One insolvency industry body president recently issued a warning to Brits about racking up debt early next year as they try to pay off their Christmas shopping, instant cash loan experts recently reported.
Industry body R3’s president, Frances Coulson, leveled her criticisms at the payday advance industry, warning off UK consumers based on her organisation’s recent research revealing that one out of every three Brits will take around a month to clear debt brought about by their spending this festive season. However, things may not be as dire as Ms Coulson may be intimating, as last year’s figures saw that the number of consumers taking 30 days to pay off debt incurred over Christmas was was one in two.
The industry body president said that despite the findings, there are still large numbers of Brits who will find it a struggle to afford their Christmas shopping, resulting in having to turn to credit cards and short term loans instead. She cautioned consumers to be wary of the higher rates of interest that can accompany these sources of credit, as this could leave them encumbered with more debt than they can repay in a reasonable amount of time.
R3’s research findings indicate that 13 per cent of respondents reported feeling that they would not have the ability to pay their bills by the end of the month of December. However, in the capital, this figure rose three percentage points to 16 per cent.
The Debt Support Trust’s Stuart Carmichael also commented, reportedly advising UK consumers to not resort to payday advance companies. However, many of these lenders are actually less expensive than having to rely on unauthorised overdrafts, leading a large number of industry experts to actually recommend them if those in need have little to no other options – especially as High Street banks continue to marginalise middle income Brits.