By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – A new Country Financial security survey shows a majority of Illinoisans will be using credit cards to do their holiday shopping this year.
Joe Buhrmann, Country’s manager of financial security said that’s actually a good sign.
“At least the general economic outlook is still looking pretty favorable, so I think that’s why people are leaning more heavily on plastic,” Buhrmann said.
Buhrmann warned buying gifts can become an arms race that can get out of hand if you’re not careful.
“It’s important we make good decisions now so we aren’t paying for many tomorrows to come,” Buhrmann said.
He said it’s important to stick to your shopping list, only use credit cards for online purchases and look for found money – things like hotel reward points.
About 1 in 5 plans to buy their gifts were debit cards. Who’s still writing checks? Less than one percent of us.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
