CREDIT card firms have been accused of raising their rates just as the Christmas shopping season gets under way.

First Direct increased its balance transfer fees from 2.5% to 2.9% this month, following M&S Money’s increase from 2% to 2.5% at the start of October.

First Direct Gold, available to new customers only, offers one of the best interest-free periods for purchases at 12 months, and one of the best balance transfer rates at 5.9% for five years — popular with shoppers who also want to switch a balance from a more expensive card.

Egg recently rebranded its cashback card to the Egg Money World Mastercard and now charges £1 a month.

The changes come as Price Waterhouse Coopers, the accountant, said last week that credit cards will increasingly have to levy monthly fees and raise rates to offset bad debts. Research by Defaqto, the banking analyst, found that 7.4% of cards available to new customers charged a monthly fee. In November 2006, it was just 4.2% of the market.

Here we offer five tips to get the most from credit cards this Christmas:

1 USE SEPARATE CARDS One of the main gripes with credit cards is that they pay off the cheapest debt first, so if you have a 0% balance transfer deal but spending is charged at 9%, your payments will go towards paying off the 0% debt first. Only Nationwide and Saga have a positive order of payments.

Others have changed rates so the consumer is potentially worse off. Clydesdale Bank, for example, has recently changed its 0% offer on balance transfers from six months to 12, while its 0% rate for purchases was reduced from six months to three.

David Black of Defaqto suggests customers who want to use a balance transfer service and benefit from 0% on purchases should consider two cards — one for the transferred balance and the other for purchases.

The best card for balance transfers is Virgin Money, which offers 16 months at 0%. However, there is a 2.98% fee and its free purchase period lasts only three months.

For purchases you would be better off with a Tesco Clubcard, which offers 12 months interest-free on purchases.

If you would rather have one card, consider the AA credit card, which offers 0% on balance transfers and purchases until November 2010.

2 USE THE RIGHT CASHBACK CARD One of the best deals is on the American Express Platinum. It offers 5% cashback on all purchases but for only the first three months and up to £100. For the full benefit, you must spend £2,000 in the first three months.

After the first three months, the standard cashback rate is 0.5% on annual spending up to £3,500, then 1% on spending up to £7,500. Anything above this earns 1.25%.

However, Amex is not accepted in many locations, so a good alternative is Barclaycard’s cashback credit card, which pays 1% on the first £2,000 of spending, followed by 0.5% on up to £20,000 each year. The maximum you can get is £110 a year. A spend of £1,000 a month would earn £70.

3 TAKE ADVANTAGE OF REWARDS Many card providers entice customers with loyalty and reward schemes. One of the better ones is Tesco’s Clubcard — especially if you regularly shop at the store.

It offers one point for every £4 spent on the card. It also acts as a Clubcard, so you can pick up another two points for every £1 spent at Tesco.

You can either spend your points on shopping at Tesco, where each point equals 1p, or you can use the points on Tesco.com, where each point is worth 4p on certain deals.

4 USE YOUR OVERDRAFT Though banks have been cutting the level of interest-free authorised overdrafts, there are still some good deals.

Abbey and Barclays will offer 12 months interest-free overdrafts if you open a current account and pay in at least £1,000 a month. Alliance & Leicester also offers this but you need pay in only £500 a month. The level of overdraft you get will depend on your credit score, but typically it is about £2,000, said Defaqto.

5 MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE BEST SCORE Before deciding which card to go for, ensure your credit reference files are as up to date as possible as this will be used to determine what rate you receive or, indeed, whether you will be accepted. You can obtain a copy of your credit file by contacting one of Britain’s three main providers, Experian, Equifax and Call Credit.