3 Ways To Save Money With Credit Cards This Festive Season

The festive season is around the corner. Businesses and credit card providers come up with lucrative offers and huge discounts during this time of the year. Hence many of us are tempted to spend extravagantly in this period. From buying a new vehicle to renovating our home, the festive season is about spending on things that are not necessities but are important to us from an aspirational point of view. With credit card companies offering benefits through discounts, cashback and reward points, both physical and online shopping gain momentum. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will cast its shadow on this year’s festivities. But that should not deter you from enjoying the festivities while distancing socially. You can fulfil your shopping needs online, with a good credit card that helps you avail festive deals and discounts from the safety of your home.

Take a look at a few ways you can get the best out of your credit card.

Make The Most Of The Shopping Festivals

Many leading online shopping websites come up with shopping festivals every year offering loads of discounts and offers. To make the festival offers attractive, they also give exclusive discounts and accelerated reward points on certain credit cards, including co-branded cards. You can enjoy your shopping and extra benefits from the comfort of your home if you keep a watch on the deals and offers on those cards. For instance, two popular e-commerce websites have announced 10% instant discounts on certain purchases for credit card users of two prominent banks during their upcoming shopping festivals. So to save money, it would be wise to check if your credit card provides the benefits of using on these e-commerce websites. You should also do a comparison of the offers to grab the best deal of yourself and save money. You can further understand the shopping festival benefits through this example. Let us say, a 55-inch smart television of an emerging brand is priced Rs.43,000. During the shopping festival, you can buy this at a discount of Rs.4,000 along with an additional cashback discount of Rs.1,500 if purchasing it using a credit card of two popular banks. The brand is also offering Rs. 2,000 exchange price for any old LCD television. So, you can buy a new television effectively at Rs. 35,000, which means savings of Rs. 9,000.  

Maximise Your Credit Card Rewards And Promotional Deals

Your credit card comes with enormous reward programmes in the form of cashback, discounts, air miles, freebies, redemption points, gift vouchers or even white goods sometimes. You are rewarded by the credit card company for the interchange fee they get for each transaction you complete. So, the more you transact, the more value you can get through the card rewards. One great way to easily save during the festive shopping spree is to use the reward points you have accumulated on your credit card. Although your rewards might not have the monetary value of your entire expense, you can use for freebies, gift vouchers, or other things of value such as air miles. Many cards also offer cashback, which can be 0.5 to 5% of the transacted amount, subject to limits set by the card provider. This benefit is available with select merchants or select transactions. Besides the reward points, your credit card also offers promotional deals with their partner merchants for select periods, which can come as special discounts and offers on routing the shopping through specified online shopping websites, supermarkets, hotels etc. Even if you don’t possess a co-branded card, you can still enjoy special promotional benefits. All you need to do is check the benefits that come with your cards. However, do check the applicable riders such as caps, the validity of redemption points, minimum or maximum purchase amounts etc. 

Consider No-Cost EMIs For Affordable Instalments

Your credit card provides you with the facility to convert your big-ticket purchases into affordable instalments. Opting for no-cost EMIs reduces the financial burden of paying a large amount in one go. You can make the best use of this facility during festival seasons when you want to stick to your budget. Do check with your credit card issuer if this facility can be availed during the shopping festival season. However, you should exercise due diligence before going for this option as there is no point buying an item you cannot afford. Besides you also need to clear the outstanding dues in full before the interest-free deadline to avoid late payment penalties.

These pointers will help you not only save money with credit cards but also earn reward points every time you swipe your card. So spend wisely to have a happy festive season. 

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The writer is CEO, BankBazaar.com, India’s leading online marketplace for loans and credit cards.