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The Best Christmas Shopping Credit Card Deals and Offers.

It’s almost that time of year again….stores are already brimming with lighted Christmas trees, holiday displays and specials… where, bleak economic times or not, we all have to prepare to go shopping for our loved ones at Christmas or whatever their holiday celebration.  Now most of us are probably keeping a tight grip on our wallets, plastic and checkbooks, in preparation for even more gloom and doom from Maria Bartiromo, and belt tightening tips from Suzie Orman.  So here’s a very valuable list from Money Blue Book to help you preserve cash and credit and make it somewhat if not entirely unscathed through your holiday purchasing bout.

List Of The Best Credit Card Reward Offers and 0% APR Deals For Christmas Holiday Shopping

Here is my list of the best Christmas shopping reward credit cards (I’ve bolded the percentage rate you will most likely earn for purchases made at online stores and at most brick and mortar department stores and malls):

1. Blue Cash® From American Express – Get up to 5% cash back for everyday purchases like groceries and gas, and up to 1.5% for everything else when you exceed $6,500 worth of usage. Prior to that you’ll earn 1% cashback.
2. Starwood Preferred® Guest American Express Card – Get 1 point for every $1 spent, redeemable for versatile hotel and airline travel rewards. Potential to earn up to a potential 1.25% back with bonuses.
3. Discover More Card – Get 5% cash back bonuses in purchase categories like department stores, travel, home improvement, gas, groceries, and restaurants, 5% to 20% cash back at retailers through Discover’s online shopping site, and 1% unlimited rewards for everything else. Earn a $50 bonus when you make $500 in purchases within 3 months, and with Discover’s special Christmas promotion, you can get $20 back for every $200 that you spend at participating mall locations.
4. Chase Freedom(SM) – Get 3% bonus cash back on gas, groceries, and fast food purchases for the first 6 months. Earn 1% cash back on everything else with unlimited rewards, no spending cap, no restrictions, and no expiration date.
5. Citi Premier Pass Master Card – Get 10,000 bonus points after $300 in purchases made within 3 months of account opening, and earn 1 point for every dollar spent (1% back), redeemable for airline travel rewards.
6. Citi Cash Returns Card – Get a full 1% cash back on every purchase plus an average 5% cash back at 400 retailers within the Citi Bonus Cash Center, along with an extra 20% bonus for the first 12 months.
7. HSBC Weekend Card – Earn 2% cash back rewards on everything you buy on Saturday and Sunday. During the rest of the week, you get 1% cash back for everything, with unlimited reward earning potential.
8. HSBC Platinum Mastercard Cash Back Rewards - Earn up to a potential of 2% cash back with a limit of $400 worth of rewards, or 1% unlimited cashback on all purchases depending on qualification level.
9. Capital One® No Hassle Cash(SM) Rewards Card – Get 2% cash back on purchases at gas stations and major grocery and drug stores, and 1% cash back on all other purchases, with no earning limit or expiration.
10. Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa Signature Card – Enjoy a full 1.5% back on all purchases with no merchant restrictions. Points can be redeemed for cash and deposited into your Fidelity brokerage account.

Credit Cards That Offer 0% APR Rates For Interest Free Purchases (Ideal For Christmas Shopping)

1. Advanta Platinum 90-Day Interest Free Business Card – Permanent 90 day interest free grace period on all purchases. This special Advanta credit card grace period offer is recurring and continuous year after year.
2. American Express Blue – 0% APR for purchases (up to 12 months)
3. American Express Blue Cash® – 0% APR for purchases (up to 12 months)
4. American Express Blue Sky® – 0% APR for purchases (up to 12 months)
5. American Express Platinum Business Credit Card - 0% APR for purchases (12 months)
6. American Express Clear Card – 0% APR for purchases (12 months)
7. Capital One Platinum Card – 0% for purchases and balance transfers (Up until October 2009)
8. Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards Card – 0% for purchases (until October 2009)
9. Chase Flexible Rewards Platinum Visa – 0% for purchases and balance transfers (both 12 months)
10. Chase Perfect Card – 0% APR for purchases and balance transfers (both 6 months)
11. Chase Platinum Visa Card – 0% APR for purchases and balance transfers (both 12 months)
12. Citi Diamond Preferred Card – 0% APR for purchases and balance transfers (both 12 months)
13. Citi Platinum Select Card – 0% APR for purchases and balance transfers (both 12 months)
14. Citi Business Card - 0% APR for purchases (12 months)
15. Citi Business Card With ThankYou Network – 0% APR rate for all purchases (12 months).  Extra bonus offer of 10,000 ThankYou® Points after $250 in purchases, redeemable for a $100 gift card.
16. Discover More Card – 0% APR for purchases (6 months) and balance transfers (12 months)
17. Discover More Card – Clear – 0% APR for purchases (6 months) and balance transfers (12 months)
    
18. Discover Open Road Card – 0% APR for purchases (6 months) and balance transfers (12 months)
19. First National Business Edition Visa Card – 0% APR offer for purchases (12 months)
20. HSBC Weekend Card -  0% promo rate for purchases and balance transfers (both 12 months)
21. HSBC Platinum Mastercard Cash Back Rewards - 0% interest rate for purchases and balance transfers (both 12 months)

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Not only do people get desperate.  Companies do, too.

Some offer to reduce your credit card debt for a fee.

Some prey on people whose homes are being foreclosed.  For a fee, this person or business, will make that crisis disappear.  But, usually, the only thing that disappears is your money.  In one case in San Antonio, Texas, a couple lost the home they’d raised their family in after paying an unscrupulous business owner more than they owed the mortgage company.  This, after the business owner had already gotten and agreed to a “Cease and Desist Order” from a court over just this kind of predatory behavior.

