Poll: most people will cut back, or spend nothing, on holiday purchases

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) A National Foundation for Credit Counseling(NFCC) poll indicates that the majority of consumers will cut back or spend nothing on holiday purchases.

According to the poll, which was posted on the NFCC web site, 50 percent of consumers say they will spend less on holiday purchases than they did last year; 37 percent said they plan to spend nothing at all due to financial distress. 11 percent planned on spending the same as they did in 2011; only three percent of respondents said they would be spending more.

While 87 percent of respondents plan to cut back or spend nothing in 2012, that has gone done since 2011. In 2011, 91 percent said they were planning on cutting back or spending nothing.

“This statistic speaks loudly, and underscores that consumers are not willing to repeat the mistakes of Christmases past by spending irresponsibly this year,” said Gail Cunningham, spokesperson for the NFCC.

FinancialHope Counseling and Education is a non-profit community service founded in Fort Wayne in 1965, and a local member of the NFCC. FinancialHope Counseling and Education is committed to helping people gain control of their finances by providing free budget counseling, Debt Management Programs, Financial Education, HUD approved Housing Counseling, approved Pre-File Bankruptcy Counseling and Education.

Financial Hope can be reached online at www.financialhope.org ; The Fort Wayne office is located at 4105 West Jefferson Boulevard in Fort Wayne, Indiana.