Store cards leading to debt, says Alliance & Leicester

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Store cards leading to debt, says Alliance & Leicester

Wed 20th Dec 2006

Over the next few days spending is expected to go through the roof as last minute presents are bought, but Alliance & Leicester has warned that using store cards to pay for gifts could be leaving some shoppers £1,500 in arrears.

Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of people in the UK have made use of store cards when purchasing their Christmas shopping and more than half say that they did so because they were offered the card at the point of purchase.

The research undertaken by Alliance & Leicester Personal Loans shows that some people are prepared to get themselves in debt into the new year in order to ensure that they have bought their gifts on time.

Richard Al-Dabbagh, senior personal loans manager at Alliance & Leicester, remarked: "Christmas costs can really add up and some of the offers pushed at us by sales assistants in connection with their store cards can seem really tempting.

"The real costs of these discounts, however, may be with you for a long time as interest payments stack up."

Barclay's Bank has predicted that shoppers in the UK will withdraw around £490 million between 10:00 GMT and 15:00 GMT on December 23rd as many rush to buy last minute presents.

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