These are scams pure and simple.

Perhaps it’s too harsh to call all of these enticing propositions scams.  But when you analyze some of the things companies, even very large, respectable companies, are asking you to do, they certainly could be classified as much better deals for them than for you.

Last week my mortgage company asked me if I’d like to pay 2% less interest and several hundred dollars less a month in my mortgage payment, for no fee from them.  Naturally, I said “Sure!”  But when I received the paperwork yesterday, it turned out there were over $10,000 of additional fees, added into the mortgage payment.  Yes, over the life of the loan I’d be paying less interest, but it would take me 40 payments, or 3 years and 3 months to get back to where I am today.  Was that a good deal?  For the mortgage company, yes.

Seth Godin in Too good to be true (the overnight millionaire scam) writes about the scams that crop up in tough times and the imperative to avoid being suckered in by them:

“Times are tough, and many say they are going to be tougher. That makes some people more focused, it turns others desperate.

You may be tempted at some point to try to make a million dollars. To do it without a lot of effort or skill or risk. Using a system, some shortcut perhaps, or mortgaging something you already own.

There are countless infomercials and programs and systems that promise to help you do this. There are financial instruments and investments and documents you can sign that promise similar relief from financial stress.

Resist.

There are four ways to make a million dollars. Luck. Patient effort. Skill. Risk.

(Five if you count inheritance, and six if you count starting with two million dollars).

Conspicuously missing from this list are effortless 1-2-3 systems that involve buying an expensive book or series of tapes. Also missing are complicated tax shelters or other ‘proven’ systems. The harder someone tries to sell you this solution, the more certain you should be that it is a scam. If no skill or effort is required, then why doesn’t the promoter just hire a bunch of people at minimum wage and keep the profits?

There are literally a million ways to make a good living online, ten million ways to start and thrive with your own business offline. But all of these require effort, and none of them are likely to make you a million dollars.

Short version of my opinion: If someone offers to sell you the secret system, don’t buy it. If you need to invest in a system before you use it, walk away. If you are promised big returns with no risk and little effort, you know the person is lying to you. Every time.

Has anyone tried to scam you?  Write and share your experience.  It will help all of us to have a common pool of scams to avoid.

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Do you ever spend more than you should?  Let your bank account get too low?  Put off budgeting?  Forget or delay paying off those high interest credit cards? Who doesn’t?

What we could all use is a a financial planner/ manager who will take care of all those myriad money details for us.  But who can afford that?  You can.  We all can.  Because Mint is free.

Mint – Manages Your Money

http://www.mint.com/

“Mint is fresh, intelligent online money management. Not only is Mint free, it saves you money….

With Mint , you can achieve better online financial management in less than five minutes. After that, … Mint money management software does the rest, with virtually no more work required. It automatically pulls together your bank, credit union and credit card data, and provides up–to–date and amazingly accurate views of your financial—life from the big picture to specific details, in a friendly and intuitive way.”

How Does Mint Work ?

Mint connects to more than 5,000 US financial institutions. Your account information is updated daily. Mint automatically categorizes all your purchases, showing you how much you spend on gas, groceries, parking, rent, restaurants, DVD rentals and more, with amazing precision.

Secure: Mint provides bank–level data security and industry–leading identity protection. Its security and privacy have been validated by VeriSign and TRUSTe. Users sign up with nothing more than a valid e-mail address, password, and zip code, then enter login credentials for supported financial institutions. Mint doesn’t store any of these credentials, working instead with Yodlee, a third-party financial aggregation service provider that’s provides similar services for “top” US financial institutions. Mint uses 128-bit SSL encryption to communicate with Yodlee and pull your transaction data. Mint never knows your identity.Their level of security is much the same as Paypal.com, eBay.com, your bank or many of the other online companies to whom you’ve given your financial information.

Mint Is Your Financial Traffic Cop/Watchdog

An advanced alerting system highlights any unusual activity, low balances, unwanted fees and charges, and upcoming bills so you’re in constant contact with your money. Plus, Mint is proactive—alerting you when you are exceeding your personal budget, have a low balance, need to pay a bill, and more.

Mint Is Your Sharp Eyed Accountant Looking for Savings

In addition, Mint goes beyond visibility and analysis providing personalized money–saving and money–making suggestions. Mint provides users an average of $1,000 in savings opportunities during their first session. Mint is constantly working to find you savings. Mint keeps looking for new ways for you to save every day—continuously comparing your needs to product, service and bank offerings most relevant to you. ( Of course, the companies who are making the offers are also financing the program, Mint, so you don’t have to….to you it’s free.  Just bear that in mind when you evaluate the offer.)

Mint is Your Always On, Anywhere/anytime access, Free Financial Planner

These are some of the goals Mint can help you with.

• Pay off credit card debt
• Buy a car
• Pay off student loans
• Save for retirement
• Spend less eating out
• Create a personal budget
• Manage your investments

Perhaps in some ways we all practice a little avoidance ( perhaps even denial) when it comes to our finances.  Do we really want to know how much we spend eating out or whatever our personal indulgences are? Maybe not.  Or, at least, maybe not by choice.  But a recession is upon us and, for most of us, there is not only the possibility but the real likelihood that the champagne will not be flowing and the airline tickets won’t be raining on our heads.  One way or another, we should all be contemplating the recession time strategy of tightening our belts, lowering our expenditures and increasing our savings to ride out this gathering storm. I, for one am going to be trying Mint to see if it can help me achieve some of those those financial goals I’ve procrastinated about.  Where else can I get a financial guru I don’t have to pay, feed, meet with or take to an expensive lunch?

If you try Mint, please do write us and share what you think and how it’s working for you.  If you have any other online, automated financial guru you’d like to recommend, please do.

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