Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Category:
Consolidation
According to Saga Platinum credit card, the British public is tightening the purse strings this Christmas, with each adult intending to spend £435 on gifts compared to £516 in 1999.
In fact, when accounting for inflation, the real value of the 1999 figure now equates to £666 – thus widening the gap. However, despite this significant 35 percent reduction in spending, those over the age of 50 will only reduce their Christmas present expenditure by 25 percent.
With regard to sources of funding, it was found that 52 percent will utilise their regular income or salary to pay for Christmas rather than turning to savings or loans. In contrast, this approach was only adopted by 33 percent in 1999. The research showed that 31 percent were planning to dip into their savings in November 1999, whereas this figure stood at just 13 percent in November 2009.
The number of people who were planning to cover Christmas costs with credit cards has reportedly remained the same at 16 percent, with 28 percent planning to pay off the balance straight away or when they get paid following the festive period. It was also uncovered that 32 percent of the 20 percent who will be ‘using their card to aid with Christmas purchases’ are planning to clear the balance at once.
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Homeowners who have accumulated several credit cards in the past could consider consolidating these with a secured loan. One of many finance options available, a secured loan for debt
consolidation could allow the borrower to reduce multiple monthly repayments down to just one. Furthermore, this single monthly repayment could even be less than current outgoings. However, when taking out a debt consolidation loan, it must be remembered that consolidating your debt may increase the amount you pay back overall and extend the repayment periods of your debts.
