be a democratic force that enables both national economic growth and wealth redistribution. That credit card companies are, in fact, lending responsibly as it would not be in their commercial interest to do otherwise. See the debate unfold here.

Watch the live debate »