Brits’ £9 Billion Summer Holiday Credit Card Expense
A recent survey by Moneysupermarket has found that 57% of Brits elected to pay for their summer holiday on their credit cards. Spurning the chance of possible cheaper methods of paying for their time in the sun, the average Brit charged £799 on their credit card during their summer holiday this year. Amazingly, over 5% of those who decided that using their UK credit card was the best way to pay for their summer holiday racked up debts of over £2,000 for their two weeks in the sun!
 With interest rates on the rise elsewhere, and extra money hard to come by at the moment, 41% of UK credit cardholders are electing to carry-over at least part of their credit card bill to the next statement payment date. This, coupled with the extra expenses paid for their time in the sun, means that the average Brit is now in a race against time if they want to clear off enough of their credit card bill to be able to afford to have an enjoyable Christmas and New Year in what otherwise looks like it may be a financially gloomy autumn and winter. Especially likely to be affect by their holiday expenditure follies during the cold winter months are the elderly, with the over-50s charging an average of £900 to their UK credit cards during their summer holiday extravaganza.
According to Rob Kenley, head of credit cards at Moneysupermaket, UK holiday makers could well “be left with more than a tan if you don’t think about how to handle your debt when you come home.” Now then is the time for many Britons to be thinking whether they want to be paying high long-term interest on the debt they accumulated going on holiday or whether they should be thinking of restructuring this debt with a cheaper financing option, such as a personal loan.
Unfortunately the news also seems to be bleak for those who decided to pay for their time in the sun this summer using a 0% credit card deal, as many who elected to take up this option may well find there simply isn’t enough time before the next holiday season in which to repay the debt. As a group, it is estimated that this is going to cost upwards of £550 million in miscalculated interest payments.
The message is clear then, if you want to make sure you have an enjoyable Christmas holiday this year, now is the time to buckle down, reign in the expenses and start repaying your UK credit card debt as soon as possible.
Richard Smith
12th September 2006
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