Poll do you have a credit card ?

I'm another that uses on a day to day basis. As Rache says, mine has been used for coffee and even a can of coke!

I have a cashback card that earns me a nice bonus that I then tend to treat myself with, normally shoes!

This one gets paid off in full each month. I don't think I have ever paid a penny interest and that is how I intend to keep it.

I also tend to be a bit of a 0% rate tart and normally have one on the go that I put holidays and big spend on. I then squirrel a bit extra away to a savings account during the 0% period so that a) I earn interest and b) have the £ to cover the bill prior to the 0% ending.

There definately seem to be two schools of thought here on CC's. I think my mum drilled it into me that you don't buy things on the 'never never' so I have always used them to my benefit. The CC company will still earn a good commission from me based on the % charged to retailers, just not from interest from me.

quote:Originally posted by Hyacinth
meant to add re: the money management thing- I don't pay off in full each month, which must be more representative of the general population, otherwise CC companies wouldn't make any money.

id="quote">That would be me then <hand up>. We have 5 credit cards between us, that we're slowly paying off - at least two will be gone by the end of the year, then the rest the year after. I hate being in this much debt, and our finances and lifestyle are largely controlled by our debt outgoings, but we are facing up to being stupid in the past, and are fortunate that we have never really put ourselves in the position that we couldn't afford at least minimum repayments. So bar a lot more worse off than we should be, we will hopefully come out of the otherside unscathed but hopefully a lot more wise.

I have three- a Belgian joint card, a UK joint card and a UK personal one- which I use depends on where I am and what I'm buying (although we have a joint current account so even my personal card is paid off with joint money- I mainly use it to hide specific prices and shops from H when I'm buying him presents). They are for convenience and paid off every month.

I have had a lot of CC debt in the past and, as a student, found it hard to treat my CC limit as anything other than available funds, IYSWIM.

quote:Originally posted by Knownowt
I have had a lot of CC debt in the past and, as a student, found it hard to treat my CC limit as anything other than available funds, IYSWIM.

id="quote">Or even a target?

I always had at least three CCs or store cards with outstanding balances of a few thousand up to the point where I met MrRache and we merged our finances. It's only since we had our children that we've sorted out our spending and we've tecnhically only been debt free since last month (apart from mortgage) when I paid the last installment of my student loan.

quote:Originally posted by Croyde
We have one and to be honest in the last year it has gotten out of control. A large house move and a finacially draining family emegency that we were the only ones with savings to be able to help them out meant that our CC is now out of control and much much higher than we are both comfortable with. It hasn't been used since before xmas and all of our spare monthly cash is going towards large lum payments each month to try and cut into it (£500 a month) - we have now decided that perhaps a loan to cover it and pay it back over 2 years will be our best option so that there is an end in sight and we can just cut up and close the CC account hence there is no further temptation. We have no other cards at all, no store cards, nothing just our individual debit cards.

id="quote">

You would be better off getting a 0% on balance transfers CC and transferring the balance. Then you can pay it off whilst earning no further interest on the debt. If you got a loan to pay it off then you would still pay interest on it. You would have to be disciplined though, and not spend on the 0% card AT ALL - maybe cut up the card when the transfer has gone through so you can't spend on it, but not closing the account iyswim.

I intend to do this when I get a new car - it's a way of getting a loan without paying interest. The only thing to be careful of is to get a card which doesn't charge for a balance transfer. The problem with those is that the 0% deal doesn't last very long (around 6 months) so you need to keep transferring every 6 months or so. On the plus side, as long as you pay your minimum repayments every month you wont get charged for the length of the 0% deal (as long as you don't spend on it), and you wont get charged for paying it all off if you suddenly came into some money (like you would if it was a bank loan).

I have 2 that had 3k on each until last month: they were both on o% but just about to run out so was going to get very expensive, so I took advantage of my graduate status to get a lowish rate loan to pay them off.

It's more expensive than o% cards but I don't think I'd get another 0% card atm, plus I don't want to ruin my credit rating for potentially getting a mortgage by applying for loads and loads of cards. And this way it forces me to pay them off.

The CCs covered me during student-hood when I simply couldn't make enough money from working 2 jobs and student loan to cover day to day living. I will keep one for emergencies (car bills etc) but am intending to totally close the other acct.

Yes. i can't imagine not having one. i use it for everything over about a fiver, and pay off the balance in full each month. as others have said, using a CC means transactions are secure, i get the interest rather than them and they are essential for travelling.

i would never buy anything i couldn't pay off that month. i think the limit's about £10k atm, not that the monthly bill comes anywhere near that.

Yes, I have various, for the usual resaons re. insurance, convenience, credit and cashflow. One in particular has a stupidly high limit, which I can only imagine was a mistak on the bank's part, and I do sometimes fantasise stress about what would happen if I accidentally had a meltdown in harvey nichols it got nicked.

This is always a fascinating subject for me as I just can't imagine running up credit card debt - it's so expensive. Gaah that sounds smug and I don't mean it to be.

Both H and I have credit cards that have some kind of reward (cash back, air miles,etc) and use them to charge almost everything we buy (including $5 lunches). We pay them off every month and for us it's just a way to consolidate our spending so we can keep the money in our savings account for longer. If we can't afford something then it doesn't get bought. We also go through periods where we like to track and analyze our spending and the data from the credit cards is useful for that. Finally, as others have said, we get a lot more protection on our credit card purchases and we have always been called immediately if there's been suspicious activity on our account.

Kate

I couldnt live the way i do if i didnt have credit cards.

Im a rate tart, I have 4 CCs of my own and Mr WT has 2. However only 1 of mine and 1 of his has anything on them.

Both are on 0% deals until November this year. We keep the money in the bank earning intrest and make sure that balances are paid off when the 0% is up.

We play each card provider off each other by ringing around and asking them what deal they can do us if we have a large purchase. Ive not paid intrest yet!

What does scare me though is the amount of credit on cards just available to me on what Ive got its something like £30k+ and if I was no good with money I can imagine how terribly easy it would be to get in to very serious debt.

I'm another 'everything goes on them and gets paid off' person. The amount of credit I have available to me is scary: getting on for £50k last time I looked - I really must phone round the banks and cancel some and get limits cut.

Not anymore no. I had my own personal one when I was 19, paid it off and cut it up. Then ex applied for CCs last year for us, but that was also paid off and cut up when we split.

I don't have one but my H does. It's used for holidays etc. I used to have one but I was terrible with it, so no more!

No dont have any credit cards, or store cards, if we cant afford to pay cash, we go without.

I have a couple, and am another who uses it a lot but pays everything off every month. No credit card company has ever had a single penny in interest off me!

Same reasons as most really, extra protection on purchases, far more security abroad, money in bank for longer, cashback rewards - I usually get a cheque for about £200 around Christmas - it's free money, why would I NOT want it?!

I also find it invaluable when places won't accept my company plastic (Amex) so I can keep the bill sitting on my cc for 3 weeks until my expenses come through. Also, we have had a couple of large vet bills when my dog had surgery, and the vet practice prefer you to pay up and then claim on insurance - the cc bridges that gap between the money going out and the insurance coming in - and at least I earned a few quid back reducing the bill too - I can put that towards his insurance again next year!

Nope, we are in the process of paying ours off. I never want to have an OD or credit card again.

I do, but I only use it for shopping online or for buying electrical items as I get an extra year's warranty. It gets paid off in full every month.