[Gusto Brunt]

I know someone who is taking out a £700 loan to buy Christmas presents.

Dunno if she'll pay it back on time, or the interest rate.

But it wouldn't be me. I don't have much money anyway, but I wouldn't borrow money for presents. It's insane putting yourself in debt to buy gifts.

Madness. What do you think.

[LeatherTrumpet]

depends if you have kids

[thesheriff443]

No I would not, if someone can afford to pay the loan back without neglecting other responsibility's then its not a problem.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

depends if you have kids

.

Not now they are bigger as they would understand if we didn't have the cash and they rarely ask for anything, its a real struggle trying to buy stuff for them

I would never get into debt buying gifts for adults..

[smudgie]

Very difficult for a straight yes/no answer.
On the one hand, if you can afford to repay a loan then it makes more sense to put that little bit aside beforehand and not have interest to pay.
On the other hand life is not that simple and bills land on the doorstep.
Personally I would not borrow to pay for Xmas, but we could put stuff away and then collect it when it was paid for, don't know if you can still do this nowadays.

[LeatherTrumpet]

when i was a kid toys were relatively affordable and kids wanted toys like matchbox, scalextric, lego, barbie, kerplunk, operation, magic robot etc

now its ps4, iphone, ipad and these are high ticket items

If you are a 12 year old boy who does not have an xbox or a ps4 then i guess you feel like a leper so i get why low income parents do get into debt

[Niamh.]

Thankfully I've never been in a situation like that where I've had to borrow short term (even though I've put things on the credit card for Christmas, does that count? It's a loan of sorts ) I'd hope to never be in that situation where I'd find it difficult to give my kids a good Christmas, I think especially if you have young kids it must be difficult if you're struggling financially, I agree with Cherie though my kids are teens now so understand life more so I think they'd be ok with a smaller Christmas if something bad happened and we couldn't afford to go all out

[caprimint]

Definitely not, it stresses me out having to pay £1 back to someone on the very rare occasion this happens (eg. if I have no money with me at that moment in time).

[bitontheslide]

i completely understand how parents get into debt at Christmas, there is way, way too much commercial pressure applied. You watch the adverts and its all designed to increase kids expectations and guilt adults.

[Nicky91]

no, of course not

[Livia]

No, of course not. But you don't have to spend bundles... when I was at uni and very poor, a bunch of friends and I decided we'd do a secret Santa and have a £3 limit on presents, see who could be most inventive. Luckily there are lots of charity shops in Cambridge... I got a photo frame that I still have and use.

Edit: Yeah, reading through... it must be tough to parents on a tight budget. I can totally see why some would borrow, even though they knew it wasn't their smartest move.

[Kazanne]

It's really hard when they want phones video consoles,I usually try to buy all year round and look around for bargains etc, plus I do have a catalogue which is kind of a debt I suppose.

[LeatherTrumpet]

Originally Posted by Gusto Brunt

I know someone who is taking out a £700 loan to buy Christmas presents.

Dunno if she'll pay it back on time, or the interest rate.

But it wouldn't be me. I don't have much money anyway, but I wouldn't borrow money for presents. It's insane putting yourself in debt to buy gifts.

Madness. What do you think.

how many kids do you have?

[Gusto Brunt]

So the general consensus is no. I guess the size of the loan is excessive.

No one would maybe condemn her for borrowing £80-£100. But at £700 it sounds like she is after buying expensive presents, which is daft.

Thanks for your replies.

[Gusto Brunt]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

how many kids do you have?

None.

[Wizard.]

Yes if I could pay it back and didn’t have any money at the time but I would get a seasonal job first so that I could pay for stuff.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Gusto Brunt

So the general consensus is no. I guess the size of the loan is excessive.

No one would maybe condemn her for borrowing £80-£100. But at £700 it sounds like she is after buying expensive presents, which is daft.

Thanks for your replies.

£700 isn't excessive if you have kids, £80-£100 would get you nothing (that kids are into these days anyway)

[LeatherTrumpet]

Originally Posted by Gusto Brunt

None.

exactly

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Kazanne

It's really hard when they want phones video consoles,I usually try to buy all year round and look around for bargains etc, plus I do have a catalogue which is kind of a debt I suppose.

It is for many,the pressures are likely enormous too.

I heard in the supermarket in recent times,2 things I find both sad and disturbing.
One was a woman telling some others she and her family were having Chicken that year.
When she went off,the others said what a cheap Christmas dinner that must be going to be.

Then a Lady with her grandson was saying to him,she hadn't a single idea what to get him for Christmas.
To which he said,oh Gran just get me a PlayStation game,and proceeded to tell her a choice.

Expectations,not wanting to seem mean,not wanting to feel sub standard or a failure to family.
Must create enormous pressures on Parents to set out to provide as best they can.
Which may mean taking on unaffordable debt probably.

Really sad Christmas has gone so crazily commercialised,for me it is anyway.

[Josy]

I wouldn't no.

I do agree with others abut it being a struggle at Christmas for some parents though, especially with the cost of the things they want, iphones, ipads and so on, kids obviously want the same things as all the other kids so parents feel pressured into giving them that stuff I guess, and if those parents have 3 or 4 kids that pressure must be even worse

[UserSince2005]

What kind of chav do that?
To keep the little chavlits happy?

[Vicky.]

Yes, and I will actually be doing that this year too :S

[Toy Soldier]

Have done in the past. This year we're actually struggling to think of ANYTHING they actually want or need . Spoiled little ****ers. So it's actually going to be a pretty cheap Christmas anyway simply because they don't need any "big items". Plus... well... I spend all of my money on awesome stuff anyway so they never need things like games consoles, gaming PCs, tablets, etc. We already have all the tech .

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Gusto Brunt

So the general consensus is no. I guess the size of the loan is excessive.

No one would maybe condemn her for borrowing £80-£100. But at £700 it sounds like she is after buying expensive presents, which is daft.

Thanks for your replies.

Do you understand the pressures on parents to ensure their kids are not at a disadvantage though or bullied because they haven't got the latest tech?

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Do you understand the pressures on parents to ensure their kids are not at a disadvantage though or bullied because they haven't got the latest tech?

exactly, I wouldn't get into debt at Christmas time for anyone except my kids