10 Tips for Holiday Shopping With Credit Cards

This post comes from partner site lowcards.com.

Holiday shopping has begun – but 13.6 million Americans are still paying for last year’s holiday shopping, according to a survey by Consumer Reports. The
 presents may have been forgotten, but the debt and interest payments live on 
and on.

“It is too easy to get caught up in holiday shopping and pay for everything
with a credit card. Credit cards allow the immediate joy of buying and 
giving but put off the pain of payment,” says Bill Hardekopf, 
CEO of LowCards.com and author of The Credit Card Guidebook. “The fact that over 13 million
Americans are still paying off last year’s presents shows that this can be a 
painful and costly cycle. Many of us probably don’t even remember what we 
gave last year, but millions are still paying for it.”

Paying with a credit card can not only add interest to the cost of the item,
 it also makes it easy to overspend. In the 2009 holiday season, those who 
used credit cards for gift purchases spent an average of $896 on gifts, 10 percent
 more than the average of $811 (Consumer Reports). A Dun and Bradstreet
study several years ago showed people spent 12-18 percent more when they paid
 with credit cards instead of cash.

“No matter how much discipline we think we have, paying in cash is the most
 effective way to reduce impulse purchases,” Hardekopf says. “Handing over dollars makes the 
payment real. You worked hard for that cash and it’s sometimes difficult to
 give it to someone else.”

Here are Hardekopf’s tips for holiday shopping with a credit card…

1. If you can’t afford to pay off your credit card balance in November, then
 you can’t afford to add a lot more to it.
2. Set a spending limit and change your shopping habits now before you get 
into the spirit of the season.
3. Verify your credit limit before you shop. If purchases push you close to 
your credit limit, this increases your debt utilization ratio, a major
 component of your credit score. Holiday shopping could cost you even 
more if your credit score drops and your interest rates go up. The goal is
 to keep debt utilization under 30 percent.
4. Start saving now for the January credit card bill. Look at what you spent 
last year. If you are still paying that off, then you should reduce spending 
this year. If you must use a credit card to get through the holidays, make
 sure you can pay it off in three to six months.
5. If you carry a balance on your credit card, try to get the lowest rate
 possible. Contact your issuer and ask for a lower rate. It may be time to
 shop for a card with a lower rate or a long introductory period that lets
 you transfer a balance and pay zero-percent interest for at least 12 months. If you 
transfer a balance, pay attention to the balance transfer fee, do not use it 
for new purchases, and pay your credit card bill on time every month.

Credit card benefits for holiday shopping

If you pay your credit card bill completely each month and don’t carry a
balance, then you might actually earn some additional cash by using your 
credit card for holiday shopping. Here are some things to look for in order 
to benefit during the holidays:

1. Pay attention to partner programs. Most credit card issuers have a partner 
program that offers discounts or bonuses for online purchases with certain 
companies. The program varies by issuer, but the partners could be stores
 where you already shop. Discover turns $20 rewards into $25 gift cards. Citi
gives an additional 1-5 percent cash back when you shop at their online partners.
2. Use your rewards points for holiday shopping. These can be used to buy 
gift cards with many retailers. You can also use your American Express
 Membership Reward points to shop at Amazon.com to pay in full or for 
part of your purchase.
3. Look for 5-percent rotating cash back offers. Chase Freedom, Discover More
and Citi Platinum Select offer an attractive 5 percent back on the spending on
 designated categories for a specific amount of time. The October-December 
bonus categories for these issuers focus on shopping and entertainment. If
 you have these cards, remember to sign up for these attractive rebate offers 
each quarter.
4. Check out any spending bonus opportunities. Discover More and Chase
Freedom offer $100 spending bonuses for new applicants who reach a set 
spending limit – $500 within three months for Discover More and $799 within
 three months for Chase Freedom. Holiday shopping is the best time to quickly
 reach these limits and then use the bonus to pay off your balance.
5. Credit cards also provide extended warranties and purchase protection
 which can provide a little extra coverage for holiday gifts. Many issuers
 will even refund the price difference if you find a lower price on the same 
item from the same manufacturer within a designated time period 
(typically 60 days).