Credit Card Blog

There’s some research just out (from Savebuckets website), that suggests that the average Christmas budget has gone down by £102 this year, with people here in the UK expected to spend around £604 each on Christmas related items.

To some this might seem an incredible amount of money, to others this may not seem like very much at all - but I think to most students, this will be a huge amount. When you think of how much your student loan and your student overdraft is, Christmas is not a time to going splashing out wildly. It’s more a time to be generous and buy gifts and enjoy the festive period - whilst still being aware of how much money you can afford to spend.

One of the traditional dangers of this period, is people spending too much, or more than they can afford. January has always been a really quiet month, for shops as well as bars and restaurants, as everyone looks to cut down due to over-spending. Similarly, credit card applications seem to go up in January as people have found themselves overspending and need some short term finance solution.

The aim though is to plan ahead, and be very careful and organised about what finance option you do decide to take. Credit cards are potentially useful - but also potentially very dangerous. You’re spending someone else’s money, and you’re being charged interest on it. It’s a debt that you’re going to have to pay off sooner or later - and the longer you leave it the more interest you’ll end up paying.

If you do need a credit card, and if you’re a student, look at all the options and assess all the possibilities. Make sure you go with a credit card that has 0% interest on purchases (so you won’t necessarily get hit by interest charges). The Virgin credit card for example has 0% interest on purchases for 6 months. Make sure that you have worked out what you can afford, and make sure that you don’t withdraw cash with your credit card (it’ll cost you dearly if you do!). 

Above all - be sensible and if in any doubt, seek advice. You can get information and advice from your university, or from debt advice helplines, as well as numerous other sources. The long term problems that you can get yourself into with debt and bankruptcy just aren’t worth it if you can at all avoid it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 4:03 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can leave a response.