Financial News Features

“Prices are up for everything,” says Howard Dvorkin, CPA and chairman of Debt.com. ”[People] are trying to make ends meet but they didn’t want to come off looking like the Grinch during Christmas… They went to the store saying, ‘Okay, I’m only going to spend $25 for a shirt for uncle George.’ And you get to the checkout, and that $25 shirt is now $40.”

“Rewrite your budget to include the monthly loan payments. If your debt-to-income ratio is too high with the loan, reconsider taking out a personal loan,” recommends Howard Dvorkin, CPA and Chairman of Debt.com.

“Ask a trusted friend or financial advisor to look over your budget and ask them to be brutally honest,” said Howard Dvorkin, chairman at Debt.com. “Take their suggestions and revisit them in a month to check on your progress.”

According to Howard Dvorkin, Chairman of Debt.com, the best window for holiday shopping is between October 1 and December 1. If you do your shopping in this period, you’ll still be able to take advantage of holiday sales like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and you’ll also give yourself enough time to shop without feeling the pressure of a time crunch.

If you owe a significant amount of money on your credit card, your minimum payment will likely be around 2% to 3% of your balance, Debt.com resident expert and certified public accountant Howard Dvorkin told CNET. However, it could also be as low as 1%.

If you carry a balance, suddenly, 20 percent off that TV doesn’t seem so appealing. “You should be looking at the interest rate, but most shoppers don't look at that; they look at deals,” says Howard Dvorkin, a CPA and chairman of Debt.com. “You’ve got to be very, very careful."