OT : Credit Cards....

OK,

For the last 15 years I've survived on a debit card, no cheque book, and a
credit card given to me by my employer.

I've never had my own credit card.

I feel it might be a handy thing to have in case of emergency (occaisional
impulse buy) ?

What are the best deals at the moment, I won't be a heavy user, just the
occasional use when on hols etc.

 

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/cards/credit_card.asp

 

Nationwide have by far the best foreign currency exchange rates I've seen
with no fees.

It saved me quite a bit when I went abroad last year



--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk

 

Why on earth not? You get free 4~6 weeks credit, you've got an
instant line of substantial credit for an emergency, and a decent card
will even give you cash back. I put pretty much everything over a
tenner thru my card.

http://www.fool.co.uk/credit-cards/credit-cards-comparison.aspx
--
Champ

ZX10R | GPz750turbo | GSX-R 600 racer
My advice as your attorney is to buy a motorcycle
To email me, neal at my domain should work.

 

Marks & Spencer (of all people) get my vote.

 

Ditto their debit card on a Flexaccount: even if you only use it for
holiday money - no cash dispenser fee either. In Greece they will often
add 3% to your bill if you want to use a credit card, not so with debit.

 

I guess its the way I was brought up ?

Only being able to spend what I actually have / have saved in the savings
account.

I've never needed one for work / pleasure travelling as I've always budgeted
for holibobs and have the company credit card for back up should owt go pear
shaped.

Purchases for cars / bike etc over the years were bank rolled by one rather
good investment at the start of my working life which payed for my first new
car with out needing a loan or finance.

As I'm going to be travelling a lot more over the next few years I thought
its about time to get one of my own.

 

Ditto - "don't spend what you ain't got". I have savings for
emergencies. Although, really, genuine emergencies are very rare if
you're in the habit of spending less than what you earn, IME.

 

I've seen someone buy one drink on a CC in the States. Here in the land
of black money (Spain), if you go to a computer shop and want to spend
600 euros, it's a pretty safe bet that you'll be directed to the nearest
cash dispenser. When one buys a house some 30% is in a brown paper bag.
The solicitor turns and looks away.

--

Paul.
CBR1100XX SuperBlackbird (Buen mueble de patio)
And a pushbike of some sort.
BOTAFOT #4
BOTAFOF #30
MRO #24
OMF #15
UKRMMA #30

Ovejas y buitres:
http://obscuredomainname.org

 

I use an Egg Money Mastercard or a Morgan Stanley[1] Mastercard for
everyday purchases - both give 1% cashback. The Egg card gives a few other
perks such as 10% off bookings made at lastminute.com

On my recent trip abroad I used a Post Office[2] Mastercard, issued by the
Bank of Ireland. This sells itself on giving better value foreign
transactions. The reality is that it consistently gives about 2-3% better
than the Egg card, and much better than changing sterling cash into euros.
Typical figures: £ cash to euros 1.17; Egg 1.22; Post Office card 1.26

I think Nationwide offer something similar to the Post Office

[1] not sure if you can still get these as they were taken over by Goldfish
and then Barclays
[2] issued by Bank of Ireland

 

"I've just got a touch of flu, that's all"

 

Er, that's all I spend too. But, in the weeks between me buying the
item, and the cc bill arriving, my savings are earning interest. And
I get between 0.5 and 1% back on what I spend on the cc. *And*, as
others have mentioned, there's the legal protection you get from using
a cc.
--
Champ

ZX10R | GPz750turbo | GSX-R 600 racer
My advice as your attorney is to buy a motorcycle
To email me, neal at my domain should work.

 

Aye, everything I buy online is always credit card funded for the extra
protection. It even works on Paypal payments through Ebay. So if you make
a payment, and the seller rips you off, you don't have to rely on Paypals
woeful 'dispute' system. You just fill in their system as they want you to,
and ring the credit card people. Then Paypal say "You did what we wanted -
and have chargebacked - so we find in your favour".

 

I can handle it man, I can stop anytime.

 

Ta for the advice all.

A quick scout around, followed with a quick frenzy of calculator bashing,
and then mucho clicking has resulted in a Post Office Credit Card being
approved online which should be with me in the next few days.

Again - thanks for the shared wisdom one & all.

 

AOL on both counts.

 

They all say that sir.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Not this I suspect:

http://www.paydayuk.co.uk/indexga.htm?p=cj&AID=10368859&PID=2827320

Check out the APR on the right hand side of the screen (1855%)

 

Cool. As I said up there somewhere, it works well if you set it as your
payment method on paypal, 'cos you then have the option to chareback if
something doesn't arrive. Recently I had an issue with some stroppy,
illiterate twat, the kind that say things like 'u iz'. The little darling
clearly hadn't posted the item, he said he'd 'lost' the Recorded Delivery
receipt, and the proof of posting - yes, he claimed he had a proof of
posting *and* a Recorded Delivery slip... Maybe posssible at some post
offices but I can't see why they would.

Anyway, as his story massively didn't add up, and he was abusive, then
stopped replying, I chargebacked him, and he surprisingly suddenly, after
getting the email, 'found the item at work, where he'd taken it to post and
forgot' - despite all the slips he had. Anyway, naturally I didn't want it
by this point and told him that - so he kept it yet for some reason still
thought he should be allowed to keep my money. Paypal was telling me I'd be
able to get like £20 back or something, till the chargeback got to them and
amazingly, they found in my favour

Was a most handy thing to have paid on the CC.

 

*Ding*

CC's are incredibly useful. Our salaries go into both our current
account (for DD's and the like) and our savings account (which offsets
our mortgage). So I can buy something on the CC and not have to pay for
it for 4 weeks - during which time that money is still in the savings
account and offsetting our mortgage interest (which effectively gives a
better return than savings given that the mortgage interest rate is
6.69% as opposed to a savings rate of about 5%.)

Plus our mortgage capital comes down more quickly.

And then we pay the CC bill entirely so we don't get any interest on
purchases. And we don't *ever* use the CC to get money out. Or use the
'CC cheques' that they keep sending us..

Phil