Merry Christmas! It’s here, Christmas morning is here! And while we all watch kids unwrap presents, or just spend time with our families and relax – our credit cards are doing the same thing, relaxing. After weeks, (and for some of us, months) of spending, spending, spending, credit cards are finally getting their break too. That is, until tomorrow when we all hit Boxing Day sales. But now that the bills have all been racked up and the statements are on the way, it’s time to look at how much we actually spent on those little pieces of plastic.
According to the Retail Council of Canada, consumer credit card spending was up 4.6% compared to last year. Now, while we can all give ourselves a pat on the back for crossing off those names on our list and giving until it hurts, this number is a double-edged sword. The number is good after all – we have the money and it’s there to spend. But, Canadians also need to be careful about playing it fast and loose with their credit cards as credit card debt was also 9% higher this past October at $62.4 billion than it was last year. And this at a time when Mark Carney is stressing how important it is for Canadians to take control of their debt.
But maybe we should stop and take a second to look at what spending that money really means. It means we’re putting money back into the economy! It means consumer confidence is up, so we’re not hoarding all of our cash for that next second mortgage emergency but rather, going to spend it and put it back into the economy. And yes, while credit card debt is just about the worst kind of debt you can have when compared to things like HELOCs, we will pay it off come January, just like we always do.
Things in Canada are good. Our economy is rebounding faster than anyone thought, and production is starting to near pre-recession levels once again. And, consumer shopping is up. While it might mean that temporarily, we are adding onto that household debt, it’s nothing we can’t handle, and Canadians are likely to pick back up with their conservative approaches once again come January.
But, for the time being we’re perfectly content to spoil the ones we love and give the economy a little boost at the same time. It is Christmas, after all. ”
