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"Strong spending on credit cards over Christmas period"

By admin | January 23rd, 2010 | Credit Cards

Whilst many people may have thought that spending on Christmas and January sales goods would be down this year as a result of the recession and the difficult financial climate that the nation has been through in the past year retailers have reported that spending on credit cards this Christmas and New Year was in fact very strong.

On Christmas Eve alone millions of consumers rushed out to buy last minute goods, resulting in huge amounts being spent on the run up to the big day.

In addition to consumers spending on their credit cards in the run up to Christmas many people actually started shopping online as early as Christmas Day to take advantage of the sales, many of which were launched on Christmas Eve. Many of these people paid for their Internet purchases via credit card, adding to the amount that was being spent on plastic over the festive season. One research group said that Christmas Day may actually have been the best online shopping day of the year, with many using the time at home to get some bargains online.

According to figures from Barclaycard Payment Acceptance around £4.09 billion was spent on credit cards between the 19th December and the end of December, which reflected an increase of 2.4 percent compared to the same period in 2008.

As soon as Boxing Day arrived millions of Brits took to the streets with their credit cards and queued up outside shops in order to take advantage of the various bargains that were on offer in the sales, where retailers had slashed prices. The impending VAT increase, which took place on 1st January, also added to the urgency of many people to get their credit cards out and start spending before the price of goods went up along with the level of VAT.

Tags: christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Christmas Day, Credit Cards, Electronic commerce, Online shopping, Seasons, Shopping, Value added tax

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