CAB warns of festive debt hangover
CAITHNESS Citizens Advice Bureau has warned members of the public against overspending this Christmas and being left with a legacy of massive debt when the festive spirit fades.
The bureau is left to pick up the pieces at the start of the new year when people who have financed their Christmas on credit, particularly low-income families, turn to money advisers for help. The organisation dealt with a caseload involving debts totalling £182,118 for the months of November and December last year. The number of new cases jumped from 10 to 33 in January and February this year and the total debt, including cases carried forward from the old year, was a staggering £458,958.
"It really is a frightening sum," said money adviser Heather Miller, who added that the amount demonstrated how easy it was for debt to escalate.
