£2.3bn to be spent on last-minute shopping

According to Barclays, this is £230 million more than the next busiest day, December 22nd, adding that £1.5 billion of Saturday’s bills will go towards credit card debt.

In addition, December will see over £15.5 billion withdrawn from cash machines and £31.6 billion added to debit and credit card debt, Barclays claimed.

For those wishing to avoid busy periods for ATMs, the banks said that 12:00 to 13:00 GMT on December 23rd will see over a million transactions take place from 50,000 cash machines.

Barnaby Davis, electronic banking director for Barclays, said that the run-up to Christmas “is a busy time for everyone”.

However, in all this rush, it is important to stick to any debt management plan and to keep control of finances, ensuring that the new year does not start in the red.