AROUND one in five Australians plans to put their entire festive season costs on credit, a new survey has revealed.

The MasterCard Worldwide Australian Christmas Spending Survey found 60 per cent of Australians planned to use a credit card for Christmas spending, and 22 per cent expected to put all their costs on their cards.

Around 84 per cent said they would pay off the debt within three months, but Consumer Action Law Centre CEO Carolyn Bond said many with outstanding debt would struggle to pay off purchases before being charged interest.

She said Christmas was a challenging time.

– 68 per cent of women will shop online for Christmas gifts
– 63 per cent of men will shop online for Christmas gifts
– 60 per cent will use their credit card on Christmas spending
– 49 per cent will cut back on entertainment costs
– 45 per cent will spend less on holidays and travel
– 44 per cent will cut back on gifts for extended family
– 41 per cent will cut back on gifts for friends
– 27 per cent started shopping three months before Christmas
– 22 per cent will put all their Christmas spending on credit cards

Full report here

Being a stingy asian, I smell blood when reading this type of report. There’s absolutely nothing wrong about using credit card. I do so. For convenience, for the sake of earning the little 55 days interests from my savings account. But… “84 per cent said they would pay off the debt within three months”..sounds good huh? That’s scary, so majority of them are not prepared, or even able to clear credit card debt immediately when the first credit card bill arrives. What’s going on here?

Christmas is the season of giving. Why don’t you give yourself a break? A break from the credit card debt.