A whopping 1.6 million Aussies have started 2025 with Christmas debt according to new research with the average amount owed sitting at more than $1,600.
For more, Finder's money expert Taylor Blackburn joins.
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Well, if you're waking up this Monday morning with the post holiday financial blues, you're certainly not alone. A whopping 1.6 million Australians have started 2025 with Christmas debt according to new research, with the average amount owed sitting at more than $1,600. Now, for many, it's going to take up to 12 months or more to pay this off. So how can you kick that credit debt to the curb and not be paying off this Christmas next Christmas or beyond here to show us his finders money, expert Taylor Blackburn. Good morning to you, Taylor. Let's get right into it. I mean, what is the best way that us? He's going to free up this debt from credit cards. So the best way is first to kind of review your finances. So if you're, we did some research and Australians are paying about $400 too much for their utilities alone. That's about $7.5 billion that could be saved across country. Review subscriptions, you know, simply put, if you're not using something that you're paying for, stop paying for it. A lot of us have have more than one streaming service and aren't watching more than one at once. And they add up to it and they really do. They really do. And then finally is to consolidate your debt. So if you've got debt, a number of places, you can put it on a balance transfer credit card. And we've actually gone through and scored all of those cards. So are there any good credit cards to what that dish? Yeah. Yeah. So we use a thing called finder score, which we update daily as the deals change. So the one that won the award this year is the Vertigo card from St. George. I think a bank of Melbourne also offers it. So 0% for 24 months, so two years of no interest. And it's only a 1% balance transfer fee. So you could save about 1600 bucks if you're on a, you know, a regular rate. A and Z has a low rate card and so does Westpac. The A and Z one actually is 30 months, but the fee is a little bit bigger. So depending on the size of the balance that you're transferring, that one gets a 9.7 as does the Westpac. So that's 26 months with a 2% fee. So there's a lot of really good deals if you've racked up debt, but it's not a silver bullet. And if you want to give up, give up the cards with all of the loyalty schemes attached to them and then you get a low rate on them as well. So if you just don't want to, if you want to know thrills card, go for the lowest. That's interesting. Go for the lowest rate. Yeah. And the biggest thing with balance transfers is you don't want to then use that card to transact. It's now like a debt consolidation card because once you start purchasing, you have a different rate and that gets paid off last. So you're kind of using it as your, your get out of jail card and then, you know, then it's time to do the hard work of spending less and saving more. What about this figure? 1.6 million Aussie starting the year with debt? I mean, how does that compare to previous years? Is there any indicator of cost of living reflections or how well? Yeah. Well, so interestingly, that number is a little bit down from last year, but we've also seen people spend less with, you know, cost of living pressures and that sort of thing. So, so the amount of people who are in Christmas debt from this year is less, but the number of people who say it's going to take them a year or more to pay off that debt has increased. So it's, it's more acute in, in certain situations. But yeah, it's, it's really important to try to get on. So did we spend less this Christmas? Well, the, the figures say that fewer people, the people say they're less in debt than they did this time last year or so. So we don't know whether they actually spent less or whether they just kept within their means? Yeah. Well, and there was a new report from New South Wales Government today that said, you know, that, that spending is a little bit stagnating and, and you know, are we, are we, you know, is this a bad sign? So it all, it all points to, you know, we've got to, we've got to stay on top of it as much. I tell you what, if it's stagnating there, and a lot of people at the shops looking because the shops were jammed over Christmas and boxing day and, and, you know, wake after too. So, yeah. All right. Thank you, Taylor. Thanks for having me. Thanks. Did you get the shops? Why'd I hit the shops? Why'd I hit the shops? I went, look, I've given up trying to do a lot online because, you know, you can't, you get it wrong and then you spend the next two weeks after Christmas, trying to return things that are impossible. And then you need to get around to it. And you get cranky. Cranky. So I went to shops to look at the products better in sizes for kids clothes and things like that. So you did that to not be cranky? And it made me cranky. The news is going to fail that. The news is going to fail that. So you did that to not be cranky. And it made me cranky. The news is going to fail that. [BLANK_AUDIO]
