subject: The Church Of England Urges Shoppers To Leave Credit Cards At Home [print this page] The Church of England is adding a token of financial wisdom to its Christmas message this year, by encouraging consumers to minimise the amount of debt they accrue over the festive period, to avoid a terrible New Year.
It is thought that using cash instead of cards will help shoppers budget more efficiently and avoid going into massive amounts of debt. The speed and ease of credit card purchasing is thought to make blowing someone else's money even easier, whereas cash is much easier to keep track of.
The Church has published a three-part video on popular video-sharing site YouTube, with Dr John Preston, the Church of England's National Stewardship Officer, wishing families in the UK an affordable Christmas and a debt-free New Year. Whether the video will help people identify with the Church or simply see it as a nannying influence remains to be seen.
With retailers upping their Christmas game, attempting to attract recession-hit consumers with special discounts, shoppers are being urged to think very carefully before getting any further into debt. The same thing happened last year when retailers cut prices significantly at the end of November and December, in fear that consumers were cutting back severely on their purchases.
But whether it is right to criticise those who will use credit to fund their festive season remains to be seen. Credit is used by almost everyone, to spread payments and not necessarily facilitate purchases which the consumer can't afford. To hope that no one uses credit at Christmas could be seen as deluded.
During the recession, shoppers in the UK have been spending less on credit cards, and more with cash and debit cards. Although many consumers will turn to credit this Christmas, it is hoped that they understand credit card conditions (and interest rates) are likely to change even more rapidly next year.
But shoppers will still be using plastic in the shops this Christmas, but hopefully they will be using debit cards rather than credit cards, as this is a popular way to pay for goods now, with the additional security (as well as risks) that the paper trail provides. Cash still accounts for over half all retail transactions in the country though, so it seems that the Church of England is attempting to fight a battle which is already being won.
Last year the Bishop of Reading encouraged people to minimise their Christmas list to alleviate some of the environmental impact felt because of Christmas.
