Store Cards V Credit Cards

By Author: Alisdair Cosgrove
Total Articles: 184
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This year has been very difficult for most households in terms of their finances, and this has resulted in more and more people turning to credit to get them through. It is likely that with Christmas around the corner an increasing number of people will be using some form of credit to pay for purchases made over the festive season this year.Two of the more popular forms of credit that are used at this time of year by many are credit cards and store cards.Those that are looking to put the cost of Christmas and New Year on plastic will need to do a little research and find out more about store cards and credit cards in order to determine which of these cards is going to prove most suitable for their needs.

The majority of experts in the finance industry have said that using a credit card is a much better option than using a store card, and there are a number of reasons behind their thinking.When you use a credit card instead of a store card you can enjoy a range of benefits, but you should make sure that you are using the right credit card based on your needs and spending habits.

At this time of year, when people ...
... tend to spend more on clothes and gifts, many retailers will be hard selling store cards and trying to talk customers into taking out these cards when they get to the tills. There is good reason for this, which is that the retailers make a fortune from customers that take out store cards.Customers that use store cards will be subjected to a very high rate of interest, and this means that if you spread the repayments on your card balance you will end up paying a fortune in interest, which means that you will have paid way over the odds for the purchases that you make.

You will find that many retailers will offer various incentives such as discounts when they try to get you to sign up for a store card, but you need to bear in mind that you will end up paying far more than this in interest, which means the discount is worthless.Another thing to remember is that when you use a store card you will have to purchase goods from a certain retailer or chain in order to use it, which restricts the items that you buy using your credit, unlike a credit card.

You will find that there are cons to using a credit card as well, as some charge very high rates of interest, although usually much lower than store cards, and many people fall into serious debt through credit cards. You can, however, get deals such as 0% purchase credit cards, which enable you to spread your repayments over a generous period without being charged any interest.unlike a store card, you can use your credit card to make purchases from any place that accepts credit card payments, and this is another benefit of using a credit card over a store card.Those planning to repay their balance in full in the interest free period can even look at using a cash back or rewards based credit card.
Alisdair Cosgrove has been writing finance articles for many years and can find more of his work at the UK site CreditCardsWeb.co.uk, offering credit card offers for UK residents and also a great selection of credit card balance transfers.