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i'm 35 and have never had one. thought about getting one when i started travelling more for work, but banks in Germany charge you for having a CC. my bank wnted 30€ a year for the privilage....
You’ll need one to hire a car abroad. Can’t be done without.
nope... as said above, it doesn't really matter. have hired cars in Germany, Portugal and Italy with no problems.
some of the posh hotels i've had the (dis?)pleasure of staying in have gotten a little arsey about me not having one. probably worried that i would cane the mini bar and do a runner 🙄
have had a few hotels either remotely lock the mini bar or remove the drinks from it.
^ so you use your debit card when you are travelling for work?
To save yourself 30 Euros a year? You'd probably earn that back in a month in cashback/vouchers/ffpoints.
As others, I use a credit card for all purchases and it gets paid in full each month (generally - see recent post where it didn't as a one off). I used to use Capital One but their cashback card stopped so I switched to Tesco for Clubcard points instead.
I was glad we paid for our holiday with the credit card after Monarch went bust! Easier than claiming back through CAA, we just were refunded automatically after a couple of weeks.
One shared CC between the two of us for non work stuff. Paid off every month. I don't see it as 'credit' so much as just a way to collect reward points in one place. One CC for the company - same paid off every month but an easy way to track company expenditure/recharge.
I have a credit card for a couple of reasons.
I generally make purchases of electrical goods etc. on the credit card for the extra protection if supposedly offers (I have never had to make use of that, but I guess it's reassuring to know it's there).
I also use it to make purchases that I intend to then pay off with money from a savings account; it gives me time to transfer the money out of savings & pay the card off
I use my credit card when travelling with work so my expense claim gets paid before I have to cough up the money; a few days away with work can soon add up once you have paid for hotel, food, taxis etc - it would be too much to come off my debit card.
I use cc for everything, and pay it off in full at the end of the month. Wife also has a card on my account and puts all her spending through it as well.
We get 1.25% cashback with no upper limits, which works out around £450 cash back per year.
I use my credit card for [u]all[/u] online purchases as it offers you much better protection than using a debit.
If you've used your card details online, there's probably a 99% chance they've been stolen and it's only a matter of time before you get your card cloned.
It happened to me and they put £1800 odd on my credit card.
I would much much [b]much[/b] rather have £1800 come out of my credit card than out of actual cash via debit. That way I still had my money available to me.
I also got the money refunded to my CC within a few days and HSBC were generally great at handling it all.
The trick is to understand it's not free money. You can only spend what you have. I've never had an interest payment because I only spend what I have.
I've never had one, never needed one and I'm certainly not getting one just for the hell of it.
Mind you I've never had a loan of any sort or ever bought anything on credit. I'm sure the day will come however..
We get 1.25% cashback with no upper limits, which works out around £450 cash back per year.
Who's that with?
If you've used your card details online, there's probably a 99% chance they've been stolen and it's only a matter of time before you get your card cloned.
I believe the real figures are 60% of the time it happens all the time.
All spending on CC where possible, building a 0% debt up plus earning cashback. Funds in my account spread across accounts paying 5%, 5%, 3% and 1%. Next year I'll do a 0% transfer and continue if possible. Not sure of the exact figures but I should be making £500+ on this for about an hours work 🙂
As per IHN, who's 1.25% cashback with?
Halifax Clarity is my holiday card - no charge on foreign transactions, and you can withdraw cash locally at no charge - you only pay the standard interest rate for as long as its outstanding. It was actually the cheapest way to top up on cash I could find (assuming you aren't with Nationwide for current account).
If you've used your card details online, there's probably a 99% chance they've been stolen and it's only a matter of time before you get your card cloned.
So why has this never happened to me despite shopping online with CC since the early 90s? I really don't think I'm all that lucky!
Using a CC online is an extremely prudent safety measure - if compromised its away from your money and you aren't liable for losses on it. Add the other benefits (potentially) and there's little argument against.
Everything goes on a credit card that earns me Nectar points, cleared in full every month.
GIves me additional peace of mind when dealing with online / retailers.
Nectar points pay for most of xmas...
So why has this never happened to me despite shopping online with CC since the early 90s? I really don't think I'm all that lucky!
Yeah, I mean - naturally we're not all getting our cards cloned day in day out.
But what with the Equifax breach at the top end, and 'disgruntled' employees at CRC on the bottom end, it's safe to assume someone has your details on a database somewhere!