Black Friday: improving your shopping experience
23/11/2020
In recent years Black Friday has become part of our shopping routine, one of our consumer habits. Keeping track of offers to spend less on the products we need is a good thing.
But we’re not always sure about what we want to buy or how we’ll pay for it. That's why we've made this blog post containing some advice on making the most of these discounts.
Responsible consumption
Giving thought to the things we really need is important. It's also always a good idea to make a list of the products we’d like to buy, compare different offers, prepare a budget and set a spending limit.
Responsible borrowing
Pay attention to the advertising and if you decide to finance a purchase, don’t be taken in by alluring phrases such as “interest-free” financing!
Interest-free financing (0% NIR) doesn’t mean that it's cost-free. The entity financing our purchase may levy fees and other charges in addition to interest. These amounts are taken into account when calculating the APR, which is the indicator we need to focus on to know the true cost of the financing.
We may be offered a revolving credit card to finance the purchase. Carefully consider whether this type of financing suits your needs and avoid, at all costs, being carried away by the fear of missing out on the chance to take advantage of the offer.
Revolving credit cards’ payment method can lead consumers to getting themselves into permanent debt. Learning about the features of this payment method is crucial to using these cards appropriately and avoiding getting into excessive debt.
Safe online shopping
If you’re going to use your card to buy something online, make sure that the website is secure. Cybercriminals take advantage of events like Black Friday to steal our personal data and our bank details.
Don’t let your guard down, and take all available precautions to avoid falling into their trap. Some tips can be found in this post.
Refunds
We don’t always get it right with our purchases. Returning products we paid for by card normally means getting the amount refunded to the account the direct debit payments are made from.
You might want to return a product you paid for using a card that was cancelled after the purchase. How do I get my money back in these cases? Again, if the card agreement doesn’t say otherwise, your bank will usually credit the amount to the account associated with the card.
