Holiday Shoppers Need a Firm Plan to Avoid Holiday Debt AICCCA Offers Four Step Holiday Shopping Solution


Fairfax, VA - November 22, 2005 — Retailers are decorating stores and planning to offer deep savings in preparation for consumers to visit and buy. AICCCA encourages consumers to take a cue from the retail industry and do some preparation of their own by creating a spending plan.

"Shopping without a plan makes it virtually impossible to spend only what you can afford," said Dave Jones, president, Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies. "Many consumers, without plans, are still paying for last year's holiday spending when the new holiday shopping season arrives."

AICCCA Four Step Holiday Shopping Solution


1. Learn from the past. If you overspent at the holidays last year, take a look at your checkbook and bank and credit card statements to help determine where you got off track. You may have overlooked the extra food and decorating costs or you might have gone overboard with gifts. Whatever the reason you overspent, it is much easier to correct the unwise spending behavior this year if you know what you forgot or your weak points. Likewise, if you stayed within a budget and did not overspend last year, make sure you do the same things again this year.
   
   
2. Take a realistic look at your finances to establish a spending limit. In order to establish a spending limit with which to stay within, you need to know how much money you will have available for holiday shopping. It is important to be realistic. If you are planning to use credit for some purchases, make sure the amount you plan to charge is only as much as you can pay off within 90 days of the original purchase. Combine the amount of money you have available in cash and the credit limit you have established and that is your spending limit.
   
   
3. Commit to paper how you plan to spend. Now that you have an established spending limit, it is time to decide how you will spend it. Write down everything that you are planning to buy with a dollar amount attached. Include gifts, with an idea of how much you will spend for each person on your list, decorations, cards, food, travel and anything else that will come out of your holiday spending limit. Total all the items to make sure you are within your limit. If you are not, you will need to go back and make changes. One simple way to decide where to cut back is to prioritize your list. If gifts are most important, put them first and then spend less on the items that remain on the list.
   
   
4. Follow the plan. A good plan is only as good as the follow through. Track your purchases carefully. Pay particular attention to your credit card purchases and make sure you add them up as you go along. Unlike cash that is gone from your wallet once used to make a purchase, a plastic card remains. If you stray from the plan and spend more than you anticipated on a gift or anything else, be sure to make adjustments to the remaining items on your list to remain within your spending limit.

By following the AICCCA Four Step Holiday Shopping Solution consumers can enjoy the holiday shopping season without worrying about how they will pay their bills when 2006 arrives.

Founded in 1993, Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies (AICCCA) is a national membership organization, established to promote quality and consistent delivery of credit counseling services. AICCCA and its members are focused on improved creditor relations, efficient processes and advanced technology to best serve clients and creditors. AICCCA members are independent nonprofit agencies that advocate for debtors, counsel millions of consumers annually nationwide and provide debt management services to consumers with excessive unsecured debt. For more information or to contact an AICCCA member office call (800) 450-1794 or visit www.aiccca.org.