Figures have shown that the level of borrowing on store cards fell in November last year, despite the fact that it was the run up to Christmas when many people traditionally take out finance in order to fund their Christmas purchases. In the weeks leading up to Christmas the level of store card spending tends to soar, as cash strapped consumers look at alternative ways of funding their Christmas purchases.

However, as most people know it can be extremely expensive to use store cards to make purchases unless they are paid off in full within the interest free period. With the ongoing challenging financial climate, worries about job losses, sharp increases in the cost of living, and a freeze on pay, it seems that many people wanted to avoid the high interest debt that can come with store cards.

The data was released by the Finance and Leasing Association, and showed that there was a drop on 25 percent year on year with store card borrowing in November compared to the previous November. The data also showed that there had been a drop in the level of store finance that was being taken out by consumers in November, with this type of borrowing falling by 11 percent year on year in November.

However, whilst consumers appeared to be getting savvier in terms of costly High Street borrowing it seems that more people were keen to borrow using personal loans during the month of November. The FLA figures showed that personal loan borrowing for the month increased by 34 percent year on year, indicating that consumers were still turning to finance in the run up to Christmas but were going for more affordable personal loans rather than high interest store cards and finance.