Does anyone actually live without one?

I’m thinking of going card free other than debit. Lack of spending willpower.

If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it, simple.

I’ve got one, two actually but I’m down to less than £200 debt now, it was a loooong journey.

The overly simplistic “if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it” really is the key, but…. and it’s a big BUT it’s not the whole story, lots of people who get in deep with them lose that link between income and expenditure, and credit cards were designed with this exact thing in mind, they erode the worry of over-spending because as long as you’re packing plastic you’ll never not be able to buy food, fuel or that little bill that comes out of nowhere.

Credit Cards really are a mugs game, the rates are high and the low repayments were just designed to keep you on the wheel forever, I know people who’ve carried big 5 figure debts for years, decades even, paying 20% every year in interest and getting no where with it.

All those 0% deals and cash-back incentives are just there to entice people who think they’re too clever to get into debt. I’ve heard them “I don’t do debt, well I owe Barclaycard £5k but it’s interest free for 3 years” I very much doubt they’ve got that £5k on account somewhere earning them 5% a year.

I will admit they’re useful for buying stuff you want a bit of come-back on or for the car hire companies if you don’t have a few grand to lend them whilst you’ve got their car, but the world would be a better place without them.

I only have one with a low credit limit (£500 the minimum they’d offer) which hasn’t been used in 4-5years or so. I keep the card in my wallet for emergencies only. I use two current accounts, only one of which I keep a card in my wallet for. I transfer a set amount each month into that from main one for day to day spending. Other card stays at home in a box somewhere with all my financial docs etc. Works for me – no debt.

I managed to happily live without one until around two years ago (I’m 41 now). The main reason for getting one was that European car rental companies began to refuse to rent without one which got quite frustrating. The extra security when making relatively large (particularly on-line) purchases or flight bookings is handy, as is having a back up if a cash point eats my debit card. I almost never use it day to day though and never use the traditional ‘credit’ aspect as I’ve always been someone who spends money if I have it available and don’t if I don’t.

We use one for as much of our spending as possible – and pay it off every month. Currently a Tesco card so getting points that I can trade for Evans Cycles vouchers (though that is about to end). So, no debt and “playing” it a little. I’ll maybe look to some other reward card soon.

I’ve never used one. Don’t like debt apart from mortgage. If I can’t afford something I can’t have it.

I only use a credit card when buying online – there’s better consumer protection for credit card purchases and there’s peace of mind in knowing that the details of the debit cards linked to my current account are not quite so easy to get hold of…

I have one card. mbna did a very low rate card a few years back. 7% interest is nice whenever I have an emergency big purchase that will take a month or two to pay back. Most of ny friends have 20% interest on theirs.

The thing is credit cards do offer extra protection on certain things like flights etc so there is a point to have one. But you have to be able to trust yourself with it.

I do most of my spending on a credit card.

I also pay it off monthly.

It’s good to have history.

It costs me nothing to have it.

Because I’m as pjay puts it “think I’m clever” ive made large purchases on 0 % and paid it down over the term leaving my own money in accounts earning more than zero. -but it’s not about being clever it’s about being diceplined

We have it for hire cars and extra cover when buying things.
But it almost never goes past end of month without being paid off.
It’s always a 0% one.
They keep upping the limit – I think we’re on £12k currently!

I have a few, one for general spending that gives cash back on purchases, its paid in full every month. A Halifax Clarity that does free foreign transactions for the few times we are on holidays and another that I’m paying for a sofa on. 0% ends in six months, have the cash to pay it off.

Just had a £500 refund – from the CC company – for two ski season passes as the service advertised is not available.

Just had a moany letter from the Halifax informing me that seeing as I haven’t used their credit card for a couple of years, they are withdrawing it when it it comes up for renewal unless I use it before then or I phone them up. They did the same thing when I hadn’t used my overdraft. Oh well.

Use 1 for all fuel and vehicle related purchases. Paid off monthly it let’s me easily see what we spend on fuel and maintenance.

Other 1 is used for online and things like flights etc. That’s always paid off again in full monthly now.

Have in the past not always paid off the full amount and it is a bloody expensive way to borrow. Problem is they make it bloody easy to do!

l0key

Member

If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it, simple.

