逛商店要避免積累一大筆高額的債務

Alex spent ￡675 on a washing machine and a fridge-freezer from Littlewoods, opting to “buy now pay later”. At the time his income was sufficient to make the repayments before the end of the interest-free period, but when he was suddenly made redundant he couldn’t afford to repay the debt in time, and then an interest rate of 39% kicked in.

亞力克斯在小森林（Littlewoods）網站採用“先買後付”的方式，花了675英鎊，購買了一臺洗衣機和一臺雙門冰箱。當時他的收入足以在免息結束時限之內還清所欠債務，但是當他突然被裁員之後，他無法及時償清債務，然後就開始要承擔39%的高額利息。

“Suddenly the payments went up from about ￡130 to ￡250 a month and I didn’t have the cash,” he says. “Buy now pay later seemed the easy option, but looking back I should have just saved up the money for a couple of months. It was naivety on my part.”

他說“他每月的還款額突然從130上升到了250英鎊，而且我沒有現金。但是現在後支付似乎是一種很簡單的選擇，但是回首以前，我應該花幾個月時間來攢錢。就我個人而言，我還是太天真了！”

Consumer credit sees fastest growth in 10 years

消費信貸在10年間增長速度最快

Alex sought advice from debt charity StepChange, and with its help reached an agreement with Littlewoods. In total he repaid ￡1,130, nearly twice the amount he borrowed. “I will never have a catalogue debt again,” he says, “If I want something I’ll save up for it.”

亞力克斯從信貸慈善機構步驟轉變（StepChange）尋求建議，在這一機構的幫助下，他與小森林達成了協議。他最終總共支付了1130英鎊，這是他當時借款額的兩倍。他說“我再也不會積攢一大筆貸款了。如果我想要什麼東西，我會攢夠錢再購買。”

Alex’s difficulties were compounded by the fact that interest rates on goods bought from catalogues tend to be higher than those on mainstream credit. At this time of year it can be tempting to use these firms to buy Christmas gifts, but finance experts warn that if you’re not going to pay off your borrowing quickly, you could end up paying a high price.

購買商品的利息率比那些主流的信用貸款利息率要高很多，這一事實讓亞力克斯的困境變得更加糟糕。在今年的這個時候，利用這些公司去購買聖誕禮物是很誘人的選擇，但是金融專家警示稱，如果你不打算進款付完貸款，你可能最終會需要支付更高的價格。

Traditional catalogues such as Freemans and Littlewoods have been around for decades. They allowed customers to shop at home and spread the cost with a range of payment options. The rise of the internet means these brands now operate online, and have been joined by a host of catalogue-style firms selling clothes, gadgets, gifts and furniture.

傳統的商品購物網站比如自由人（Freemans）和小森林（Littlewoods）已經有幾十年的歷史。它們允許消費者在家購物，而且可以通過多種支付方法來付款。網購趨勢的逐漸上升，意味着這些品牌現在開始在網上操作交易，而且還吸引了許多商品類公司的加入，從賣衣服，小玩意，禮物到賣傢俱，商品琳琅滿目。