Brits head towards ‘another indebted Christmas’

There are likely to be “huge” numbers of people relying on credit arrangements to fund their activities over the festive season this year, one expert has asserted.

Susan Hannums, savings manager for financial advisory firm AWD Chase de Vere, maintains that for many people around the UK borrowing money has become part and parcel of the Christmas period.

Millions of people around the country deal with debt management woes throughout the year, but Christmas now stands out as an “incredibly expensive” time, Ms Hannums makes clear.

“I think that we definitely have had way too many years of relying on credit and Christmas is one of those incredibly expensive times of the year,” she said.

“Credit has become so acceptable and so the norm that there is definitely going to be a huge amount of people who will depend on it for the Christmas season.”

Maintaining interest payments in an effort to become debt free costs the typical British household more than £3,000 on an annual basis, according to figures from Credit Action.