Holiday spending is starting to pick up. But in this economy, saving money while shopping is all the rage. Retailers, anticipating disappointing sales figures as the after-effects of the recession hit, are promoting their in-store credit cards aggressively to drive revenues under the guise of saving you money. Unfortunately, retail store cards are not worth the plunge, in spite of their offers. Here’s 6 reasons why.

1. They fatten your wallet — with unnecessary plastic. Simplicity in one’s finances can be a secret weapon to improving one’s debt status because getting organized is that much easier. Adding credit cards to the mix that only work at one store doesn’t makes sense.

2. The offers are only a one-time deal. Part of the strategy of many retail stores is to get you to take on their card for the long-term while the only real benefit of the card is a one-time discount of 10-15% with just your first purchase in the store.

3. You’re encouraged to spend more. Those who shop in a retail store with a retail store card in their name spend more on average. This makes those who struggle with finances less likely to improve their situation. Furthermore, the temptation to spend more greatly outweighs any improvement in your debt-to-credit limit ratio since most of them have low limits anyways.

4. Opening the card can cause your credit score to decline. To issue you the card, the store pulls your credit report. While having your report examined once will not necessarily decimate your credit score, those who have their credit report called up frequently for other applications, ranging from loans to other credit cards to employment documents, means the negative impact is compounded.

5. Very high interest rates. Many of the retail store cards carry interest rates significantly worse than those on your general purpose plastic.

6. The terms of retail store credit cards have already merited congressional inquiry. At least Senator Schumer of New York has done formal research into retail store credit card marketing practices and interest rates, concluding they are a danger to consumers. In his survey only 4 of 23 retail store cards offered interest rates lower than 20%.

Raj Patel writes for DebtGoal.com, a do-it-yourself system for getting out of debt and lowering your interest costs.  DebtGoal.com incorporates all of the techniques discussed in this post and can help users understand and get visibility to and manage their debt finances.