Spring Heeled Jack

What's wrong with paying for it on your Switch (Debit) card? Pay as you go and no need to worry about monthly repayments.

Angry

I have a couple of mates with debts(overdraft, cc's and personal loans) in excess of £15k, one is well over £30k.

I can see how easy it is, I rang the bank to extend my overdraft from £150 to £250, they told me they could give me £1500, I say "no, just £250", they say "ok we'll just go ahead and make it £1500", I say, "OK, can I cancel my account please" they say "Ok sir, £250 it is"

Then theres the swathe of preapproved credit card letters being shoved through my door each week.

Must admit I am £4k in the hole with a cahoot personal loan, never again though. I've never had a credit card, no intent to either

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

I'd like to answer your question mate, but I'm busy consolidating my loans into one easy payment....

NS04

turboman786

Wow, Joey you have summed up my life philosophy nicely there!Most people are oblivious to the fact that they work to psay off debt, and most cannot go a month without working r else the debts get called in......I try and keep debt to nil, bar mortgage, which I am making serious inroads into paying off...

Maybe soon I can be spared the ordeal/slavery of full tiem employment..once my mortgage is cleared I will be able to relax, and work part time..

Danny B

getting into debt is so easy these days, I bought a top of the range Apple Mac and a very expensive Canon digital camera on credit card last year, bill was about £3,000 and I budgeted to pay £500 per month for about 6-7 months. No problem I thought, I can manage that. next thing I know, car needs servicing, insurance needs paying, boiler breaks down and you skip a few months and now you are back to square one again.

Thank God I managed to clear it in the end though..

scoob_babe

How do you work that one out??
I use the CC for absolutely everything - I may as well get some cash back for things I have to buy anyway such as food. I have never worried about the monthly repayments since its paid off in full every month and I have records of every purchase made on it. I'm probably one of the furthest people away from financial disaster you'll ever see since the only 'debt' we have is a mortgage and even then its only 50% of the value of the house!
But then maybe you have a butler who does your shopping for you

Spring Heeled Jack

As I said above.

Deep Singh

I used to pay for everything on the cc and then clear it monthly but tbh could'nt be bothered with the paperwork for a few quid. Chances are I would forget to pay a few on time and then pay interest. But if it works for you

JoeyDeacon

I personally pay for everything now on switch card. As far as I am concerned if you actually have money then their is no need for credit cards.

I love it when people think that having a Gold/Platinum credit card is prestigious. Surely actually having the money and using a boring coloured switch card is far more prestigious than paying using credit on a pretty coloured card?

Credit cards bring most people nothing but misery in my experience.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Nowadays you have the option with most credit card companies to automatically pay off the full amount at the end of the month, unless you tell them otherwise.

I do that for both of my cards, and have always done so. I can never be bothered to "pay" a bill, I'd just forget. Everything is done by direct debit through my current account. The cashback just arrives at some point, and then I spend it down the pub

Deep Singh

Could'nt agree more. Must say though when I was younger I thought it was cool to have a gold/plat/black card, now I know better. If you do not have the money do not spend it

Deep Singh

Mines a Stella then!

ChrisB

What about the extra protection buying on CC brings? Company goes down the tubes and you're not left out of pocket. Witness the thread on here last week(ish) about Red Letter Days...

Luan Pra bang

Also someone cloning your credit card costs alot less than cloning a switch card and draining your bank account.

StickyMicky

no credit cards here

never had one, not my cup of tea lol

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Stella it is


On a more serious note.....

If you can resist the temptation, then it really is worth buying on a credit card as you have so much more protection. I did not realise the difference unitl I bought something on a debit card and then had issues with the seller. It ended up in court, took 12 months to sort, had to get the baliffs in the end to get my money back. Would have been so much simpler if I had bought on a credit card.

But if you will fall into temptation, then you are best saying well away from them. They cause so much misery

Petem95

For a start having a credit card is a good way of building a decent credit rating (assuming you use it properly!) and if you have one like mine then you get cashback on everything you buy

So basically I buy all the things I would normally on the card, pay it off in full each month and get money for nothing! Also has advantages like free travel insurance etc.

hugo

Ha ha ha......<pisses self>!

