If you’ve ever been shopping at a major retailer, you’ve probably had a cashier offer to sign you up for a store credit card with the promise of saving you money on your purchase. These offers are hard to miss because most stores are trying to meet a quota of new credit card sign-ups, and cashiers are required to offer them to you. Some of the sign-up discounts can be pretty appealing, as can the regular rewards, but should you sign up for a store card just to get a discount? 

As Gen Z-ers enter their twenties there has been a dramatic increase in their credit card use. At 31.4 million strong, credit-eligible Gen Z-ers make up 40% of all consumers in the United States. This influx of new spenders has reinvigorated the credit card industry after the lull it experienced when millennials were coming of age during the 2008 recession. 

Why is this new generation so eager to use credit cards and will they learn from struggles of their parents and millennial counterparts?

Consolidating your credit card debt can help simplify your monthly payments. Unfortunately, there are a few things that can derail your progress. If you are considering debt consolidation for your credit cards, make sure you avoid these mistakes. 

Between February and March of 2020, the number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits rose from 6.5 percent to an unprecedented 14.7 percent. This is an all-time high for the nation, and although unemployment rates have started to come down, everyone who received benefits will have to take them into account when they file their taxes. That means that more than 60 million Americans will report unemployment insurance benefits as income on their 2020 tax return.

We look forward to the holiday season every year as a time to set aside our worries and focus on celebrating with family and friends. With this in mind, it’s especially important that you make a sound holiday spending budget so that financial concerns don’t get in the way of your fun.