I love these self righteous posts that crop up regularly on STW. It’s worth remembering that most people couldn’t afford to buy a house without borrowing, or a decent car, or plenty of other things, including higher education these days. Or perhaps we should return to the Victorian era where only the wealthy owned decent properties?

JP

As above, it can be a good way of improving your credit rating.

I have an Avios credit card which is useful for getting cheap BA flights.

Yes

Love all the self righteous bollocks above..typical STW-warriors. Anyway I use credit cards to buy EVERYTHING off the web….for the consumer protection, simple as that. If a company goes bust….ala UBYK et al….you don’t lose a penny. There are a billion 0% cards out there desperate for your business, and as long as you aren’t a total dunce, it should never cost a penny.

We do all our spending on CC and pay it off each month. We aren’t high earners and have to be disciplined only buying things if we know we can pay it off. We’ve found it much easier to keep a track of our spending that way; cash in our pockets just seems to vanish.

We do all our grocery and big purchases on Tesco credit card for the points & pay off each month but main reason was to have a “joint account” without the legal tie up of a joint bank account. Still easy to miss the money owed on credit card when assessing financial health, but we are pretty careful with our spending these days.

We do all our spending on cc. And pay it off every single month.

1. We get insurances on our purchases
2. We get very good bonuses like vouchers which we wouldn’t get on debit

It’s only a mug’s game if you’re not disciplined.

I’ve got loads. Tesco one for the points, NatWest one that does cashback, a couple of start-up bank ones that do free foreign money, and a couple more on miscellaneous bank accounts. Just choose the one that is cheapest or gives the best reward. Also good protection from losing the money as already mentioned. Always paid off in full every month. I treat it just like cash only it’s better than cash. If you don’t have the discipline to pay it off every month then I can see the point off getting rid but if you can then they are a very handy tool

Have only had them to take advantage of long 0% terms but only had them for 3 or 4 months. Lived for 10-15 years without them after leaving Uni.
Got 2 at the moment which I use for buying things for the house I’m renovating but I have the money in savings to cover them, it’s just for the insurance/payment protection thing really.
Get one when I go abroad which doesn’t charge anything for using outside the UK – again have the savings to cover it anyway.
Never paid any interest on any cards but I must have had about 15 of them over the last 10 years – made about £250 in cashback for applying for them though!

I’d never buy anything, apart from a house, if I had to borrow money to get it. Always saved up and bought cars, why pay hundreds a month to get a new one when you can get a 10 year old one which is just as reliable? Won’t win me ina a battle of the Jones’s I know but I’m not paying for that dubious priviledge.

3 here. halifax clarity which only gets used on holidays abroad (DD to pay off in full at end of month), tesco which we just buy weekly shop with and pay off each month too, then we always seem to have a 3 or 4 year 0% jobby for the latest ‘project’. recently thats been new windows, new bathroom, now its new bedroom. (DD set for whatever we can afford to pay monthly to finish it early).

i like the idea ^^^ of using one just for fuel/vehicle costs tho, so ill probably double up the clarity card for that use and pay for all my fuel on it.

why pay hundreds a month to get a new one when you can get a 10 year old one which is just as reliable? Won’t win me ina a battle of the Jones’s I know but I’m not paying for that dubious priviledge.

same. im very much ‘anti the jones’s’ and happy to have the sh1ttest looking car on the street (as long as its got dab and good speakers), smugly listening to mates and neighbours telling me how much theirs cost. bound to backfire on me now ive said that……

why pay hundreds a month to get a new one when you can get a 10 year old one which is just as reliable?

Because it’s not just as reliable, and you don’t have warranties to fall back on anything major that goes. You can get great cars, obviously, but I’ve had some big bills on cars that are 10 years old. I’m not justifying the cost of a new car, but don’t pretend that a 10 year old one is just the same.

I have 3 credit cards and buy basically everything on 2 of them, but I’ve not paid a penny of interest in years. One has a £15k limit at 4.9%, so works out cheaper than a bank loan most of the time!

What I think is irresponsible is companies simply upping credit limits. Only one of mine offers me an increase which I have to accept, the other 2 just tell you they’ve upped it. I can’t imagine what the payments would be if I maxed all of mine out.

ah, this again.

