CREDIT CARDS TO CHEERS THIS DIWALI

[Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal]

It is festive season once again with diwali shopping on throughout the country. This time festivities have started much early and the mood of all buyers and businessmen- all is upbeat. The reasons are obvious with no major negative factor playing around. This diwali is backed by good and widespread monsoon bringing in general bullishness everywhere, farmers smiling; no water crisis, so civic bodies are also relieved and disposable surplus with one and all is higher. Almost all sectors of the economy are doing well and is reflected in economy booming as compared to other parts of the world. Stock markets - secondary listings and new offers, both are doing well as new IPOs are listing at premium and BSE sensex is also ruling around 20,000 which is considered high. There is also by and large peace all over. So one ought to really celebrate even if bullion prices have gone hay wire or inflation is not coming down.

Diwali festival and spending or shopping goes hand in hand and why not? This is the time when your buy new ornaments, clothes, apparels, electronics, property and so on. This is also the best time of the year when you get huge discounts, attractive offers and goodie- goodie take- alongs that add fun to your shopping.

As the shopping frenzie is peaking up, (thanks also to the festival being in first week of the month) credit cards add power wings to the shopping. No doubt, the credit card usage has increased over a period, yet many card companies are providing attractive schemes to their card holders. The credit card companies have tied up with branded product companies and are offering cash discounts, cash back offers, financing schemes redeemable bonus points etc. This goes on not only in the consumer durable range but even to spends in hotel, travel industry, air tickets, apparels, jewellery, electronic items and even books. The offers are equally applicable to debit cards as such cards too add to business. And what' more, such offers come from card issuers in public as well as private sector. One card has a scheme called 'happy swipes' wherein the card holder gets 5% cash back on making purchases from a particular brand store. In other case, purchase by card of over Rs. 3000 entitles you to a discount of 10 percent. In yet another one, if you book online air tickets using credit card, you are gifted with wine passes.

Though gold prices are sky rocketing and one needs to think twice before buying jewelley, there is a sigh of relief and happiness as there is a cash back offer up to 3 percent on purchase in excess of Rs. 25000.

While all this may look attractive, yet it is desirable to go through the terms and conditions carefully, lest you may fall prey to something between the lines. You need to be careful on the discounts as these discounts are generally supposed to be over and above the normal discounts which come from the dealer. So it would be better to check with the dealers before clicking the deal. When you go shopping today and in next few days, just earn those extra savings to which a smart buyers are entitled to. Wishing you smart shopping! Happy diwali!!