Leslie

All this debt is not so different to the Exchequer anyway. Looks like it is shortly all going to catch up with Brown as well!

Les

Ben WRX Bug-Eye

If you are struggling with credit card debts definitely take advantage of the interest free offers on balance transfers! It may seem like a bad thing to take out yet another credit card, but switching your outstanding credit in this way will at least buy you time and allow inflation to erode a bit of the debt. As far as the time taken to do this is concerned, it’s not that much of an ordeal and if someone said to you that you'd save hundreds of pounds (in interest payments) for half an hours work you would be mad not to do it.

Also don’t think that just declaring yourself bankrupt is an easy way out. You will carry that with you for practically the rest of your life (seven year bankruptcy declaration period doesn't apply as far as many financial institutions are concerned).

I think credit cards are a good thing as long as you have self control and know what you’re doing. They do offer great protection, benefits and are a convenient mechanism for paying for things. No one forces anybody to go out and put thousands of pounds on their cards just because they can. Saying that truly rich people use Switch is ridiculous. Someone with financial awareness would understand the advantages of buying something now and paying for it at the end of the month (no charges if done within the interest free period on purchases). Drawing cash out on credit cards rather than a debit card is bad news all the way though.

Agree completely with everybody who has pointed out that debt enslaves you - your purchases own you, not the other way around. You end up working for the bank basically. I would also argue that houses bring liabilities and are not pure assets. The bigger your house the bigger your tax bill etc - there are better investments.

Deep Singh

Ben, I don't understand the last line 'the bigger your house the bigger your tax bill'

Are you talking about council tax? Its about the least amount of tax one pays.

^OPM^

credit cards aint all bad if u make them work 4 u tho-do what i do apply for several cards, max the limit out by transferring it all to my bank account-leave it sitting there for the 9 months interest free period earning me money-at end of 9 months when they want to charge me for it-simple, i give it them back then and i have earned interest on it for doing nought-simple

dazc

How much interest will you earn doing that?
Is it worth the hassle of opening all those accounts? If you let one slip isn't that your profit gone surely?
Seems a tad risky for possibly little gain?
Daz

Deep Singh

I don't think credit cards give interest free periods for cash withdrawals, they are usually charged at very high rates.

turboman786

Never heard of any credit card that gives interest fee cash back....

Reality

Debit card takes the money out as you use it - correct.

What many people do is leave their money in the bank until the end of the month.

If you use you credit card to pay for everything through the month then pay it off at the end of the month you are in exactly the same position if you had used your debit card - with two exceptions.

1. Your money has been gaining (probably ****e) interest while it has been sat in your bank account AND

2. The credit card company will give you 1-2% of your total spend back in cash-back.

So if you spend £1000 a month you'll get 1 months interest (at 0.000000 % apr) from the bank and 1% from the card company.

In summary you'll get 56p from your bank and £10 from your credit card company for your £1,000 spend. (£126.72 a year)

Anyone turning down money for nothing obviously has too much .

scoob_babe

That's exactly what I do and live within my means

I'd love to know who got our portion of debt as no-one within our immediate families has any kind of debt at all if mortgages are excluded!

^OPM^

oh yes they do-to name 2-egg and virgin do-simply do a balance transfer from the card to your bank account-pay the minimum back for either 6 or 9 months then at end of period give em it all back or swap it then to another card-its known as stoozing-read up on it-easy money

S3BARU

i work for Egg Banking, Is unbelivable some debt people are in, best thing to do is consolidate all debts into a loan, you may pay intrest, but the temptation is not there!!! thats the best thing to do, but at the end of the day,

...its your decision, and your life, so you should only spend the money you have...

weapon69

I got a CC at age 18 What a mistake!! I'm still in debt with it now and i'm 22

Once i've paid this off and got rid of it, i will never get another one unless I am buying something big and want the added protection a CC brings and i know i can pay it off immediately.

I don't blame the bank for giving me a CC, it was my own fault and i learnt my lesson the hard way.