Credit cards will pay for Christmas, say Britons

Published on Thursday 18 November 2010 15:20

More than half of Britons plan to use credit cards to meet the cost of Christmas, despite the fact that many have still to repay debts that they ran up last year, a survey showed.

About 55 per cent of people said they would use their plastic to fund presents and entertaining during the festive season; 3 per cent planned to take out a loan to get them through.

But 24 per cent of people said they would use their savings to cover the cost to ensure they stayed in the black, according to the research company ConsumerIntelligence.com.

The proportion of consumers planning to rely on debt to pay for Christmas is well up on the 14 per cent of people who borrowed money last year, 34 per cent of whom are still trying to clear their debts.

The average person took just over five months to get back in the black, although 22 per cent of people managed to clear their festive borrowings within six weeks.

Ian Hughes, managing director of ConsumerIntelligence.com, said: "Christmas is only one day in the year but the financial effects appear to last all year for a substantial number of adults.

"Around 14 per cent of adults got into debt as a result of Christmas spending last year and many are still paying for that."

ConsumerIntelligence.com questioned 1,762 people during November.