Results of Holiday Credit Spending
January 22, 2008
Retailers and credit card issuers have been waiting for information concerning the last cycle of holiday spending for 2007. A post-holiday report issued by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media reveals some surprising results.
According to the survey which concentrated on consumer use of credit during the holiday spending season 42 percent of shoppers bought less with their credit cards than they did a year ago. Last year 35 percent of those polled said that they spent less with their credit cards. Of those polled, 30 percent this year reported that they bought about the same amount as they did last year on their credit cards. The bad news for retailers is that only 11 percent of those taking the survey this year reported that bought more on their cards. The number for that category last year was 14 percent.
Lucy Duni who is the director of the Consumer Education for TransUnion TrueCredit, said: “This past fall, many consumers told us they’d likely postpone a major purchase in 2008, and the conservative use of credit we found over this holiday season seems consistent with that long range intent. It follows that if you were concerned about your finances going into the holidays, the last thing you want to see are bigger credit card bills hitting your mailbox in January and February.”
TransUnion TrueCredit commissioned the survey.
Under a separate question, those taking the survey were asked to rate their current credit card debt to that of last January. Of those answering, 44 percent said that their credit card debt was about the same while 29 percent said that it was less this year than last