Last-minute Christmas spending 'could lead to financial problems'

A number of consumers could face financial problems in the new year by leaving all their Christmas spending until the last minute.

That is according to the comparison site money.co.uk, which believes that only 15 per cent of people have spread out their festive season spending throughout 2009.

The website believes that 14 per cent of people are now planning to use credit cards to pay for Christmas, which could see some face credit card debt in 2010.

Money.co.uk's managing director Chris Morling suggested that last minute spending could have longer term implications for UK consumers.

He commented: "Lots of people are likely to be very short of cash going into the new year, which would not make for a great start to 2010."

The site recently encouraged over-50s to take advantage of changes to the country's ISA limits by shopping around for the best accounts that are available.