Playing the card game

When you have finished putting up your Christmas cards, turn your attention to the plastic variety and work out how you're going to pay off your festive spending.

Credit cards will take a battering this year, with an estimated £11.4bn being spent on them this month, according to payment trade body Apacs.

In an ideal world, this would all be on credit cards offering 0% interest deals until well into 2007. But for many of us, these debts will start racking up interest before the January sales start.

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