15 December 2006
Consumers will spend up to £1.62 million on their credit cards as the last few days for Christmas shopping draw near, according to Sainsbury's Bank.
Despite this hefty sum, the British public appears to be spending less in the run-up to the festive period, with consumers expected to shell out £9.15 billion during the last week before Christmas - £446.6 million less than the bank's research identified this time last year.
Donald MacLeod, credit card manager at Sainsbury's Bank, said: "Credit cards can be a safe and convenient way to do your Christmas shopping.
"However, if you don't think you will be able to clear all of your expenditure by January, you may want to consider spreading the cost with a card that offers an introductory rate of 0% APR on purchases."
The report also showed that Londoners were likely to be the most generous this yuletide, with those in Wales spending the least amount on presents this year.
In addition, 887,000 people intend to splash out more than £1,000 during the last seven days before Christmas and a further 2.62 million people intend to spend between £501 and £1,000.
Men are also declared as either more generous or more prone to leaving shopping until the last minute, with £257.15 being spent on average in the last week of festive shopping, compared to just £173.69 that the typical woman will spend.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
Content for the uSwitch.com market news service is provided by a third party, Adfero Ltd. Whilst uSwitch.com makes reasonable efforts to check the reliability of this content, uSwitch.com does not guarantee the accuracy thereof or endorse the views or opinions given by Adfero Ltd, unless expressly stated otherwise.