As parents get ready to send their kids back to the classroom, three-quarters of them are moderately or very worried about being to afford back-to-school expenses. That's according to a recent survey by U.S. News and World Report focusing on parents with kids in kindergarten through high school. Beverly Harzog, credit cards expert at U.S. News and World Report, joined Cheddar's News Wrap to discuss ways parents can save on back-to-school expenses this year.

Cheddar's News Wrap

How to Save on Back-to-School Expenses Amid High Inflation

Welcome back to Jeter's News ramp as parents get ready to send their kids back to the classroom. Three quarters of americans are moderately or very worried about being to afford back to school expenses. That's according to a recent survey by U. S. News and World Report focusing on parents with kids in kindergarten through high school here. With more insight on this is Beverly hard credit cards expert at U. S. News and World Report. Beverly welcome to the show, what are your biggest takeaways from this survey Now? We found that three quarters about 77% were at least moderately worried about affording back to school expenses this year. It was just very expensive. You know with inflation during the 12 months ending in June it was 9.1% and this is translated into higher, more expensive school supplies. The survey also found that nearly two thirds of parents plan to spend less on school supplies this year compared to past. What strategies are parents using to save money on these back to school expenses? You know I have to give americans a lot of credit for being resourceful this year. They are going to use a wide variety of methods. One of the strategies of course is to watch for sales and they're going to do that by visiting different stores as you know, different stores will have different types of sales. So in order to maximize their savings, they're gonna look at a lot of different stores. They're also going to redeem credit card rewards which is a little out of the box. That's a good idea and they're going to look for sales tax holidays. If your state has a sales tax holiday, that is a great time to buy your school supplies. You are a credit card expert. How can consumers use their credit cards to shop wisely when it comes to back to school shopping? Yes, you can really use your credit card. So your advantage at this time of year one thing you can do and this is very good idea. If you have an expensive purchase such as technology, maybe your child needs a new PC. One thing you can do is get a credit card with a 0% purchase a pr and this means that during the intro period that 0% time you'll get to uh pay your monthly payments without paying in interest. It's an interest free period. So it's a great opportunity to get a short term loan and not pay interest on it. And what I'm seeing right now for the interim periods is anywhere from about 12 to 20 months. So that's a really good deal. But you do have to pay those monthly payments on time where you could lose that offer? So that's really important. Are there any risky strategies that some people may be considering in order to save money that you would advise for them not to do Beverly. Yes. Absolutely. No a US news. We did a survey about this and we found that almost half of consumers are planning to use the buy now pay later options. Those are payment plans that are sort of like a short term alone alright installment loan and so you get to pay three or four different installment payments and it's spread out just a little bit now all these plants differ and many of them are interest free and no fees. Okay. That sounds great doesn't it? But the problem is if you don't pay as agreed you will end up paying interest and probably some fees as well. So you have to be very careful. And one thing I've noticed that a lot of consumers are doing multiple buy now pay later options. And when you do that it can be very confusing to remember who you owe what you owe and when it's due and that can really trip you up. Another strategy that I don't recommend is a deferred interest plan with historic credit card. Now. These are also very popular. Well over half said they would consider doing this. And the way this works is you'll get a 12 month or say a 24 month deferred interest period and you know you have to pay as agreed of course the monthly payments during that time. But if you have a balance at the end of this you will probably have to pay all of the deferred interest going back to the purchase date and the purchase amount. So if you think that you can pay the balance off in full during that deferred interest period, that's fine. But you need to be really sure you can pay that offer. It could be very costly. That is such good advice. What can parents do or where can they turn to if they feel they really can't afford school supplies for this upcoming school year? Yeah, that's a great question. And I did some research on this because I was very concerned. You know from the survey that people would be able to afford expenses this year and there's an organization called need help paying bills and you can check that out. They also have resources for helping you buy clothes for your child. That's another big expense that people don't think about. Do you have any specific cards that you want to recommend? Beverly, you know, I would say that each person has decide what the best card is for them. I often recommend cash back credit cards and there are a wide variety of those cards out there. But some of them will have rewards for department stores uh in all kinds of issues of amazon dot com, all kinds of reward that you can get. So I suggest using a combination of cards, cash back for everyday expenses and maybe the school supplies and then also other types of rewards too, especially if you travel a lot during this lawyer. What's your advice for parents with multiple Children or parents that are maybe going through this process for the very first time. You know, that's a really good question and we asked, how much are you expecting to pay per child this year? And only about 20% said they expected to pay $100 or less per child. And amazingly about 21% said that they expect to pay at least $400 per child. So let's say you've got a family with three kids, okay? You can end up spending $1200 you know, to send your kids back to school and then that doesn't count all of the little expenses that come up that are unexpected during the school year. So you know, my best advice is to use a variety of strategies, you know, and there are consignment stores that can help you pay for clothes if you need help with that and you know stay on top of this and watch for sales and you'll be able to get some deals. You know, I'm a huge fan of consignment stores, I think you're absolutely right. You really find some gems in there sometimes. Do you see the situation improving moving forward. You know, I would like to say yes maybe next year, but this year I think we just have to really tighten our belts and just get through it and I think you'll be fine as long as you you know just really stay on top of sales and do the best you can to find those deals. Great advice Beverly Harrison credit cards expert at U. S. News and World Report. Thank you so much Beverly, We appreciate your time.