5 Holiday Shopping Tips
- Avoid interest & finance charges. Sure, Christmas may be the time for gift giving. But don’t overdo it. Try to pay for your Christmas purchases with your savings, not your plastic. If you have to charge your Christmas purchases to a credit card, make sure you use your lowest interest-rate card. Pay off your balance as quickly as possible to minimize finance charges. Don’t buy anything you can’t afford.
- Earn rewards. If you have a rewards credit card, by all means, use it. The extra expenses associated with Christmas and the holidays present a valuable opportunity to earn rewards from your purchases.
- Keep your wallet & belongings safe. With all the busy-ness in the malls and shopping centers, keep careful track of your wallet. The last thing you want is to misplace all your credit cards at Christmas-time! As always, you should keep a list of account numbers and customer service phone numbers in a safe place at home, in case your cards are lost or stolen. Make sure you lock your car doors and keep valuables out of sight in the trunk.
- Use a temporary, single-use card number when purchasing online. Most credit cards these days allow you to generate online a free temporary card number. The temporary number is linked to your account and is valid for only one purchase. If that credit card number is stolen or compromised, it won’t matter because it expires after a single transaction. See your credit card company’s website for details.
- Plan ahead for next year. You shouldn’t restrict all your Christmas shopping to between Thanksgiving and Christmas! Many stores offer great after-Christmas sales – the perfect time to pick up gifts for next Christmas. If Christmas expenses always catch you by surprise, consider working Christmas into your budget. Determine how much you’re willing to spend on Christmas and divide that by 12 months. Every month, put some money away in a savings account for Christmas gifts. (We recommend the ING Direct Orange Savings account, which has a highest savings yield in the country.)
