20% still paying for Christmas in June
A survey by Your Money Show has found that 20% of Britons will still be paying for their 2007 Christmas shopping in June 2008. Moreover, 10% will be paying off their credit cards into September and nearly 4% into December. Research from MoneyExpert showed that 4.4 billion Brits are still paying off credit card bills from Christmas 2006.
Your Money Show found that Londoners were the biggest spenders at Christmas with 20% of people shelling out more than £1000 compared to East Anglians, the most frugal, who spend on average £500 each. Despite these high costs, only half of people save for Christmas. The biggest savers are in the North East, but at the same token they are also the most likely to get in debt over Christmas.
£53billion will be spent in the UK this Christmas, with £11.7billion spent on credit cards.