Saving for Christmas - In N. Ireland

This information applies to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has produced a guide to help you work out the best way to save for Christmas.

The guide gives you a description of the different savings options available, including:

• bank and building society savings accounts
• Christmas clubs with local shops
• Christmas hamper and voucher schemes
• supermarket stamp schemes.

There is also a chart which lets you compare all the different options.

To view the information, go to: www.consumerdirect.gov.uk.

Some bigger Christmas clubs belong to the Christmas Prepayment Association (CPA). These clubs pay the money they get from their customers into a special fund which offers protection for the customer. You can find out more by going to the CPA website at: www.cpa-advice.org.uk.