Most Holiday Shoppers Still Paying-Off Last Season's Debt

As the holiday season approaches, the pressure to spend spikes. This year, gift-buying Americans plan to spend $660 on average for the all the items they will be giving.

That’s according to new data from NerdWallet’s 2017 Consumer Holiday Shopping Report, which analyzed the spending and behavior trends of more than 2,000 Americans aged 18 and over.

And holiday-induced debt is a growing problem. Although survey respondents say they plan to spend roughly the same amount as they spent last year, 24 percent of shoppers say they overspent in 2016, while 27 percent admit to not making a budget at all. But even making a budget is only a good start.

“There’s this myth that planning ahead and budgeting always ensures you don’t overspend. But in reality, creating and even sticking to a budget won’t make you immune to holiday debt,” Courtney Jespersen, a consumer savings expert at NerdWallet, says in the survey. “It’s so important to set a realistic ceiling for your spending.”

During the 2016 season, boomers proved most likely to take on debt to finance their purchases, with 63 percent of respondents admitting to the habit. Other generations took on debt as well, including 58 percent of Gen-Xers and 40 percent of millennials.

What’s alarming about this pattern is many Americans are still carrying last year’s debt as they head into yet another holiday season.

Millennials are the worst culprits in this case. Twenty-four percent still haven’t paid off credit card debt incurred during the 2016 shopping season, while 16 percent of Gen-Xers haven’t along with 8 percent of boomers.