Credit / credit cards are not evil; misuse of them is (and by that i point the finger more at the companies that lend large amounts to people that they shouldn’t, rather than the people themselves although there are plenty who know what they are doing and do it anyway)

As well as purchase protection they practically pay me to have one – I buy most stuff in the month on it, as a result I don’t run down my bank balance until the bill comes due and I save the interest on my offset mortgage. It’s not huge, but it’s free money and when rates were higher it was worth something.

And then they give me money off vouchers (M&S card) too.

I don’t generally buy anything I can’t pay off at the end of the month but I will happily take a 0% deal if it’s on offer too. I’m sat on a sofa typing this that’s only half mine right now 😉

No CCs or other tick here (we live in social housing) because **** debt and the type of people who want you to get into it. Financing consumption and driving want/greed is **** the planet.

Don’t have the money to buy something outright? Easy, just save up for it. Usually by the time you’ve saved up the want has passed or you’ll struggle to hand over £xxxx for whatever bauble you wanted which can lead to a nice cushion for when you do actually need to buy something.

Depends on how you look at credit cards, the mistake people make is seeing them as a means of credit, there are much better options. I would guess most of us who use them daily and pay them off see them as plastic cash. In 25 years of having them I’ve only ever not paid them off twice, once back in the early 90s and once by accident, underrated by about six quid. I have debt but it’s controlled and not a result of blind credit card use. Expect society to become more plastic orientated, some pubs don’t take cash these days, it’s a trend that will continue.

We buy everything on credit cards, hardly ever use debit cards, why would you when you can get free vouchers etc and it gives you a credit history

Why do you need a credit history? Serious question- if you pay for everything with cash in person or debit card, live in social housing and don’t want a new car, why do you need a credit history?

Because most people use credit, phone contracts, mortgages, car loans, overdrafts, Sky contracts etc. Without a credit history it’s more difficult to access these things. Do you need a credit history, no, is it useful, yes.

why do you need a credit history?

Have you never had a mortgage?

Got one, but haven’t used it in about 8/9 years!
For online purchases I use PP as it gives a similar level of buyer protection (I think?).

Otherwise I like to live within my means. Though if I were abroad and needed to get a hire car or similar then I might whip it out.

Have you never had a mortgage?

From the reference to social housing I assume not. But that’s not really a decision many can make, so it’s moot, and even among those in social housing I suspect most would rather buy a property if they could. So have a need for credit.

Usually by the time you’ve saved up the want has passed

This x10000. I recently saved up for a new TV – got to my goal of £600 and the effort of saving it up when I got thee had the effect of stopping some spending the money on something I already had (just wanted a bigger one) and spent some of it sorting my bike out as that would have a better effect on me (been off bike a while due to injury and was lacking motivation to restart).

No, I’ve never had a mortgage and have never wanted one, we paid cash money for our car and neither of us have a phone on contract. I understand we are exceptional in this respect though. We have got BT phone/telly/interweb because my OH likes MotoGP and I need t’internet for work.

I think social housing’s great if it’s done well, there’s no way I’d want to buy somewhere and be responsible for its upkeep ad nauseum. We pay a reasonable rent, the housing association employs a range of people to administrate and look after the house and its workings and we don’t have to worry if the roof blows off or the boiler packs up.

edited- you could tie this thread in with this one-

SaveThePlanetTrackWorld

Want less, spend less, use less.

Because it’s not just as reliable, and you don’t have warranties to fall back on anything major that goes.

Not in my experience! Had 3 new cars through work (need one to do job, isn’t a perk as such). First one needed a £3k new gearbox, second had loads of small bits done, my current one has had issues too. None of the cars I’ve ever bought with my own money have ever broken down or had big bills – but then I get Japanese (Toyota/Nissan mainly) and search round for a very good one. Most I ever spent was £2.5k on an 7 year old Corolla which was actually virtually new – 17k miles will full Toyota history and garaged it’s whole life.

Ive got 2. One is a travel card that doesnt charge fees for using abroad. Got it for that reason when driving to the alps for the tolls etc.

Also got a rewards card that i upgraded from my initial card. Just gives me points for using the card for petrol and groceries.

Both are paid off in full on a monthly direct debit.

I think the only thing ive used actual credit on is my PayPal Credit account once, just to see how it worked.

We put everything from a pint of milk to a holiday cottage booking on our cc, pay it off at the end of every month though.