Christmas lunch is over, all the presents are unwrapped. Now comes the hard part: paying for it all.

If you’re in that position, you’re not alone. Personal credit and charge-card balances racking up interest hit a four-year high of A$18.4 billion in September this year – even before the Black Friday and Christmas sales.

Last year, a survey for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) found almost half of Australian adults with debt had struggled to make repayments in the past 12 months.

That same survey for ASIC found Millennials aged in their late 20s to early 40s were the generation most likely to experience financial hardship. Yet most were unaware of their right to apply for hardship help through their lender.

Especially at this time of year, it’s easy to rack up big bills on credit cards or buy now, pay later payments. Here’s what you need to know about starting to repay those common debts, especially if you have more than one loan.

Over recent years, credit has overtaken cash to be the second most popular way to buy things in Australia, behind only debit cards, which tend to have........

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