13% Have Not Paid Off Christmas 2011

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Consumer Reports says 13 percent of Americans are still paying off credit cards that they ran up to buy 2011’s holiday gifts.

That may be one reason more Americans plan to budget this holiday season – 52 percent – compared with last year’s 41 percent, according to Consumer Reports’ national survey. Among those who bought their 2011 gifts with credit cards, 58 percent paid them off by the end of January and another 13 percent in February – hats off to them. But the rest waited. Some are still waiting.

I can relate.

In the interest of encouraging Squared Away readers to reveal their financial failings in the comments area below, here’s one of mine: a credit card balance averaging $2,500 for more than 20 years. It’s embarrassing, and yes, this personal finance blogger knows why it’s important to pay off a credit card charging nearly 15 percent interest – what a waste of a few thousand dollars I could’ve put in my401(k), for instance.

During the Christmas and Hanukkah doorbusters season, we are all even more vulnerable to the impulse buys that can swamp us, making the New Year, well, not so happy.

“We have a mental ideal about what Christmas is,” said David Robinson, owner of Robinson Financial Associates in Portland, Maine. When giving to friends and family, he said, “you want them to like the gift, and you want them to feel good, and you want everyone to have a good Christmas.”

Back to my credit card problem. I started using credit to supplement my $18,000 salary in my first job. Later, I spent money on furniture – anybody want to buy a floral floor rug? – a few medical bills, cooltrips, and lots of holiday gifts. One time, the card balance spiked to around $8,000. That was scary. I hammered it down to the $1,000 range, but it crept back up to $3,000 – more trips, probably, but who knows? This month, I finally paid off that lingering card. Whew!

This history, however, does not explain why I held the balance, especially in recent years when I’ve had enough in my bank account to pay it off. But didn’t. I confess: I wanted to hold on to my cash. And I wanted my savings account to appear larger than it really was.

Of course, this makes no sense. Why do you think economists call debt “dissaving?” But emotions and money are a volatile mix: having a bigger bank account somehow made me feel safer – more prepared for emergencies perhaps.

I have embarrassed myself before you, reader, to make a simple point: everyone – rich or poor, young or old, personal finance blogger or not – has unclaimed emotions about their money. When I was running up the card, I rationalized that I would pay it off within the year. One year spilled into the next, and it’s not like $30, $50, $100 a month in interest was an unbearable hardship. I was just irrational – and stupid, financially.

In the spirit of the holidays, will you share your financial failing – and how you conquered it?