Spanish consumers will spend an average 430 euros with their credit cards at Christmas
According to data from Bankinter Consumer Finance, credit card spending at Christmastime will remain stable with respect to last year, growing, on average, by 15 euros (3.6%) per person versus 2015, the year with lowest card spending recorded at Christmas in the decade (416 euros). Nonetheless, it will still be 31 euros less than the average amount spent at Christmas in 2010 (461 euros), the year with the highest spending.
Travel and airfare, supermarket purchases and (in third place) telephones and electronics are what Spanish consumers spend the most money on at Christmas.
By autonomous region, Basques, Madrilenians and Cantabrians spend the most with their cards at this time of year.
Christmas is one of the times of year in which Spanish consumers increase their purchases. Card payments spike significantly from 1 December to 6 January, with respect to other periods in the year.
According to statistics from Bankinter Consumer Finance, compiled from transactions made with over one million bankintercard credit cards, this Christmas Spanish consumers are expected to spend, on average, 430 euros with their credit cards. By and large, this figure matches last year’s Christmas spending amount. It is also 3.6% higher (15 euros) than in 2015, the year in which card spending reached a decade low (415 euros) and began to rebound in the season. Nonetheless, despite recent increases, spending will still be 31 euros less than the 461 euros spent in 2010, the highest at Christmastime card spending average in the last ten years marked by the financial crisis.
In this context, it is important to consider that increasingly more Christmas shopping is done early on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, phenomena which have already become part of Spanish consumption habits. This transfers part of Christmas spending to the end of November.
Travel and airfare, at the top of the shopping list
At Christmas, many people return home for the season’s various festivities, which has a direct impact on credit card use. According to statistics from Bankinter Consumer Finance, in 2017, most purchases Spanish consumers made with their cards were for travel and airfare, with an average spending amount of 237 euros per card. In 2018, statistics show that travel and airfare will be, yet again, the number one reason for card payments.
Last year, they were followed by supermarket purchases, with an average spending amount of 167 euros, also in connection with Christmas shopping. And, in third place, spending will go towards telephones and electronics, with an average charge amount of 148 euros.
Basques, Madrilenians and Cantabrians spend the most at Christmas
The autonomous regions at the top of the Christmas credit card spending list in 2017 were the Basque Country, the Region of Madrid and Cantabria, averaging 485 euros, 465 euros and 450 euros per card, respectively.
On the other hand, Extremadurans, Galicians and Andalusians were more moderate spenders, reaching an average card spending amount of 361 euros, 378 euros and 382 euros, respectively, during the holiday season.
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.