Thrifty Thinking: Retail Credit Cards

Last week, Equifax released their National Consumer Credit Trends Report, that showed the number of issued retail credit cards are at a 4-year high.

Beverly Harzog, a nationally regarded credit card expert, consumer advocate, and author of the new book, "CONFESSIONS OF A CREDIT JUNKIE: Everything You Need to Know To Avoid the Mistakes I Made" (Career Press, Nov 2013) shares tips on how avoid getting into trouble with retail cards and others. "There are ways to use these cards and even get the 'instant discount' at the checkout without going into debt," says Harzog. "Okay, so what if you’ve decided that there’s a specific retail credit card that you think will save you money? You know you won’t carry a balance, but darn it, you really want the instant discount because you want to buy holiday gifts there.

Here’s what you do:
-- Ask questions: What’s the interest rate? Is there a grace period? Are the rewards worth it? Does this impact your FICO score?
-- Hop online and read the terms of the retail credit card that interests you.
-- Or pick up the card information at the store before you go there to buy holiday gifts.
-- Read all of the disclosure statements so you can make an informed decision.
-- Then, you’ll be able to take advantage of the instant discount because you’ve already done your homework."

But far too often we just jump on the instant discount without knowing the terms offered. And as always, if you're going to carry balance, re-think if you really need to buy that!