Debt advice given in order to 'save Christmas'

04/01/2010

Saving now for next Christmas can be an important step for those receiving debt advice, the Office of Fair Trading and Citizens Advice has said.

After receiving in excess of three million debt help phone calls in the 18 months to the end of last September, Citizens Advice is encouraging people to plan ahead as part of its Save Xmas campaign.

The initiative will involve the running of 240 financial workshops over the course of 2010, which will raise awareness of savings options.

"Christmas will have given many people a debt hangover that they might have been able to avoid," explained Citizens Advice head of financial capability, John Rhodes.

"We're encouraging people to plan for next year, find out about the options available and set up a savings plan."

Mr Rhodes went on to say that this debt advice should limit the necessity for expensive credit, which many people are forced to turn to in the run-up to the festive period.

Over the past 12 months, Citizens Advice has dealt with more than 300,000 debt solutions enquiries relating to credit, store and charge card debts.

Kevin Still, director of EuroDebt, said: "Effective budgeting is a fundamental of sound money and debt advice, but the difficulty is that many people are still paying for Christmas 2008 and are getting round to Christmas 2009 at some point later this year.

"Dealing with this gap in your personal finances is very hard. With the cost of unsecured credit increasing it requires major sacrifice to reverse this position. EuroDebt expects to see more people requiring debt advice and managed debt solutions like Debt Management Plans and IVAs in 2010."

Tags; Debt Management and Banking,

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