It will be no surprise that the majority of the families within the United Kingdom are having to plan a "cut back" Christmas this year. There will be less presents for most children, a smaller "spread" on the after dinner Christmas buffet and a little bit of a tighter budget on the office secret Santa. However this doesn't mean that Christmas has to be all depressing, as well as having to make things go a little further there is plenty of help on offer.
More people will be groping for the credit cards this year than previously, but there is certainly no shame in that. If you are needing a bit of a boost or having to rely on credit to make your Christmas you can certainly use it to your advantage and get the best out of the deals out there.
You certainly need to be careful however. There are plenty of deals out there that are either simply not worth it or have a hidden nasty surprise in the small print. A perfect example is a card currently on offer from a very popular shop that operates from a catalogue and a store room. The offer is that you can spend anything up to £500 in the store and only that store with the card. This stops you from racking up credit debt with a list of companies, yet you get the huge range of products to choose from the catalogue.
However, there is a catch. While you have a long time to pay the money back, and you can start from five pound a month, the interest rate is an eye watering 222.7%! You will be paying an obscene amount of money back for your trouble. You can quite easily get a 0% interest card from another lender that you can spend at this store and whichever others you want.
If you feel confident you're savvy with your plastic, you should not rule out a credit card Christmas. If you're confident you can make the monthly repayments, taking out one of the six month 0% interest cards you can literally borrow for nothing. As unfortunate as it is, these credit companies make their money off the people who can't, so if you can, go for it!
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