Congratulations!!

… you managed to get all of the gifts under the Christmas tree and the fridge fully stocked, but after a frantic December, are you a little hesitant to take a peek at your credit card statement?

If that is the case, you can take some solace from that fact that you’re not alone. In fact, Aussies are likely to whack about $29 billion worth of Chrissy expenditure on their credit cards throughout December – that’s almost $4,000 per household.

With credit card interest rated as the fourth biggest money drain on Aussie households, the cost of Christmas could continue well into the new year for those unable to pay off their balance in full at the end of the December statement cycle.

And while taking out another loan might seem like the last thing you want to do, Chris Straw of You’re Welcome Finance insists that using a personal loan to consolidate your debt is a smart strategy to manage repayments and avoid the pricey purchase rates on a lot of plastics.

“If you have multiple credit cards or loans, this can cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars in interest which could be better used towards your goals,” he said. “Consolidating your debt into a fixed-term personal loan, with lower interest rates than credit cards, can be a good option to reduce interest and allow you to plan ahead with manageable monthly payments.”

If the idea of grouping all of your Christmas debt into one, low-interest loan sounds attractive to you, find out what your repayments would look like use our personal loan repayments calculator.

The pros and cons of personal loan debt consolidation

Pros

• Typically lower interest rates than on a credit card
• One, easy-to-manage loan
• Ability to go with a fixed rate, meaning you know what your repayments will look like for each instalment
• Unsecured loans available, meaning you won’t have to offer any collateral

Cons

• Pricey upfront cost to take out the loan
• Minimum loan term, meaning you may not be able to pay off the balance and close the loan early