Brits plan for better budgeting this Christmas
Published On 22 November 2006
Although British consumers plan to spend a greater deal this Christmas season, they also plan to balance this with better budgeting, new research has found.Data from credit reference agency Call Credit has shown that the amount of people expecting to spend more than £1,000 this Christmas has increased from one in 20 a year ago to one in ten in 2006.
Despite the planned spending increase, many consumers will avoid using credit in doing so. The survey found only one in ten people plan to borrow to fund their Christmas spending and of this group, four out of ten will cover less than a quarter of their festive costs this way.
The research found that the vast majority of Christmas spenders will use their regular income or savings to fund their shopping bills.
Mel Mitchey, Call Credit spokesman, said: "This is a big increase on last year when the equivalent figure was three in ten and means people are spending less on credit than last year.
"What's more, people are predicting they'll pay off their Christmas debt sooner than in 2005. This year 81 per cent of people think their festive credit spending will be history by March, compared to 67 per cent in 2005.
"Generally the picture is looking pretty positive – people are spending more but budgeting better. Instead of using credit to get them through the festive season they're using the hard-earned cash they have in their pocket."
