Brits forced into debt at Christmas
Published On 29 November 2006
As many as 23 million Brits could overstretch themselves financially this festive season and may find they end up in debt as a result.This was the verdict of search engine Kelkoo which undertook the research and discovered that 56 per cent of women and 43 per cent of men admitted bad money management has left them high and dry at Christmas.
Translated to the nation as a whole, this could mean 23 million people begin 2007 in debt.
Students and school leavers were the worst demographic for getting in financial trouble at Christmas with 67 per cent doing so.
Frances Walker, Consumer Credit Counselling Service spokesperson, said that there was a correlation between the period after Christmas and debt related enquiries.
She commented: "Our advice to people is to budget and plan carefully and pay off credit cards within two months of Christmas, but for those who do run into financial difficulties, help is at hand and we can offer advice to help out however bad it seems."
According to figures from the British Retail Consortium, Christmas shoppers will spend an average of £400 on presents alone this year.
