Legal & General credit cards find half the population spending Christmas on plastic

As Christmas approaches the nation is preparing to spend more and more, with on in two consumers planning to fund the holiday season by credit card, Legal & General has found.

Legal & General's new MoneyMood survey has found that while four out of five people could afford to pay their bills over the festive season, one in two UK adults were planning to fund extra expenditure with credit cards.

But the additional cost of Christmas meant that one in seven families said that they would have to use credit cards and/or savings to pay bills.

Over the next four weeks the nation is planning to step up its spending and this extra money looks as though it will be going towards the Christmas spirit, with gifts for friends and family, making ourselves look good and going out or having fun all areas that will see an increase in spending.

"We think the 'MoneyMood' of the nation is firmly in 'spend' mode as people prepare for Christmas but may swing back to saving as we move away from the shopping boom after the Christmas period,” noted Claire Stracey, Legal & General's marketing director retail investments.

“Back in September it appeared that the Bank of England's policy of raising interest rates to get us to slow our spending was beginning to bite. We expect this trend to kick in again after the festivities."

Legal & General polled almost 3,000 people across the country to discover forthcoming spending attitudes.

It found that men and women both intend to splash out more than usual on making themselves look good for the holiday season, with younger age groups planning to spend the most.

While every group surveyed planned to spend on having fun, going out or going away, adults in the 35 to 54 age group also planned to spend more than usual on staying healthy.

But the biggest jump in expectations of will be on spending on family and friends, the poll found, as the Christmas spirit takes hold.

There is a down side to all this festive consumer activity, with a sharp rise in the number of families that said they will struggle to pay the bills over the next four weeks.

This group said they would have to use savings and credit cards to make ends meet, with London and the South West showing the highest proportion of families saying that they may struggle to pay bills.