Financial expert gives advice on how to recover from a “holiday debt hangover”

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida. A credit recovery expert shared some tips on how consumers can bounce back from holiday spending that has reached an all-time high.

From holiday shopping to holiday travel, consumers who spoke to WPTV during the holiday season said there was a shortage of money due to inflation driving up prices.

Now the numbers after the season are missing. Americans spent a record $204.5 billion shopping online during the holidays, with inflation costing them $6.5 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. Approximately 65% ​​of these purchases were paid for with credit cards.

“Credit card balances are growing at a pace we haven’t seen in over a decade,” said Paul Auster, Better Qualified’s credit repair specialist.

VPTV

Oster said many consumers spent more money than they had this holiday season due to inflation.

“Ahead of the holiday season, most Americans, a very large percentage, were like, ‘Hey, you know, I’m going to put this on my credit card. I’m going to increase my balance.” And we see it now,” said Oster. “As a rule, these are harbingers of an economic downturn.”

Oster told WPTV there are a few things consumers can do to start working on recovering from “holiday debt hangovers.”

“Unfortunately, the average person doesn’t have a budget. People need to change their behavior as quickly as possible,” Oster said. “We have become a nation of subscriptions. We’ve already talked about this before. Cancel Netflix, Spotify, Hulu. I’m not saying you’ll have to live the rest of your life without these subscriptions, but where will the money go? from.”

Another tip is to try and pay off higher interest cards first and keep an eye on your credit as consumers continue to wait for inflation to cool down.