Borrowing For Xmas Increases To Six Million

The figures are revealed ahead of the final shopping weekend before Christmas, amid fears that last-minute spending over the festive period will leave millions unable to pay their essential bills next month.

A quarter of those surveyed by the insolvency trade body R3 said it will take them two months or more to pay off their Christmas debts, with more than a million saying it will take them more than six months.

Out of the six million who have borrowed money to pay for this Christmas, 43 per cent of them are under 35 years old.

It comes after this time last year, three million people admitting they were still paying off debts from the previous Christmas.

Despite Britain emerging out of the recession, households continue to struggle to pay their bills amid the rising cost of living.

The survey suggested seven million people fear they will not have enough money to comfortably pay their bills at the end of the month due to Christmas spending, up 10 per cent on a year ago.

Steven Law, president of R3, said: “These figures suggest that spending over the festive season will still be high, even if the snow drives more people to shop online. With personal insolvencies still at a record high, it is essential that people do not simply throw caution to the wind in the next few days and blow their budget just because it is Christmas.

“In March this year we found that a third of insolvencies were caused by spending at Christmas and this trend may well be repeated in 2011. If you are struggling with your debts, you should seek help as soon as possible – the longer term effects of debt are more damaging than short term gains from spending.”

Debt Advisors at Integrity Debt Solutions say that " We saw and increase in the number of people falling into debt as a result of xmas spending last year. We are now seeing the insolvency figures starting to creep up, as more and more people are falling into debt. Add to this the six million people borrowing money to pay for xmas this year, and we have a huge debt cocktail that is going to hit the country hard in 2011."