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Sunday, December 19, 1999
Have a solvent holiday
Spending limits, 'Net can help, advisers say
TTHE Consumer Credit Counseling Service of South Texas is a United Way agency. MasterCard is not.
The CCCS is nonprofit and MasterCard is for-profit.
One is yin, the other yang.
But both start their Christmas shopping advice lists with the same suggestion: Make a spending plan and stick to it.
"Kind of ironic, isn't it? Certainly we're at cross purposes here," says Lori Pridgen, director of community relations at the CCCS. "We want spenders to think about what they want to buy before they spend and spend, and I don't think that's foremost on MasterCard's mind."
Here are two more tips from MasterCard:
Never borrow more money or credit than you can comfortably pay back soon.
Pay more than the minimum due on credit card balances.
Why would a company that makes money off interest payments give such advice? To keep the golden goose healthy.
CCCS suggestions
CCCS would have you avoid credit card balances completely, if possible.
Here are some more holiday tips from CCCS:
Include all holiday expenses in your budget. That means more than gifts. It means holiday meals, gift wrapping, greeting cards, postage and travel expenses. (Of course, for some of us, greeting cards are a January expense.)
Set aside shopping time. Use advertising flyers, holiday catalogs, the phone book and the Internet to study up at home so you'll know what's a good price and where to find it.
Help for shoppers
This is the first year that CCCS has recommended using the Internet to shop, Pridgen says. The agency avoided giving that advice until now because purchases are by credit card "and we've frowned on that."
But the Internet can help shoppers hunt for gifts in the comfort of their homes. They can compare prices and either make the purchases on the Internet or go to shopping malls to make strategic purchases instead of impulse purchases.
"Buying on the Internet can be a huge advantage," Pridgen says. "It keeps them out of the malls. The more stress that's involved, the more likelihood that they're going to spend and exceed their budget just to get themselves out of the store."
Tom Whitehurst
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© 1999 Caller-Times Publishing Company
Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard
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