Several surveys have reported recently on spending trends for the festive season and none of them seem likely to put a smile on issuer’s faces. Unsurprisingly significantly fewer people will be using a credit card to pay for Christmas this year, according to new research by Legal & General. The survey revealed that around 1.6 million families could find Christmas unaffordable. Around a third of households paid for Christmas with credit cards last year, but this number is expected to drop to a fifth this year. With increasing pressure on household incomes coming for all directions, a third of households are planning to spend less on gifts this year. 67% said they had enough money put aside for Christmas, while in the
Credit card holders in the
Despite stores offering tempting cut-price deals, shoppers are in a cautious mood in the run up to Christmas according the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), and while consumers spent a total of £7.2 billion on plastic, they repaid £7.4 billion. This continued a trend from September which also saw a higher level of repayments than new spending, with £6.9 billion being spent on cards and £7.2 billion being paid back.
Maybe the increase in spending via mobile devices will alleviate some of this but along with the prospects for the general economy the future for credit cards continues to look less than bright.
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