Ghost of Christmas past continues to haunt cash-strapped Brits

With rising bills and lower disposable incomes, nearly 1 in 4 (24%) Brits are still paying off credit costs from last Christmas. With the UK set to sink further into recession, the latest figures indicate a rise of 29% on last year’s post-Christmas financial hangovers, according to money saving website Savebuckets.com.

As the nation approaches the countdown to Christmas and the ghost of Christmas past continues to knock on some doors, the new research rings alarm bells over the financial impact of Christmas in credit crunch Britain.

With 2 in 5 (39%) running up debt from last Christmas, fewer than one in three managed to clear this debt when their January credit card bill arrived (29%).

At a time when financial sector job losses are expected to hit 62,000 by 2009 and repossessions are at a high, it is the 30 something’s, those most likely to have a family, that are most strapped for cash. Almost half (47%) ran up debt from last Christmas and over a third are still paying off the bill (35%).

Savebuckets.com, which helps Brits to get more for their money this Christmas by shopping around for the best price, asked a GB representative sample of over 2,000 British adults about the financial impacts of last Christmas.

Low income groups most haunted by Christmas past: Over a third of people on a lower income (34%) are still paying off their bills from last Christmas’s costs. Overall, of those who went into debt as a result of the cost of Christmas 2007, just 23% had paid off their bills by the end of January.

Those living in the North are most likely to overspend over Christmas: Under two in five people living in the North (39%) ran up debt from last year’s Christmas spending, compared to just 33% of Scots. However, whilst fewer people in Scotland got themselves into debt last Christmas, they have taken the longest to pay off what they owe. In fact, 30% are still facing the debt of Christmas past.

James Wenger, of Savebuckets.com commented: “We have been looking at how the credit crunch is affecting Brits’ spending habits for the last year and the new research shows that the credit crunch already started taking its toll on UK finances last Christmas and throughout 2008.

With a rising number of Brits still paying for last Christmas it raises alarm bells over how the pattern will continue next year into 2009 as the economic turmoil continues. We would like to encourage Brits to be savvy shoppers this Christmas - it is amazing how much you can save on the same products if you check elsewhere for a better price. Savebuckets.com searches millions of products for the best possible price, saving you time as well as money.”

For more information, visit savebuckets.com