It’s barely three weeks away from Christmas, and stores have long displayed Christmas gift items in shelves and gondolas to attract even the most spendthrift buyers around. Christmas songs float in the air … eagerly saying “Christmas is almost here”!
Most people are raring to shop for Christmas gifts that were listed months ago. Who are these people? I’d say they are those who have enough money saved for the most awaited season of gift buying and gift giving.
But what about those who plan to spend less this Christmas season?
According to recent surveys, most people intend to spend less this Christmas holiday. This is because most people learned from the previous years’ sad and bad experience that spending more than what they can actually afford is very dangerous. A lot of those who splurged during last year’s Christmas holiday rush using “the plastic” regretted having spent more than what they can actually pay off in a year. Today, many are still burdened with debts payments from purchases made a year ago.
However, even with this grim scenario, it is anticipated that despite the plan to spend less, more of these consumers will still be relying on their credit cards to fund their Christmas shopping this year. The plan is simple: spend less but still use the credit card in the purchases to spread the cost of credit over a longer period of time.
There’s good news and bad news in this.
The good news is, for credit card holders who wish to make the best purchases this holiday season, credit card companies have come up with promotional programs to entice cardholders to use their cards instead of cash when shopping this Christmas.
For instance, Citi credit card offers their cardholders the “Holiday Sweepstakes” which will award winners with $10 to $10,000 prepaid cards for every purchase they make. Also, Citi credit card offers the “Super Special”, granting discounts of up to 60% on shopping and travel.
In-store 0% deals are also on the rise, and so with Credit Card Rewards.
The bad news is this: These increasingly available credit card offers for interest free periods, air miles, discounts, prepaid cards, can, at some point, tip the balance and destroy plans to spend less and not use the plastic in the purchases. Therefore, if the consumers and credit card holders are NOT vigilant, they might end up loosing more instead of gaining something of great value from these credit card offers.
So what’s the best tip for all of you this Christmas season?
o Avoid holiday debt by following the 1.5 percent rule: don’t spend more than 1.5 percent of your total gross income on holiday-related expenses. If you’re in debt, consider spending less than 1 percent.
o Do your Christmas shopping with a well thought-of Christmas list. Then stick to it!
o And if you ever find a good credit card offer, take it. But always pay before, or exactly on, the due date.
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