Brits have got their festive debts "pretty much under control", according to Sainsbury's Bank.

Following the news that 61 per cent of people think they will have cleared the debt they accumulated over Christmas by the end of January, Donald Macleod, head of cards at the firm, claimed he is optimistic about most people's financial future.

Mr Macleod said that considering many Brits spent more than usual over the last few months, the fact that most will have cleared their debt by the end of the month means it is not "a massive problem".

He even said that the one per cent of people who expect to take over a year to wipe out their festive borrowings will probably be in control.

"What they're doing is taking advantage of credit cards with zero per cent balance transfers or zero per cent purchase rates for x number of months, and using that to manage their Christmas spend," he explained.

Around 18 per cent of the December spend was placed on credit cards, according to the firm.

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