The New Year sales will be here before you know it and, if you plan to take advantage of the savings to make big purchases, using your credit card may be the best way to pay, even if you have enough cash on hand to cover the costs. But, make sure you compare credit cards to obtain the best deal.

Paying with a credit card offers you what is known as “Section 75 protection”. This refers to Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, which applies to transactions you make in the UK as well as overseas and online. If the seller refuses to give you a refund due to defective goods or fails to send you what you have paid for, or sends you something that is greatly different to what you were expecting, you can have your credit card company dispute the charges with the seller and even get the credit card provider to issue you a refund.

While you can certainly receive refunds when you pay with cash, if there is a dispute over the delivery or quality of goods or services, you don’t have the recourse with cash that you do when you use your credit card.

You can get 0% purchase cards that you can use solely to make your big New Year’s sale purchases. As long as you pay off your balance before the 0% period ends, you won’t pay interest charges. Plus, since you’ve paid with a credit card, you can take advantage of your Section 75 protection, should you be unable to obtain satisfaction with a merchant when pursuing a refund.