5 January is the second day of the year with the highest card charges in Spain, after Black Friday
On the day before Epiphany, amounts charged to credit cards were 37% higher than the daily average in the rest of the year, and the number of consumers increases by 30%, according to data from Bankinter Consumer Finance.
After ‘Black Friday’, which is the day with the most shopping in the year, 5 January 2018 was the day with the most card payments, with an average spending amount of 83.71 euros.
5 January, the day before Epiphany, was the second day of the year with the highest credit card charges in 2018. In particular, Spanish consumers spent 37% more than the yearly average.
In the days leading up to Epiphany, the number of people making card purchases increases by 30% with respect to any other day of the year. The day before 6 January, when the Three Kings visit Spanish households, the average amount spent with card is 83.71 euros, according to the latest data from 2018.
These data provided by Bankinter Consumer Finance, based on its credit card users’ consumption, show once more that Spanish consumers like to do part of their holiday shopping at the last minute. Nonetheless, they also indicate that, in some cases, they are more far-sighted and wait to buy presents during sales periods like Black Friday.
Spanish consumers make their largest purchases on the day before Epiphany in supermarkets, which account for almost 20% of all card payments made on that day. This is followed by clothing purchases, at almost 12%; and hypermarkets and large department stores, at almost 9%.
But not all Spanish consumers wait until the last minute to shop for the holidays. In La Rioja, the Valencian Community and Asturias, consumers are the most far-sighted, charging smaller amounts on that day (68 euros, 76.1 euros and 78.28, respectively).
On the other hand, in Cantabria, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, consumers charge the most to their cards on the day before Epiphany, spending, on average, 91.63 euros, 91.89 euros and 90.41 euros, respectively.
About Bankinter Consumer Finance
Bankinter Consumer Finance, Bankinter Group’s wholly-owned consumer credit subsidiary, is one of the credit entities that have experienced the most growth in Spain in recent years. It follows the prudential credit risk policy in place in Bankinter. At the end of the third quarter of 2018, this company had 1.2 million customers, up by 22% from last year, with a total of 244,000 new customers in the first nine months of this year. Its loan portfolio totalled 1.8 billion euros, up 38% year on year.