January is one of the busiest months of the year for transferring balances between credit cards and for taking out personal loans for debt consolidation.

Sainsbury’s Bank research indicates that only 52% of people expect to clear their Christmas spending by the end of January, with 8% expecting it to take longer than 12 months. The bank estimates that up to 433,800personal loans worth around £4.8 billionwill be taken out between January and March 2007 for debt consolidation purposes.

Steven Baillie, loans manager, Sainsbury’s Bank said: “Consolidating your debts into one personal loan which charges a lower rate of interest can mean that you could save hundreds of pounds in repayments.”

Sainsbury’s Bank personal loans start at 6.5% APR typical. In addition to some of the most competitive rates in the marketplace, customers taking out a Sainsbury’s Bank loan can choose to make no repayments for the first three months, receive an instant decision and have their money transferred directly into their bank account.