Name: Holiday debt can sneak up on you as the new year begins
Uploaded: 2025-12-30T16:46:23.728Z
Duration: 1 min 50 s
Description: The holidays come with a big cost. Holiday debt can sneak up on you as the new year begins.

The holidays come with a big cost. Holiday debt can sneak up on you as the new year begins.

Kansas City

As the holiday season concludes, financial experts are warning that credit card debt can accumulate unexpectedly, particularly for the half of Americans carrying balances into the new year. The increasing popularity of 'buy now, pay later' services, which often feature daily compounding interest, is making it easier for consumers to spend beyond their means.

Experts advise paying down holiday debt before interest accrues and recommend maintaining retirement contributions, even if budgets are tight. They also suggest avoiding 'buy now, pay later' deals unless the balance can be paid off within four to six weeks, highlighting the widespread use of these services for everyday purchases.

Holiday debt can sneak up on you as the new year begins

The holidays are winding down, but one expert says this is exactly the time of year when credit card debt can really sneak up on you. KSHB 41 consumer reporter Grant Stephens shows us why now is the time to take a hard look at how you're spending and borrowing grant. Yeah, good morning. The holidays come with a big cost, and if you're one of half of all Americans, you're actually carrying that credit card debt into the new year. So I talked to a local finance expert about helping people make some financial New Year's resolutions. We also have an instant gratification problem. What that is, is technology that is a digital version of layaway. This type of loan. It's interest compounding daily, and there's no forgiveness. A tackled in on by now pay later services and zeroed in on tackling debt that you built up over the holidays. Paying that debt down before any interest adds up into the next year, he says, don't sacrifice any savings for retirement. He wants you to keep putting money into your 401K even if your budget got tight. Make that a goal for this next year. Becker calls it not stealing from yourself, and he also warned about spending beyond your means, which of course has gotten easier and easier with the rise in by now pay later services. Those kind of services would become more and more popular because they're targeted to a younger audience and they're really easy to use a 5th of all US adults use them. Yeah, Grant, we were talking this morning. I talked to an expert before the holiday season about those by now pay leaders deals, and she said if you can't pay it off in about four to six weeks, probably best not to do it. And you and I talked about this too. He told you there were a large number of people using it for things like DoorDash brochures like it's prolific. Now everywhere you have the option of doing by now pay later. He says maybe make it a New Year's resolution not to do that next year. Back on those if you can't grant. Thank you very much.

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