Christmas spending goes on credit cards
February 20, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, News-Credit-Cards
The effects of the credit crunch failed to deter Christmas shoppers with a seasonal increase in the average outstanding balance recorded, according to new research. 
Findings from Moneyextra.com shows that many spenders put their festive spending on their credit cards as the average balance jumped 17 per cent in January to £2,168.
Robin Amlot of Moneyextra.com, said: “There is a clear trend of falling outstanding credit card balances over the course of the last three years. The question is whether this actually reflects consumers clearing debts or merely a rescheduling of them.”
He adds that there is now a rise in other forms of borrowing, notably secured lending as consumers look to re-schedule expensive high-interest rate short-term credit card debt.
However, although credit card balances are up from the £1,842 recorded in December, they have not increased as much compared with previous years.
January 2008’s figure is down 25 per cent when compared with an average balance of £2,901 at the same time in 2007.
Meanwhile, Moneyextra.com said that consumers could save more than £4,500 by shopping around for financial products.
