Most Canadians pay off holiday shopping bills by February

When combined with an earlier Visa study showing that 71 percent of credit card holders pay off their balances all or most of the time, holiday shoppers seem committed to tackling their credit card balances. During the 2004 holiday season, Canadians spent $15.2 billion on their Visa cards during peak season (November 26 to January 4), representing a ten percent increase over last year. To help Canadians manage their money after their holiday season spending, and all year long, Visa Canada today unveiled an updated, and enhanced version of the educational website, www.practicalmoneyskills.ca. Building on its comprehensive in-school finance program, the new site offers guidance and advice for Canadians who made New Years resolutions to improve their financial skills. Designed for the personal finance novice, the website uses everyday language to present a broad range of topics and skills including budgeting, saving and investing, banking, credit card, and debt management. There are also interactive tools and online calculators to assist users in understanding concepts like budgeting, interest, and saving for retirement. In addition to the new website, Visa is also focusing its efforts on the particular needs of new and lower-income Canadians. Educational brochures based on www.practicalmoneyskills.ca, will soon be available in French, Punjabi, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic, reflecting the most common languages spoken by new Canadians. These multilingual brochures will be distributed through a variety of outlets across Canada including literacy programs, Newcomer information centres, Employment Resource Centres, ESL classes, and other community-based agencies. Visa will also sponsor public, free of charge, question and answer sessions featuring well-known personal finance expert and author, Tony Martin. Visa has invested approximately $2 million in providing financial literacy-related resources for Canadians. Some of these tools include Choices and Decisions, a widely used, and well received school-based program to help young people understand and manage financial decisions, and Credit Cards: An Owners Manual, a useful guide to credit cards.