TORONTO, ON - December 15, 2016 /CNW/ - A recent poll by Scotiabank shows that the majority of Canadians are planning to set a budget for their spending this holiday season. In fact, nearly two thirds of Canadians have set a holiday budget for themselves, planning to spend an average of $815 this year, up $71 dollars from last year.

"77% of the Canadians we polled said that gifts are the biggest expense over the holidays. But there are lots of other factors to consider when setting a holiday budget including time off work, entertaining friends and family, holiday decor and even travel," said Mike Henry, Executive Vice President, Retail Payments, Deposits and Unsecured Lending at Scotiabank. "Setting a realistic budget and sticking to it can take a lot of stress out of the season, and plays an important role in your overall financial planning. Scotiabank offers tools and advice to help you stay on track, not just over the holiday season, but all year long."

We asked Canadians who have set holiday spending budgets how they plan to stick to them this year:

• 34% plan to limit the amount of gifts they buy
• 30% are planning to shop at discount retailers
• 21% plan to redeem their loyalty rewards points to purchase gifts

Rewards are a consistent theme this year when it comes to holiday spending. Over half of Canadians choose their holiday shopping card based on the quality and value of the rewards it offers (cash back, value of rewards or its redemption categories). Additionally, almost two in five Canadians (38%) will use their debit card when shopping for the holidays, followed by one quarter who will use a Visa card and one quarter who will use a MasterCard.

"We know that Canadians look for value and options when choosing their credit, debit and prepaid cards year round, especially over the holidays. However, only a small number of Canadians say they are currently receiving rewards on their debit card," continued Henry. "Scotiabank is the only Bank that offers customers a wide variety of choice and rewards on all their debit purchases enabling our customers to put their holiday spending to work for them."

Additional Survey Details:

• Most Canadians are still shopping in-store for the bulk of their holiday purchases (64%), 28% plan to do most of their shopping online.
• One in four (26%) Canadians who set a holiday budget say they are not concerned about sticking to it.

About the Survey:
The poll was conducted by Nielsen on behalf of Scotiabank. A total of 1,519 online interviews were conducted nationally with Canadians 18+. The poll was conducted from November 30 to December 2, 2016.

*Canadians refers to 'Canadians planning to celebrate the holiday season'.

About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is Canada's international bank and a leading financial services provider in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and Asia-Pacific. We are dedicated to helping our 23 million customers become better off through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 88,000 employees and assets of $896 billion (as at October 31, 2016), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (TSX: BNS) and New York Exchanges (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

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For media enquiries only:
Allison Watkin
Public, Corporate and Government Affairs
Scotiabank
T: 416.866.4039
M: 647.926.7847
E: allison.watkin@scotiabank.com