Consumers are finding financial pressures are taking some of the joys away from the holiday season, the credit reporting agency Experian said in a survey released Tuesday.
According to the poll, 41 percent of shoppers felt obligated to spend more than they could afford on gifts. The number zooms up to 60 percent for consumers reporting that gift-giving puts a strain on their finances.
Not surprisingly, the higher the income of the respondents, the less stress they feel. Yet nearly a third of shoppers from households with over $100,000 per year in income said they found they had to resist pressure to add to credit card debt.
People making less than $50,000 per year said they usually plan to spend about $400 on gifts, while those earning $100,000 and more raised the number to more than $1,300.
Parents on average are targeting $989 as their spending figure, a number that dips to $683 for non-parents.
Almost four in 10 shoppers said they spend more on holiday gifts than they had budgeted for, while one in 10 said they usually spend less.
Still, with all the money stress, the number of those who said crowds were the bigger holiday shopping aggravation (at 27 percent) nearly doubled the number of those who said the effect of gift-giving on budgets was more aggravating (14 percent).
The survey is based on a poll of 1,035 American adults 18 and over from October 28 to November 3.