Whether it’s Santa or preparing for a New Year’s parade, the most expensive time of the year is during the winter months. From gifts to travel, budgets will be pressured, boosted, and executed. Here are 10 credit card tips to help with the holidays, save more, and travel cheaper over the next few months.
10 Credit Card Tips To Help You Save Money While You Shop
Inside This Article
1. Price Protection
Ever feel like you’ve got the small end to the stick because something went out of sale days after you paid the full price? Never worry again Your Credit Card Can Protect You! Some cards offer free price protection, where if you make a purchase with your card and find the same product advertised at a lower price within 60 days of purchase, the difference will be refunded up to $500, which the calendar year will be under a maximum of $ 1000 per account.
Related: 4 Best Credit Cards For Price Protection
2. Purchase Protection
There is nothing worse than buying those new sunglasses, just sinking to the seabed a few days after you buy them. The purchase protection covers most items purchased with your credit card 90 days before the date of purchase and comes with many credit cards as a free benefit. This can be a great way to protect your investment from theft, and in some cases even loss!
Related: How Does Credit Card Skimming Work
3. Extended Warranty
Never, ever buy an extended manufacturer’s warranty from a salesman. Aside from the fact that they dramatically overcharge your credit card, you probably have a warranty automatically and completely free. Most credit cards offer an extended warranty that doubles the written warranty for one additional year on most new purchases made with your credit card.
4. Satisfaction Guaranteed
Do you ever buy a product, use it, and then regret it. Sometimes, it’s too late. However, with some credit cards, if you become dissatisfied with a purchased product using a qualified MasterCard within 60 days of purchase. And the store does not accept a refund You will receive a full refund for the value of the product. May be eligible. Up to $250 – that’s great.
Related: What Is The Best Strategy To Avoid Paying Interest
5. Zero Obligations
If you are going to make a purchase where you do not see the product in person before buying, such as it needs time to be delivered, ordering online, or travel, use a credit card. If you pay in cash or use a gift card, you run the risk that if the product never arrives or your trip is cancelled, you most likely won’t see that money again. However, if you use your credit card. Your bank account may be subject to dispute and fraudulent charges such as immovable goods, improper delivery, etc.
Related: How To Pay Down Your Credit Cards
6. Introductory Rate
A great way to save money during those busy holiday months is to open a new credit card that has 0% interest for the first year. That way you can use this card to buy all the things you need but you have a year to pay it off before being charged interest. This can save you interest payments, often for a year or more, when you pay off your balance.
Related: 8 Best No-Interest Credit Cards
Another way to save some money is if the credit card you’re using has a good size balance and you’re paying interest on that balance, you can open up a new credit card that offers 0% interest to transfer your balance. That means you are just transferring your balance from one card to another that offers you 0% interest.
Related: What Are Balance Transfer Credit Cards
7.Retail Credit Card Promos
When you sign up for a store credit card, retailers such as TJ Maxx, Macy’s, and Bloomingdales often offer additional discounts on your purchases. This discount of 15% or more can add up. Be sure to use the savings opportunity for the slightest reminder, and return the balance immediately – retail cards receive interest rates north of 28%!
Related: How To Waive Annual Fees On Your Credit Cards
8. Welcome Bonus Points For Flights
Instead of paying for a flight for your holiday trip, why not just apply for a new credit card? There are many opportunities to receive great credit card bonuses from American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, or United. Some of these airlines partner with major credit card companies that offer you bonus points or miles upon signup. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offers you 100,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months. Thats $1,250 when you redeem for through Chase Ultimate Rewards, just for getting a new credit card and using it to pay for bills or holiday gifts.
Related: How To Find The Best Credit Cards Based On Your Credit Score
9. Companion Voucher
Some credit cards, such as Alaska Airlines Visa Card, offer a companion voucher each year. For just $121, you can buy vouchers for your Alaska airline flights, including Hawaii, to any North American destination!
Related: 5 Signs You Should Get A Travel Credit Card
10. Cashback:
The average person spent more than $800 on gifts during the holiday season last year! If you are going to spend money, you may be rewarded for it. You rarely get cash or debit cards if there are no rewards. A cashback credit card where you make a purchase depends on the amount of cash you can get from 1% to 5% cashback. You will spend more on big-ticket items during the holidays than at any other time of the year. Get paid for it.
Related: 10 Best Rewards Credit Cards
Bonus Tip:
In order to use these tips to your advantage you’ll need to have good credit. Most credit cards that offer the best benefits such as cashback rewards, 0% interest, and purchase protection you will need to have good or excellent credit.
Find out your FICO score and see if you can approved for any of the cards we have mentioned above. If you don’t have a good credit score you can work on easily fixing your credit with the Credit Repair Blueprint Course!
Can I Still Use Credit Cards To Shop If I Have Bad Credit?
Yes, you can still use these tips to shop for the holidays if you have bad credit. While some of the benefits I mentioned above are only offered to people who have credit scores that are over 650 you can still apply for credit cards and use those to shop for your holiday gifts.
The Discover It Secured Credit Card is a secured credit card that offers cashback rewards with no annual fee and you only need a credit score of 300-600 to apply.
Related: Best Credit Cards For Bad Credit
What If I Have Too Much Credit Card Debt?
If you have too much credit card debt, you can try to budget and pay off more of your debt each month if you can. If you don’t have any extra money to pay down your debt you can consolidate your debt with a loan like Payoff.
Payoff is a loan that allows you consolidate multiple credit cards into one simple monthly payment that you can payoff between 2 to 5 years. The benefit of using a loan like Payoff is that you don’t have to worry about making multiple credit card payments and paying high interest rates. Payoff offers rates at 5.99% to 24.99% APR. Most credit cards have an APR of 15.99% to 27.99%.
Related: 5 Best Bad Credit Loans Guaranteed Approval
6 Tips To Use Your Credit Cards Wisely
- Always pay your credit card balance in full every month.
- Never use more than 30% of your available credit limit so you don’t lower your credit score or end up in credit card debt
- Take advantage of credit card rewards
- Check your credit score and credit report before you apply for a new credit card.
- Pay off high interest credit cards first.
- Transfer high balances to transfer balance credit cards to avoid paying interest.
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