One-quarter of people do not think they will be able to clear their Christmas expenditure by the end of this month, according to new research.

A survey by Sainsbury's Finance found that although 61 per cent expect their borrowings will have been cleared by February, 15 per cent think it will take them up to three months and ten per cent said it will be between four months and a year.

"We estimate that around 18 per cent of Christmas spending was placed on credit cards. Our research indicates that around 8.6 million people intended to put half or more of their festive spending on cards," commented Donald MacLeod, head of cards at Sainsbury's.

He recommended that for those who find it impossible to clear their debt this month, a new card offering zero per cent on balance transfers would be a good way of avoiding surplus interest.

Financial research company Defaqto recently warned that credit cards are becoming increasingly expensive to use as interest rates creep up and new charges are added.

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