How to earn Cashback on your Christmas Spend

Christmas - the season to be jolly. But with it comes the largest shopping list of the entire year, it fas becomes the season to spend, spend, spend!

Many of us are good at shopping around to get the best prices, especially since the recession caused a knock in consumer confidence, but there are other more subtle ways you could save money on your Christmas shopping.

Simply changing your payment method to a cashback credit card will allow you to be rewarded for your financial exuberance.

With Christmas just around the corner, festive shopping is in full swing, but many of us are missing a trick.

Cashback credit cards offer a cashback percentage for every purchase made using the card, effectively giving shoppers a discount on everything they buy.

This makes it ideal for your Christmas spend, or any other large purchases, with cashback available on anything from stuffing to stocking fillers.

To take advantage of one of these cards, simply sign up then go shopping as you normally would but use your cashback card to pay.

The golden rule when using this type of card - or any other credit card in most cases, is to ensure you clear your balance in full at the end of each monthly billing period, as this allow you to stay within your interest free days in and will help you to avoid paying any interest charges.

There are currently a range of quality cashback cards on the market, with each offering an array of features and benefits to suit all consumers.

American Express tend to offer the market leading deals - with this years card paying an impressive 5% cashback on all purchases up to £2,000 within first three months.

After the three month bonus period the rate drops to between 0.5% - 1.25%, depending on how often the card is used.

The Amex cashback credit card also offers customers 0% on purchases for the first 6 months, which means no interest is paid on your balance for this period, allowing consumers to spread the cost of Christmas over 6 months. The best way manage this is to divide the balance by six, then set up a standing order for this amount each month.

This will allow you to make use of the cards' full potential, while being paid in cashback for the privilege.

Another advantage that's worth bearing in mind when using credit cards is that all credit cards automatically come with additional protection when compared to other payment methods, such as extended warranties and fraud cover.

Credit cards are also a safer option to carry in your wallet, as if cash is lost or stolen it is highly unlikely that you will ever get it back, whereas cards can be cancelled and will cover you for theft.