Using Plastic for Holiday Shopping Can Save You Hundreds of Dollars

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It would be understandable if, over the course of the past few years, you’ve grown to regard your credit card company as some sort of cross between Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch. After all, times have been tough, and credit card companies were allowed to operate in shady ways prior to personal finance reform legislation taking effect in February 2010.

Still, you’d probably be interested to know that even credit card companies aren’t immune to holiday cheer. Instead of saying “Bah, humbug!” this holiday season, they are offering a number of deals that can help you better manage the financial rigors of gift giving and entertaining friends and family.

First off, American Express, Capital One, Chase and Discover are all offering special perks for existing cardholders during the holidays. The key things to look out for are extra rewards on holiday-centric spending categories, rebates for shopping at small businesses, and discounts in terms of the number of points or miles needed to redeem for certain goods. Issuers might also offer discounts on purchases made through online shopping malls, but these deals tend to sound better than they truly are, given that you’ll likely have to pay jacked up prices to get them. So, if you’ve got one of the aforementioned issuers’ cards in your wallet, why not at least check out what that can get youthis holiday season?

There is also considerable value in opening a new credit card if your credit history is above average. Competition for the most stable customers has resulted in a variety of attractive rewards and 0% credit card offers targeted to people with good or excellent credit, and opening one could save you hundreds of dollars. Considering that American Express estimates that people will spend an average of $831 on gifts this year, that could definitely come in handy. Just make sure to pick the card that best meets your needs:

0% on Balance Transfers
Six percent of Americans are still working to pay off purchases from holiday season 2010, according to a survey from Consumer Reports. Whether you are a member of this group or have debt remaining from other expenses, the ability to pay down what you owe without worrying about interest could certainly make the holidays less stressful. I’d therefore suggest opening theCiti Platinum Select MasterCard.

Not only does this card offer 0% on transfers for 21 months, which should provide plenty of time to escape debt, but it also doesn’t have an annual fee, meaning the only fixed cost you will be responsible for besides your balance is a market-standard 3% balance transfer fee. Keep in mind that a credit card payoff calculator can be useful in determining the monthly payments you’ll have to make in order to pay off your balance before the 0% introductory rate is replaced by an 11.99% – 21.99% variable APR.

Source: Forbes.com