“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” – but it’s always the most expensive. More and more Brits are turning to Christmas loans to help them pay for the ever-increasing cost of this fun, brilliant, warm, and relaxing winter holiday.

In this article, Oyster Loan looks at taking out a payday loan or a short-term loan for Christmas and we compare it with two other popular forms of holiday finance – credit cards and bank overdrafts.

Why is Christmas so Expensive?

There are the presents – that’s a big expense especially if you have younger children living at home and within your wider circle of friends and family members. Christmas dinner is wondrously over the top with many family members challenging each other to see how many platefuls they can eat. Sometimes, a Christmas dinner can cost more than a normal week’s shopping.

Travel often adds to the cost as does hiring holiday cottages for family get-togethers.

All that spending is concentrated in a short two-week period of the year. For the self-employed, it can be even more expensive because they may not be able to work for two to three weeks, as their customers are too busy concentrating on getting ready for the holiday season.

It’s no surprise that Christmas loans and holiday loans are often relied upon by Brits to help them have the best possible time during the festive period.

Christmas Loan – What’s Available?

If you’re looking for a small amount of money in a hurry, you may wish to consider a payday loan or a short-term loan. With these types of Christmas loans and holiday loans, there’s extra protection available to make sure you’re treated fairly at all times.

A payday loan is a loan, which you pay back within 30 days, normally on the day that your wages are paid. A short-term loan is for up to 12 months.

There are companies set up to offer these Christmas loans and holiday loans even if you have a poor credit rating.

Christmas Loan Versus Credit Cards

There are over 160,000,000 credit cards in existence in the UK – around three credit cards for every person on our islands. We can expect to see credit cards playing a major part in families using finance to buy presents and meet their expenses for Christmas.

Credit cards have lower interest rates in general than payday loans and short-term loans. However, if you only make minimum repayment every month, you could be paying for this Christmas still in 10 years from now having paid a huge amount of interest.

It’s always better to clear a credit card balance every month. If it’s not possible for you, try to be disciplined and pay down a greater amount than the minimum required each month.

Christmas Loan Versus Bank Overdraft

Bank overdrafts are another type of finance, which gets used a lot by people during Christmas time. Overdrafts are generally much cheaper than payday loans or short-term loans. However, if you find yourself going past your overdraft limit into an unauthorised overdraft, you may pay fees in excess of what you’d have paid to a payday loan or short-term loan company.

Don’t Borrow More Than You Need If you Take out a Christmas Loan

There’s nothing wrong with celebrating in a lavish way with family, friends, and loved ones during Christmas. If you decide that a Christmas loan is right for you and your family, Oyster Loan offers you the following tips to make sure that you stay on top of your finances:

• Only borrow what you have to
• If you’re buying presents, make sure you shop around to get the best deal
• If a retailer is offering finance and it looks value for money, use their finance if it’s cheaper than a payday loan or a short-term loan. Remember to consider both the monthly repayment amount and the overall interest you’ll pay
• Make sure that you can comfortably meet any repayments you need to make on-time and in full with a payday Christmas loan or a holiday short-term loan

With payday loans and short-term loans, you’ll pay a higher interest rate than on an authorised bank overdraft or a credit card. However, many borrowers prefer a payday loan or a short-term loan because they know the days when they need to make repayments and for how much. Better still, once the loan has been paid off, it’s gone forever. With a bank overdraft or credit card, there is no end date and this is a trap, which lures people into paying far more than they should.

Compare Holiday and Christmas Loan Quotes with Oyster Loan

If you’re interested in taking out a Christmas loan, let Oyster Loan work to find the best deal for you and your family. We’re not a lender – we’re a broker. Think of us as a financial matchmaker who’s never happier than when they’ve paired a happy borrower and a happy lender.

Just like the best dating sites, the reason we get such a high success rate for borrowers is that we take time to find out about you and we take time to find out about lenders. The more we know about both, the better we are able to bring you together.

First, start off by telling us a little bit about you. Your name, your address, your mobile number, where you work, who you work for, how much you want to borrow and over what time period, the bank account to pay the loan into, and a bit more.

We’ll take this information together with your credit report and our computer algorithm will automatically match what you’ve told us to the details that lenders have provided us with on their ideal borrower.

We’ll then show all the offers that lenders have. You’re free to accept or reject any offer – and you’re never charged for using our service in any way.

If you decide to proceed with your loan, simply sign the online paperwork. The money will be in your account within hours if the lenders and we have all the necessary details. And we suggest you read the Terms & Conditions of the lender to know the details of the deal. You are free to cancel the loan within 14 days of taking it out although you will be charged interest for the time your loan was active.

To start your application, please Click Here.