Plastic: Not So Fantastic

With Christmas just around the corner everyone is feeling the pressure of the holiday season

. Finding time to do all the Christmas shopping, fitting in social events to see all your friends and family, carol singing, taking the children to see Santa Claus in his specially built grotto at the garden centre with real live reindeer. Pressure will also be felt on your spending at this time of year as all these things means that November and December mostly involve pulling your little plastic friend out of your wallet. Unless you have prepared for this time of year and put away savings throughout the year then you could find yourself falling short. One way to overcome this is to pay for things with credit or a store card, however it is essential to be careful when approaching payments this way. Here are a few tips to avoid getting yourself into credit card debt this Christmas:

-Keep track of your spending as you go along, don't wait until you get the bill so that you know roughly how much money you will have to owe.

-Always make the minimum payment so that your interest isn't extortionate.

-Choose the right card for you, many offer interest free periods of time or reward points in certain stores, so shop around to find which card will have the best benefits that you will benefit from. This will help manage credit card debt as you could choose a card provider who are flexible with repayments.

-Minimising your credit card debt is easier if you try to limit the amount of cards that you have; Too many cards can result in missed payments as there can be too many to keep track of.

-Keep your number of store cards to a minimum. Although many offer discount up front as an incentive to take them out, it is advisable to take out the account, get the discount, and then when you receive your card, pay your bill and cut it up. The interest is usually very high, and many can easily get into debt this way as people take them out and then possibly forget about them.

-Make use of your bank overdraft can help you avoid credit card debt, the interest on this will be much lower than a credit card and most of the time there is a much more flexible period of time to pay it back.

Debt can often be caused by ignorance, however this will only hinder the problem. Don't delay, seek help today if you have any queries and you will be able to enjoy the festive season worry and debt free!

by: Bill Weston

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