No Cents: One Third of Us Are Still Paying off Christmas Debt

Bah Humbug. Maybe Scrooge was on to something after all.  Research released today shows that a third of consumers are still burdened by Christmas debt, almost four months later. The research, carried out by One4All shows that the old picture of Ireland as a nation of generous people who love to spend at Christmas is still true. Worryingly though, most of us are relying on credit cards to fund the costs. The cost of Christmas, at almost €1,000 per person is more than any other nation in the Western World. This leaves many people struggling to pay the credit card balance off in full before being hit with interest fees. While over half of those surveyed know the interest charged on credit cards, most people struggle to pay off the debt and avoid interest costs with just 32 per cent of consumers paying off the balance on their credit card immediately. Speaking about the results, Jock Jordan of One4all said: “Christmas is a great time of year for most people but the financial burden puts massive strain on consumers and particularly those who do not save for the festive season. Budgeting for Christmas only comes to mind for half of us with 53 per cent of those surveyed saying that they do budget for Christmas. Rather than await the crunch time, consumers should explore their options for saving toward Christmas from the very start of the year.  Savings clubs can be facilitated through your employer too making it a hassle free way to reduce stress and enjoy the fun of Christmas.” While many of us have good intentions, only 46 per cent of us manage to save on a regular basis but the vast majority would save more if there were some form of incentive to save. In fact 91 per cent of those surveyed said that they would be more likely to squirrel away their pennies if a tax incentive scheme to support savings was introduced. The survey into our spending habits has discovered that unexpected expenses are the biggest detriment to our ability to save. A third of us try to save on a monthly basis for something specific, but 62 per cent are simply saving for a rainy day. That same number have an emergency fund available for those unexpected but urgent expenditure items.