More than a quarter of Americans plan to take on debt ahead of Christmas

Congratulations! You made it through the worst of the advertisement extravaganza that comes in the days after Thanksgiving as Americans are bombarded with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday deals.
The bad news: this holiday shopping season is causing Americans to pile on debt as they hit stores in droves.
According to a MarketWatch survey, 27 percent of Americans plan to take on holiday debt this shopping season while 57 percent said they usually exceed their holiday spending budget.
“When you consider credit card interest rates are over 20 percent, carrying a balance from month to month makes everything you bought much more expensive,” said Andrea Woroch, a consumer spending expert.
The MarketWatch survey found 67 percent of Americans said they used credit cards for their holiday gift purchases with 12 percent saying they’re still paying off balances from last year’s holiday shopping season with an average debt balance of $621.
If that’s you, then Woroch has some suggestions on how to better manage your debt this year.
“Have the gift talk with family and friends,” Woroch said. “This means setting gift expectations [and] suggesting maybe you focus on just the kids this year. Or maybe you set up a secret Santa exchange where you buy just one gift rather than buying multiple family members or friends gifts.”
Woroch also suggests opening a new credit card for your purchases or transferring any existing debt to a balance transfer card that could offer you a chance to pay off your debt interest free for a certain period.
Many balance transfer credit card move your outstanding debt from one or more credit cards onto a new card, typically with a lower interest rate. There is sometimes a transfer fee — usually 3.5 percent — but the balance transfer credit cards feature a low or 0% introductory APR, allowing you to save money on interest payments over the long run.
The MarketWatch survey found late holiday shoppers — those who begin on or after Dec. 1 — typically spend nearly half as much on gifts as those who start their gift shopping before October, spending an average of $570 compared to $972.