Millions of Brits still paying of debts from last Christmas

Millions of consumers from across the UK are still paying off
credit card debt accumulated last Christmas, according to a recent study.

As debt management problems continue to worsen for many thousands of British families, figures from MoneyExpert.com show that some 4.4 million people are still dealing with last year’s
credit card debts.

To highlight the extent of the problem for people still indebted as a result of their spending last year, MoneyExpert.com points out that having a £1,000 credit card bill for 11 months is likely to have cost more than £150 in interest payments alone.

Sean Gardner, chief executive of MoneyExpert.com, commented: “It is not time to cancel Christmas but for millions of us it really is time to cancel some credit cards.

“We can all give into temptation at Christmas and put it on plastic but if the debt lingers from year to year you’re starting to get into trouble.”

The UK’s payment association Apacs recently predicted that record amounts of money will be spent via credit cards around the country during the run up to Christmas 2007.