Consumers 'must pay back Christmas credit'

Consumers are being warned that they must make sure they pay back the amount they spent on their credit cards over Christmas.

James Ketchell, a spokesman for the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, made the comments when advising people of how to manage their Christmas spending.

"It is important that people realise that with a credit card you do have to pay it back and that the amounts you put on for Christmas spending might be done in good faith and for good reasons, but they do have to be measured by common sense too," he said.

He said that it may be a tradition for people to spend "a lot" of money over the Christmas period, although he warned that buyers should not put too much of it on to their credit cards.

CreditExpert.co.uk said that it was not expecting people to reduce their spending over Christmas this year, despite the ongoing credit crunch and warnings from various sources.

At the end of September 2007, the UK's personal debt levels were worth approximately £1,380 billion, which is an increase of ten per cent on the previous 12 months, according to Credit Action.

The average borrowing for a UK adult at the end of the same period was £4,554.