Unwanted gifts to provide debt help?

Unwanted Christmas gifts might provide an unusual source of help for those who are deep in debt.

While the festive season is a time when some pile up credit card debt and other borrowing in order to pay for gifts and other costs, the festive season may provide part of the solution.

This possibility has emerged from a survey by online auction site lovelyjubbly.com, which has found Britons tend not to sell or give away unwanted gifts, but hoard them – so many, in fact, that put together they could fill Wembley Stadium 11 times over.

Commissioner of the lovelyjubbly survey and auction expert Gareth Whipps noted £124 billion is spent on gifts each year, but one in three Britons received unwanted items.

He added: "The other question after the survey was run was how much was that and that worked out to be £900 million worth of unwanted gifts, sitting there, not doing anything, and possibly be hidden in the back of a cupboard."

Such gifts might be discreetly sold on via an online auction site like lovelyjubbly or eBay- which could raise cash to pay off credit card bills and other debts.

But for many consumers, the gifts they have received this year are ones they will want to keep, rather than sell.

Using a debt management plan may be an alternative to letting wanted treasured gifts go and those doing this may find the spreading out of payments makes everything much more manageable.

People who are in debt should check out what benefits they may be able to claim, as this may help them financially, managing director of Debt Advice Foundation David Rodger recently advised.

Posted by Paul Thacker