07
November
2005
|
00:00
Europe/Amsterdam

North East to splash out this Christmas

Residents of the North East are set to splash out this Christmas with more than double the national average (11.1% against 5.4%) saying they will spend £1,000 or more, according to research by credit report service MyCallcredit.

Most of their Christmas spending will come from savings (36.5%) and monthly income (47.1%). However, North Easterners are more likely than average to put the cost of Christmas on credit (10.9% against 8%). And 3.8 per cent of people in the North East admitted they didn't know how they were going to cover the cost of festivities.

Of those in the North East using credit 33.8 per cent said it would take four months or more to pay off their Christmas spending with 6.7 per cent admitting they didn't know when they would clear their debts.

Overall six in ten people living in the North East (60.5%) think Christmas will cost less than £500 with two in ten (21.7%) spending between £500 and £1,000 and one in ten (11.1%) splashing out more than £1,000.

Consumer affairs director Mel Mitchley says:

"Christmas is often a time when people can feel pressure to spend more than they can afford and our research shows people in the North East are at risk of bowing to the pressure and putting the cost on plastic.

"The vast majority have budgeted and won't overspend this Christmas but for those who do intend to put the cost on credit they should try and pay it off as quickly as possible and only use credit facilities they already have. That way they'll avoid a Christmas hangover that could run into summer next year."

Key Findings
  • Southerners were more likely to use credit than any other region of the UK with 12.9 per cent saying some of their Christmas spending would be on credit.
  • East Anglians were the least likely to pay for Christmas using credit 4.3 per cent against a national average of 8 per cent.
  • 3.8 per cent of people in the North East admitted they didn't know how they were going to pay for Christmas compared to 2 per cent nationally.
  • People in Lancashire were most likely to pay for Christmas from savings (44.1%) while people in the South were least likely to use savings to cover festive costs (23.5%). Nationally 35.6 per cent of people said savings would pay for Christmas.
Editors Notes
  1. The research was carried out by NEMS market research among 1000 adults for MyCallcredit between 28 October and 2 November 2005.