With the nation currently feeling the pinch of the credit crunch, many customers have said that they will definitely be watching what they are spending this Christmas and will try to reduce the costs as much as possible.
In previous years, many die-hard Christmas shoppers have been sucked in by the offers and promotions being given by the store credit cards. However, recent research has shown that a high percentage of shoppers will be more than happy to ditch their store credit cards this Christmas following the sky high interest rates of up to 26%.
Those customers that have said they are thinking of ditching their store credit cards this Christmas have said they will be willing to go back to using their bank credit cards which have the lower interest rates.
Experts are now advising that if you currently have only a store credit card you should consider applying for a lower interest card now as this time of year can see applications take up to and around 6 weeks. This should still leave you plenty of time to get those all important Christmas gifts but without finding yourself in a lot of debt.
Other advice being given is to take advantage of the 0% interest available on some purchases. If you do insist on paying for things with your store credit cards this year then make sure you�re not being caught out by those stores that are charging an excessively high interest rate. There are some stores out there that are still reasonable so just make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for.
In my own opinion, one of the easiest ways to stay out of debt this Christmas is to pay for as many things as possible by cash. I realise this many not be the solution for every one and larger purchases may require you to use some sort of credit card, so just be careful with the one you choose.
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