Card holders 'struggling to clear Xmas spending'
Tue 15 Jan 2008 4pm
Many British consumers will struggle to pay off their
credit card
debts by the end of January, a new report has claimed.
According to research from Sainsbury's Finance, 39 per cent of the nation's card holders do not expect to clear their outstanding balance by the end of the month, due to their high level of expenditure over the festive period.
Estimating that about 18 per cent of Christmas spending in the UK this year was placed on plastic, the financial services provider is advising card users to think about balance transfers if their
credit burden becomes too much to handle.
"Our research indicates that around 8.6 million people intended to put half or more of their festive spending on cards," said Donald MacLeod, head of cards at Sainsbury's.
"Those Yule-time shoppers who anticipate being unable to clear their
credit card bills by the end of this month should consider spreading the cost and transferring their balance to a new card," he added.
A recent report from the Post Office stated that one in four British consumers are more dependent on their
credit cards now than they were at the beginning of 2007.
