Credit card 'best option for large purchases'

Credit card 'best option for large purchases'

An expert has said credit cards are often the best option for people making large purchases.

Using a credit card to fund large purchases in the run-up to Christmas might be a better idea than opting to pay for items from a current account balance, an expert has said.

According to Mark Bower, managing director at online resource Money Maxim, such products provide consumers with greater levels of security than other options like savings accounts, meaning they are often a safer bet for purchases costing hundreds or thousands of pounds.

"Even if you only paid for part of the purchase on your credit card the protection applies to the whole purchase," he stated.

Mr Bower was speaking after Sainsbury's Finance published research last week (November 25th 2010) which indicated that 25.4 million adults in the UK now regularly make purchases online with their plastic.

And he went on to say that taking the time to search for goods on the internet before buying them on the high street is a good idea.

Meanwhile, research has found that many Brits spend money on their credit cards on the internet.

Consumers in the UK are spending an average of 192 on their credit cards through purchases over the internet every month, a study has found.

In news that may be of note to those with Sainsbury's savings, the supermarket bank has found that more than one million people are opting to use their credit card as opposed to their current account to fund over 1,000 worth of monthly purchases online.

This represents a total figure of 6.4 billion being parted with from customers' plastic to internet-based stores each month, with the most popular items acquired being music and DVDs, followed by holidays, books and clothes.

Some 5.9 million credit card users have started spending online in the last three years - a statistic which Stuart McKeggie, head of cards at Sainsbury's Finance, labelled "staggering".

Meanwhile, Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks recently announced it has extended a zero per cent interest offer on one of its credit products.

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