The bank has conducted research showing one person in five will still be paying off festive debts next month.

Moreover, estimates suggest 168,000 people will need more than a year to rid themselves of the yuletide credit card spending frenzy, meaning they will pay far higher interest rates than if they took out a consolidation loan.

But Sainsbury’s Bank also found consolidation loans are becoming a more popular, with figures showing that £5.4 billion of new consolidation loans will be taken out in the next three months.

The bank discovered that one in three of the 550,000 personal loans taken out this quarter will be aimed at managing the debt that built up over the Christmas.

To read more about consolidation loans, click here.
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