November 18, 2009
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News: Holiday Wishes From The Church of England
Residents of England are getting more than a holiday greeting from the Church of England this year, they are also getting advice. The Church has issued a statement asking consumers to use cash rather than their credit card to pay for their holiday shopping items. In an attempt to remind citizens that it would be better to stay out of credit card debt and pay with cash, Dr. John Preston, The Church's National Stewardship Officer, released a three part video message Wishing You an Affordable Christmas. In his message, Dr. Preston stated that it is easy to get into trouble with credit cards which would just make Christmas unpleasant. Instead, shoppers should devise a budget that would call for cash only and stick to it.
Dr. Preston also said that it's easy to sign a credit card slip and not feel the effects until you received the bill. At that point, it is too late and the damage has already been done. Rather, he said by sticking to cash only, shoppers will feel the effects immediately which would deter him from spending carelessly. Although retailers are not advocating shoppers get themselves into debt, they realize that credit card spending can help boost sales. Many retailers have already begun an aggressive marketing campaign with steep discounts ahead of what is considered the busiest shopping day of the year, Black Friday. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that 52 percent of all merchants ran some kind of promotion or sale last weekend and more are expected to follow this weekend.
Last year retailers broke price earlier than previous years while the country was in the deepest trenches of the recession. Experts say retailers panicked early which brought about the early competition. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), shoppers will not find the same great deals in view of the fact that retailers have trimmed down and cut back. The BRC wasn't very enthusiastic over the Church's message saying consumers have done a good job at cutting back on credit card spending and that it was "wrong to demonize those who want to borrow."