Is that jingle bells that you hear throughout the mall or is it the sound of some added jingle hitting the cash registers of the mall merchants? This is the time of year when most retailers try their best to gain extra revenue for their store by increasing consumer credit card spending and most of us fall right under their spell.

Even the most frugal Christmas shopper can be caught in a trance of credit card spending if they don’t pay attention to the tactics used by retailers during the holiday season.

Photo By: Scubapup

Many retail stores depend on Christmas shoppers to supply a great amount of their ending sales figures for the year. This is partly because more people make purchases during the holidays and partly because many people have credit cards these days. Having that in mind, they can use credit to make bigger purchases than if they were only going to pay by cash or check from their checking accounts. Knowing that the money needs to be in the checking account at the time of purchase makes the shopper stop and refrain from buying. With most Americans carrying at least one or two credit cards each, the Christmas presents that they buy with credit can easily come with a higher price tag.

As if there is not enough hype surrounding the holidays nowadays, some of the retailers in the mall use certain ploys to add to that excitement. This, in turn will add to their final sales amounts and drain some consumers of their well earned money. Having an understanding of where these tactics are being used and how to avoid them when Christmas shopping will help you keep your credit cards under their limit and your budget on track.

Consider some of the following ways that credit card use can be very tempting while Christmas shopping:

• Things that are combined in a crate or bin may look to be a big bargain to shoppers at Christmas. This does not always mean that the items inside are any less expensive than they were on the shelves, but it may trick us into thinking that they are.
• Impulse shopping tactics are done by these retailers by placing those last minute needs at the checkout line. If you are buying an electronic game that needs batteries, there will be a display while you are waiting in the line for the cashier. Little gift items will also be strategically placed there also for any stocking stuffers or last minute gifts.
• Reading the store sale sign closely will help you from overspending. Sometimes a store sign will boast a 50% or even a 75% off sale, until you can get close enough to read the additional words at the top or bottom of the sign. Those words might include ìup toî or ìon select itemsî. Many times there will be things marked with this type of sign when they are not really even included in the advertised sale.

The best advice to remember and the bottom line is that a little knowledge and a lot of self control will help you from overspending during the holiday season.

Holiday Article Roundup

If you enjoyed this article, here are some other great Christmas and Holiday personal finance articles from around the web:

The Quicken Blog has some great tips on how you and your significant other can work together this holiday season to make sure that you don’t overspend.

Master Your Card has written a creative article that pokes fun at the banking industry to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas.

If you will be traveling this holiday season, The Simple Dollar has some great tips that can help you reduce the cost and stress associated with holiday traveling.

Bargaineering has a great read explaining why it’s bad to give high upkeep gifts in troubling economic times. With Christmas in two days, for some of you it may be too late. Oh well, there is always next year.

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