Let’s talk about your finances at Christmas

 

Saving

We try and encourage our members to save little and often throughout the year to help fund events like Christmas. If you haven’t started saving already it may be a little bit too late for this year however, it’s never too early to start thinking about next Christmas. If you started saving just £5 a month now, by next Christmas you would have £65. If you could afford to up your savings to £30 a month you could save a whopping £360. With our instant access Member Account you can withdraw whenever you need. This means if you see any deals throughout the year you don’t have to worry about missing out; just make sure you’ve got the space to store them!

Borrowing

If you don’t have any savings ready to use this year borrowing could be an option for you. However, it’s important that you do your research and keep your eye out for representative APR as what looks like a good deal at first glance could become more costly. Many financial organisations advertise their interest rates for loans using the term ‘representative APR’. This shows the cheapest available loan rate, also known as the ‘headline rate’. Firms are allowed to advertise a representative APR if they reasonably expect 51% of applicants will receive the headline rate. The remaining applicants (approximately 49% of them) could be charged a higher interest rate, usually after reviewing your credit file and application. At this point, most people are unlikely to look for another provider as a footprint has been left on your credit report which could affect your credit score. When applying for credit, please be aware that if the advertised APR is representative, there is no guarantee that you will be charged the advertised rate. We don’t believe in using representative rates, so we don’t use them. With our loans, the rate you see is the rate every member gets if accepted, regardless of credit score.

We believe that when applying for credit to cover the cost of Christmas it’s, important to ensure the term of the loan is short so you can enjoy Christmas and ensure your Christmas debt is repaid by the next year. A longer term could lead to a continuous cycle of adding to your borrowing each year which could result in it taking longer to repay, meaning you would pay more interest.

Set yourself a budget and stick to it

Regardless of how you’re funding this Christmas, we recommend deciding a budget and sticking to it. Although it can be tempting, try not to overspend from this budget. An easy way to work out how much you’ll need is by listing all your outgoing such as presents, decorations, food, and drink that you need for the festive season. This way you’ll know exactly how much you need and can look for great deals to stay within your limit.

 

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