Author Topic: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...  (Read 3591 times)

Alternatepriorities

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1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« on: November 28, 2019, 03:22:07 PM »
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/holiday-shopping-loan-205703016.html

1/3 planning to finance holiday spending this year... 1/6 are still paying for last year’s financing. I can’t even imagine. Which is probably why I am no longer flat broke.

Cassie

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Re: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2019, 03:27:48 PM »
That’s truly awful!

ApacheStache

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Re: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2019, 06:51:15 PM »
Quote
One in 3 Americans have or are planning to take out a personal loan to cover holiday shopping expenses....That’s double from last year’s survey, the credit bureau said.

Come again? Is this really a thing? Having I been giving people far too much credit this whole time? I know racking up a huge CC bill around the holidays is the norm for a lot of people, but this is a new level of stupidity. Is this level of foolishness purely an American habit?

Quote
Americans are expected to spend $1,047 this holiday season and many more are financing it with loans.  But experts worry that these loans, which come with high interest rates and additional fees, could make your holiday spending that much more expensive.

By could the "experts" mean will absolutely make your holiday spending that much more expensive. Also, something tells me on average people will spend more than $1,047 this year.

Quote
“If you’re going to have to pay interest on a loan to buy holiday presents, you're probably in a situation where you shouldn't be buying presents,” said Brian Boswell, a certified financial planner in Massachusetts.

Hopefully the author of the article misquoted Brian or accidentally misheard him say the word probably

Just Joe

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Re: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2019, 07:49:08 AM »
Visiting with someone this holiday. Black Friday prep time - they are examining the circulars and deciding what to go out to buy. Seems so pointless.

Alternatepriorities

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Re: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2019, 11:32:03 AM »
Visiting with someone this holiday. Black Friday prep time - they are examining the circulars and deciding what to go out to buy. Seems so pointless.

One of the reasons I enjoy spending Thanksgiving at my dad's house is that he lives about 200 miles (320km) from the nearest shopping. There is also only about 5 hours between sunrise and sunset this time of year, a nice wood fired sauna my brother built in high school and often good aurora... Seems a much more fitting way to celebrate the things were thankful for than going shopping for new things...

Alternatepriorities

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Re: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2019, 11:39:27 AM »
Quote
One in 3 Americans have or are planning to take out a personal loan to cover holiday shopping expenses....That’s double from last year’s survey, the credit bureau said.

Come again? Is this really a thing? Having I been giving people far too much credit this whole time? I know racking up a huge CC bill around the holidays is the norm for a lot of people, but this is a new level of stupidity. Is this level of foolishness purely an American habit?

Quote
Americans are expected to spend $1,047 this holiday season and many more are financing it with loans.  But experts worry that these loans, which come with high interest rates and additional fees, could make your holiday spending that much more expensive.

By could the "experts" mean will absolutely make your holiday spending that much more expensive. Also, something tells me on average people will spend more than $1,047 this year.

Quote
“If you’re going to have to pay interest on a loan to buy holiday presents, you're probably in a situation where you shouldn't be buying presents,” said Brian Boswell, a certified financial planner in Massachusetts.

Hopefully the author of the article misquoted Brian or accidentally misheard him say the word probably

That was pretty much my thoughts reading the article. One of the things I appreciate about this forum is knowing I'm not the only person who notices the "experts" aren't willing to go on the record with the hard facts... Is it so hard to say definitively that borrowing money for gifts is a bad idea instead of hedging about it "could be more expensive"

Ann

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Re: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2019, 11:56:30 AM »
Quote
One in 3 Americans have or are planning to take out a personal loan to cover holiday shopping expenses....That’s double from last year’s survey, the credit bureau said.

Come again? Is this really a thing? Having I been giving people far too much credit this whole time? I know racking up a huge CC bill around the holidays is the norm for a lot of people, but this is a new level of stupidity. Is this level of foolishness purely an American habit?

Quote
Americans are expected to spend $1,047 this holiday season and many more are financing it with loans.  But experts worry that these loans, which come with high interest rates and additional fees, could make your holiday spending that much more expensive.

By could the "experts" mean will absolutely make your holiday spending that much more expensive. Also, something tells me on average people will spend more than $1,047 this year.

Quote
“If you’re going to have to pay interest on a loan to buy holiday presents, you're probably in a situation where you shouldn't be buying presents,” said Brian Boswell, a certified financial planner in Massachusetts.

Hopefully the author of the article misquoted Brian or accidentally misheard him say the word probably

That was pretty much my thoughts reading the article. One of the things I appreciate about this forum is knowing I'm not the only person who notices the "experts" aren't willing to go on the record with the hard facts... Is it so hard to say definitively that borrowing money for gifts is a bad idea instead of hedging about it "could be more expensive"

Hmmm ... I actually can understand wording it in such a way if you want that segment of the population to listen to you and not immediately shut you down.  I find that I am far more stubborn and resistant to someone who lectures in in terms of absolutes rather than conceding that life my have exceptions to any situation.  All you have to do is find *one* example of an exception and the argument is defeated.

The_Big_H

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Re: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2019, 11:46:42 PM »
Quote
One in 3 Americans have or are planning to take out a personal loan to cover holiday shopping expenses....That’s double from last year’s survey, the credit bureau said.

Come again? Is this really a thing? Having I been giving people far too much credit this whole time? I know racking up a huge CC bill around the holidays is the norm for a lot of people, but this is a new level of stupidity. Is this level of foolishness purely an American habit?

Quote
Americans are expected to spend $1,047 this holiday season and many more are financing it with loans.  But experts worry that these loans, which come with high interest rates and additional fees, could make your holiday spending that much more expensive.

By could the "experts" mean will absolutely make your holiday spending that much more expensive. Also, something tells me on average people will spend more than $1,047 this year.

Quote
“If you’re going to have to pay interest on a loan to buy holiday presents, you're probably in a situation where you shouldn't be buying presents,” said Brian Boswell, a certified financial planner in Massachusetts.

Hopefully the author of the article misquoted Brian or accidentally misheard him say the word probably

That was pretty much my thoughts reading the article. One of the things I appreciate about this forum is knowing I'm not the only person who notices the "experts" aren't willing to go on the record with the hard facts... Is it so hard to say definitively that borrowing money for gifts is a bad idea instead of hedging about it "could be more expensive"

The corporate powers that be probably would not have let anything more definitive be printed.

MoneyQuirk

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Re: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« Reply #8 on: December 02, 2019, 02:45:20 PM »
Wow. Just wow.

If I was living that close to the edge I'd just say, "hey family! Got y'all some nice home-made gifts :)". My sister is in college right now so she'll give me some chocolate-covered pretzels every year. Still one of my favorite gifts because they're so tasty.

By the River

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Re: 1/3 of Americans “plan” to finance the holidays...
« Reply #9 on: December 03, 2019, 02:02:12 PM »
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/holiday-shopping-loan-205703016.html

1/3 planning to finance holiday spending this year... 1/6 are still paying for last year’s financing. I can’t even imagine. Which is probably why I am no longer flat broke.

We ordered some living room furniture on black Friday (yea, grown-up Christmas presents).  Our current 14 year old set lasted three boys from pre-teenagers to the last one going to college.  The old set of course will move to the game room where the even older set will move to a college apartment.  The store offered 0% financing for a year and as the set will come in in a few weeks, we will probably be considered as financing both this year and still paying next year (last payment should be January 2021).  I'm assuming this isn't what they meant.