Many High Street retail giants have a big push on store cards at this time of year, when people are buying for themselves and for others. Sales staff in the shops are given incentives to sell these cards, and they will try to entice shoppers by offering on the spot discounts on purchases that they are making.

However, officials are warning women to steer clear of store cards to make purchases over the festive season, as these cards charge an astonishing rate of interest with some charging close to 30 percent. This means that consumers with debt of just £500 who pay the minimum amount required each month would spend over ten years repaying the debt and would pay over £500 in interest.

Figures have shown that three times more single women struggle with store card debt than single men, and although store cards are a very expensive form of borrowing there are still nearly 13 million cards in circulation with over £2 billion spent on them in the last year alone.

One financial expert said: ‘Customers who repay only the minimum amount on store cards could end up paying twice the price and still be repaying the debt in a decade’s time. Do not touch store cards unless you can afford to pay off the balance in full every month.’

Women urged to steer clear of store cards is a post from: Credit Cards Bureau

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The average spend per person at this time of year is £ 604.00 but with the interest that is charged by these types of cards it could be raised by £ 312.00 to mean that the amount paid back is more like £ 1000.00.

It is thought that around 16 million people will pay 47% interest more on store cards than they would with a credit card which, as uSwitch.com advised, is an average of 8% more than what the rate of interest is on a credit card.

Another method of getting money at this time of year is through withdrawing cash from credit cards and it is thought that this will be the funding for around 1.7 million people.  The only problem that this has that it will incur an interest rate of, on average, 29.97% which in turn again takes the amount you have taken out up considerably.

The overall recommendation that uSwitch.com advises is that the consumer should take a credit card over a store card but to also compare credit cards so that you get the best deal to suit aswell as be paying back more than what the minimum payment is back.

uSwitch.com, Personal Finance Expert Louise Bond says “There are tough times ahead in 2009 as consumers begin to feel the full impact of recession.”

“In light of this, Christmas 2008 will undoubtedly be on a tight budget. uSwitch.com urges shoppers to ensure that whilst being mindful of the amount they spend, the way in which they spend it deserves equal discipline.”

“The worst thing to do is rack up debt on ‘easy’ credit which carries an extortionate APR. There are a number of competitive 0 per cent credit card offers in the market and consumers need to shop around for the best deals.”

“People must be able to repay the debt accrued over the Christmas period in the most economical way possible.”

Recent additions :

• Increased Credit Card Spending
• Lenders Raising Costs
• Lenders To Ignore The Drop

Store Cards Versus Credit Cards is a post from: Credit Cards Bureau

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