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Christmas credit card and shopping tips. Best Christmas gifts are low interest credit cards, or get a pre-paid Christmas charge card. Read our free shopping tips for theft protection.
Too much Christmas credit card debt?
Make safe credit card purchases during your offline and online Christmas gift shopping. Here are Christmas credit card safety tips. Sign your credit card before Christmas shopping. Treat your credit cards as you would cash. Don't leave them unattended. Report lost or stolen credit cards immediately. During Christmas cashiers are hurried. Ensure yourcredit card is returned after every gift purchase. Don't be victimized by telemarketer fraud during Christmas. Never give your credit card number on the phone unless you initiate the call. After delivering Christmas gifts and your receipts are no longer needed, shred, tear, or black out account numbers before tossing into the trash. Close all unused credit card accounts and destroy unwanted cards. When using a credit card to purchase online Christmas gifts, ensure the merchant has proper security measures. If unsure, order your Christmas gifts online but consider sending a check or money order for payment. When you buy Christmas gifts, each time you use your credit card; whether for Christmas gifts online or offline, make a record of the date, merchant and amount of charge, then compare with your credit card statements to look for fraudulent charges. New wallet Christmas gift? If a credit card was carried in a wallet, before tossing the old wallet not only should you ensure removal of the credit card, but also examine the old wallet and destroy "impressions" of the card number in the material. Remember: it's far safer to carry a credit card with a $5,000 spending limit than to carry $5,000 in cash while Christmas shopping.
Free tips to help you get the most cashback, discounts and other rewards with a retail store Christmas credit card or a gas credit card.
Department store credit cards and gas credit cards can help establish or rebuild credit, and some also offer other rewards like cashback. Unfortunately, not following the terms and conditions will void those benefits. Read these free tips about retail store charge cards.
Focus on two or three cards - Don't have more than two store charge cards and gas credit cards, so you can manage payments and track rewards. Some cards require you to make a certain volume of purchases, so if you have too many cards and you're spreading purchases across all those different cards, you may not be able to meet the minimum requirements for any one particular card.
Apply for a store charge card - Apply for a gas credit card Keep balance below 20% of the credit limit - Higher balances lower your credit score and are more difficult to pay off. No one can forecast an income tragedy or expense emergency. Per every $100 dollars of credit, charge only $20.
Don't sacrifice your budget just to earn rewards - Store charge cards and gas credit cards offer incentives like certificates or cashback by charging a certain amount of money, but you'll probably save more money by limiting purchases and paying off balances fast.
Make payments on time - This is a given tip for any credit card. Timely payments are important for establishing and rebuilding credit, especially with credit cards. Also, you'll avoid late fees and added interest.
Payoff balances monthly - Typically these types of credit cards have high interest rates and carrying a balance can easily cost more than the rewards earned if you don't payoff in full during the grace period.
Don't add a new charge to an existing balance - Don't add new charges if you haven't completely paid off previous charges.
Store Charge Cards And Gas Credit Cards
Need more information? Read our financial and credit articles related to a Christmas credit card, and join our online financial newsletter.
Credit Card
Before traveling, call the credit card company so that purchases will not be halted due to fraud measures. This is especially necessary when traveling to a foreign country. This helps avoid a freeze on a credit card account. There is antifraud software that monitors customers’ spending patterns. When cardholders stray from usual habits, for example, like making purchases in another state instead of at a store in the home ZIP code area, it could be flagged as fraud.
Many people are glad about this, but others get upset when purchases are denied. In addition to watching for unusual spending patterns, banks also monitor where criminals use stolen cards, which can be places like automated payment kiosks in metropolitan areas. This is why some people have more than one credit card when they travel. It can be a big problem to unfreeze a card when traveling in a foreign country.
For people who travel all the time, countries in Europe, Japan, Canada, and Mexico have adopted a credit card that has a chip. The customer must enter a PIN. Merchants that accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express are supposed to let customers pay with either type of card, yet some employees at stores outside the United States do not always know what to do with the magnetic version.
Another problem can be that automated kiosks in Europe, may only accept chip and PIN cards, particularly in train stations, parking garages, gas stations, and some tollbooths. When this happens, Americans with magnetic stripe cards usually have to wait in line to pay with cash or have a clerk swipe their cards. These lines can be long and frustrating when trying to catch a train. Some merchants in other parts of the world often have higher minimum-purchase requirements, to use a credit card or simply do not accept the cards because they do not want to pay the fees card companies charge retailers. Be sure to contact card issuers before traveling and check the credit limits on each card. |
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