逛商店要避免积累一大笔高额的债务
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.
亚力克斯在小森林（Littlewoods）网站采用“先买后付”的方式，花了675英镑，购买了一台洗衣机和一台双门冰箱。当时他的收入足以在免息结束时限之内还清所欠债务，但是当他突然被裁员之后，他无法及时偿清债务，然后就开始要承担39%的高额利息。“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.”
他说“他每月的还款额突然从130上升到了250英镑，而且我没有现金。但是现在后支付似乎是一种很简单的选择，但是回首以前，我应该花几个月时间来攒钱。就我个人而言，我还是太天真了！”
Consumer credit sees fastest growth in 10 years
消费信贷在10年间增长速度最快
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.”
亚力克斯从信贷慈善机构步骤转变（StepChange）寻求建议，在这一机构的帮助下，他与小森林达成了协议。他最终总共支付了1130英镑，这是他当时借款额的两倍。他说“我再也不会积攒一大笔贷款了。如果我想要什么东西，我会攒够钱再购买。”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.
购买商品的利息率比那些主流的信用贷款利息率要高很多，这一事实让亚力克斯的困境变得更加糟糕。在今年的这个时候，利用这些公司去购买圣诞礼物是很诱人的选择，但是金融专家警示称，如果你不打算进款付完贷款，你可能最终会需要支付更高的价格。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.
传统的商品购物网站比如自由人（Freemans）和小森林（Littlewoods）已经有几十年的历史。它们允许消费者在家购物，而且可以通过多种支付方法来付款。网购趋势的逐渐上升，意味着这些品牌现在开始在网上操作交易，而且还吸引了许多商品类公司的加入，从卖衣服，小玩意，礼物到卖家具，商品琳琅满目。
