The survey of 3,000 Britons by a Website found that men have an average debt of £2,176 on their credit cards compared to £1,987 for women.

Men tend to spend their money on gadgets and rely on credit to cover the costs, it found.

A quarter of men admitted they often repay credit card bills late or forget them altogether, compared to 17 per cent of women who make the same mistake.

Women keep track of their spending and are less likely to build up debts through loans and credit cards, according to new research.

Men are more prone to ignoring mounting debts and forgetting to pay bills, whereas women chip away at credit card bills with regular repayments.

For years, women have been thought of as the big spenders, splashing their cash on clothes.

It may come as a shock to husbands fond of accusing their wives of frittering the family finances on shoes and handbags, but a study has found that women are in fact better at budgeting than men.