Scots Urged Not to Rely on Debts to Pay for Christmas

Scots are being urged not to rely on debt to cover the costs of the festive period and to avoid leaving themselves with serious financial headaches in the New Year.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) recently enlisted YouGov to carry out some polling and the results established that around 45 per cent of Scots are planning to spend less money this Christmas than they did last year.

The figures are being taken as evidence of the squeeze that many household budgets have suffered over the course of 2020 and being indicative of a widespread eagerness not to rack up too much debt as the year comes to an end.

However, around 16 per cent of people told YouGov that they currently intend to cover the costs of Christmas by heading into debt.

According to the polling, around 13 per cent of Scots are planning to use credit cards, arranged overdrafts or secured loans to cover some or all of their festive spending.

Worryingly, an extra 3 per cent say they plan to pay for their Christmas by using payday loans, unagreed overdrafts, or buy now pay later products.

CAS has said that it worries lots of people will end up spending more than they’d intended to over Christmas and find themselves relying on debt more than they’d planned once the festive season gets into full swing.

“This will be a Christmas like no other, and given the year we’ve had it’s understandable if people feel the need to over-spend to make up for what has been a miserable year for many,” commented Sarah-Jayne Dunn, a financial health spokesperson with the CAS.

“But we really want to urge people not to fall into that trap. A new year drowning in debt is just going to make things even worse.

“It’s really important that people realise that over-spending now could mean setting yourself up for crisis debt in the New Year.”

If you live in Scotland and you are struggling to cope with your personal debts then Scotland Debt Solutions can help. Contact us directly to arrange a FREE and confidential consultation.