Target. Home Depot. Michaels. Neiman Marcus. <\/p>\n
What do these big store brands have in common? <\/p>\n
Credit card data security breaches, the most famous killing Target\u2019s Christmas<\/a> last year. <\/p>\n For consumers it happens silently. They go shopping and swipe their cards. It doesn\u2019t matter if they use a PIN code or merely sign for their purchase. The data breach is on the back end. Their information is usually stolen by Russian hackers who resell what they harvest from insecure retailers. <\/p>\n For 70 million shoppers last Christmas<\/a> it meant seeing bogus charges on their bills during the busiest season of the year. It meant getting those cards replaced, fixing erroneous charges, and in some cases getting credit repaired. All Target could do was say \u201cSorry, here\u2019s a coupon for free credit monitoring\u201d. Merry Christmas<\/a>, indeed. <\/p>\n What is a Christmas<\/a> shopper to do?<\/p>\n Cash, baby. All cash. <\/p>\n Here are five reasons why cash is what\u2019s for Christmas<\/a> this year:<\/p>\n 1. Cash has limits.<\/strong> <\/p>\n Using cash means you\u2019ll spend less and shop smarter. It has limits more unforgiving than credit cards. There is only so much of it. Retail surveys will show that most Americans will spend about $700 on Christmas<\/a>. If you know that now, why not earmark those funds in cash and dedicate yourself to keeping your expenditures below it? Your Christmas<\/a> shopping, whether it is on food, gifts, decorations<\/a> or entertainment, already just got cheaper because you know how much there is. <\/p>\n 2. Cash is safe.<\/strong> <\/p>\n The department store credit departments and overall credit card companies are going to pump you full of promises over the next 12 weeks. \u201cUse your card,\u201d they will say. \u201cIt\u2019s safer than cash plus we\u2019ll warrantee what you buy.\u201d<\/p>\n Buloney. Cash has no fine print, no shipping charges, no hoops to jump through. You get what you pay for. <\/p>\n As long as you have a receipt you have the same protections offered by a credit card. A credit card company will ALWAYS default to the manufacturer of a product before assuming responsibility themselves. By the time you get things resolved it could be Easter. Cash is an instant friend maker. If something doesn\u2019t work out, just take it back and get the refund. <\/p>\n Some argue that carrying cash isn\u2019t safe. Well, what are you buying? A car? There are more thieves lurking where you can\u2019t see them than there are pick pockets at the mall. <\/p>\n And consider this: PF Chang\u2019s, the famous China bistro folks, suffered a security breach this year too. Know what they are doing for credit card customers? Manual imprints. Think about that. They so distrust their electronic systems they would rather handle hard copies of all your information and expect you to walk away from their place of business with it in their hands. Not only is that insane, it is against the law. <\/p>\n Spend your cash and let the store worry about the security of it. You\u2019re done. <\/p>\n 3. Cash is the express line.<\/strong><\/p>\n Cash is faster. All you need to know how to do is count. A credit card presents a world of options for a cashier at checkout. Cash is an in-and-out deal. Granted, most cashiers don\u2019t know how to handle it well any more. But you\u2019ll be there to guide them through it. <\/p>\n And because you\u2019re spending less you\u2019ll be faster. <\/p>\n