Get Out Of The Red This Black Friday

Did you know that Canadians spent an estimated $13.4 billion over Black Friday weekend last year? That is mind blowing. To put that figure in perspective, that is a greater dollar value than the annual GDP of Iceland.

And that was 2014. In 2015, CTV News says that this Black Friday is projecting to be the largest on record. According to CTV, Canadian consumers have experienced a shift in shopping patterns over the last couple of years, with more and more Canadians deciding to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday as opposed to Boxing Day. With Canadians opening their wallets, it is a near certainty that bank accounts will shrink and credit card statements will swell.

Now, we aren’t grinches at Borrowell. We aren’t going to lecture you to not spend a dime this Black Friday. However, what worries us is that Canadians put a significant portion of that spending on credit cards — especially as online spending grows in significance.  There is “double digit growth” in e-commerce in Canada, which outpaces overall growth in physical retail spending.

More than 25% of Canadians said they are likely to purchase goods online this Black Friday.  Unless the vendor accepts alternative payment methods, that means using a credit card to make the purchases. We also know that nearly half of Canadians carry a credit card balance month to month. We estimate that there will potentially be billions of dollars in credit card debt added this weekend.

With credit cards carrying rates of 19.9% or 29.9% APR, this is not okay. A lot of Canadians are going to be put into the red this weekend.

But we’re optimists. We think that Black Friday can be a period to get out of the red (credit card debt) and into the black (credit card debt free). Not the other way around. At Borrowell, we’re all about getting the best deal possible. That’s why we think holiday spending shouldn’t be left to collect interest on a credit card.

If you’re carrying a balance on your credit card, Borrowell is a great option to pay it off. If you need to purchase a big ticket item online, don’t let the expense collect interest on your credit card. What is best is if you can pay off all your big ticket items with cash.

If you can’t pay off your credit card balance with cash this month, a low-rate loan from Borrowell might be right for you. With Borrowell, you can move that high interest credit card debt to a low rate personal loan and save thousands.

Still not convinced? Check out this post for the Top 10 Reasons you should move credit card debt to Borrowell.