by: Peter Kenny
Christmas is almost upon us once again and the worry of meeting the demands that it has on our finances comes to the fore. Many will get themselves into a level of debt that they cannot sustain and if its paid for with your current credit card or god forbid a store card, then the expenditure will be worse with the addition of the interest charges that come with your plastic.
Use your credit card wisely
This does not mean we should be avoiding using our plastic over the festive season, far from it, as apart from having the cash to pay for your goods and leaving you without any debt, the credit card is the next best thing in getting your gifts, festive food and drink in, without the interest being a problem.
So how do you fancy getting all of this and interest free for nine or twelve months? Well if you need that bit of breathing space and the Christmas period sorted interest free, then taking advantage of one of the credit card that are offering a 0% introductory offer on purchases. These will help ease the burden and will give you up to 12 months to pay it off, or in other words just in time for Santa coming back next year!
Keep clear of store cards
Doing it this way rather than using your current credit card will mean that you could save around 75 in interest payments if you spent in the region of 500, which is being claimed that as a nation we spend on average per person. Do not use a store card to make any purchases as the majority of these credit cards come with an APR as high as 29.9%.
Other methods that you could use to accommodate your Christmas shopping could be an overdraft, bu
t always remember to speak to your bank first, as going in to the red without the permission of the bank, will only see you face charges that could see you having to pay a hefty interest of almost 30%.
Use a 0% credit card
So the best bet to deal with Christmas this year is to take advantage of a 0% on purchases credit card and budget for what you will have to pay back each month, so that when the 0% period is over, you will have a clear balance and no interest payments to meet, before you have to start dealing with next year and starting all over again.
So get applying now and have your Christmas sorted and worry free before the big day is upon you.
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