More people don’t know how they’ll fund Christmas

According to credit reference agency Callcredit, four per cent of people have such poor debt management skills that they do not how they will pay for their spending this season.

In addition, the amount of people expecting to spend over £1,000 this Christmas has doubled from one in 20 twenty a year ago to one in ten this year.

Additionally, only four in ten people surveyed expected to spend less than £500, compared to almost six in ten last year.

Despite this warning, Callcredit director Mel Mitchley said that people were doing better with their debt management than last year.

“Generally the picture is looking pretty positive – people are spending more but budgeting better. Instead of using credit to get them through the festive season they’re using the hard-earned cash they have in their pocket,” she said.

“One slight concern is that the number of people who have no idea how they’ll fund Christmas has doubled from two to four per cent.”

Commenting on the news, David Mond from debt advisers ClearDebt, said: “So much financial pressure is put on families at Christmas that many who already have big debt problems are tempted to pile on the credit and deal with it later.

“This is a dangerous option – it’s the thought that counts and an affordable Christmas means less new year misery.”