Creditcards is bad mmkay?

[Ctuchik]

US man charged $23 quadrillion for cigarettes - Telegraph

thats some bitching tobacco tax

 

[Jeros]

"Bank of America said the card issuer, Visa, could answer questions. Visa, in turn, referred questions to the bank."

Well at least the UK is not the only place with a system like that

 

[rynnor]

"Bank of America said the card issuer, Visa, could answer questions.

Hmm - surely Bank of America are the 'card issuer' - its their customer who they gave a card too - nice push off tho

 

[Furr]

One of my colleagues has a Credit Card with 3 Grand on it and 26% APR, or something like that, anyway worked out he essentially has an 11 year loan, LOL! I on the other hand hate credit cards, Devils spawn devices, spending money you don't have is just plain evil, but I do have have one for emergencies or when I'm abroad which currently is in credit due to overpayment, Woo

 

[Tom]

Credit cards are great. Buy stuff with them, if the stuff is shite or doesn't arrive the credit card company can refund you.

Pay it off in full every month and I don't see what all the fuss is about.

 

[throdgrain]

One of my colleagues has a Credit Card with 3 Grand on it and 26% APR, or something like that, anyway worked out he essentially has an 11 year loan, LOL! I on the other hand hate credit cards, Devils spawn devices, spending money you don't have is just plain evil, but I do have have one for emergencies or when I'm abroad which currently is in credit due to overpayment, Woo

Mate he doesnt have an 11 year loan. I spend all bloody day telling people this, a credit card is flexible short term credit, not a spend-it-all-in-2-weeks-and-pay-it-off-over-a-decade-loan.

People moan about the interest rate (though my Barclaycard is 10% apr which seems ok to me) but if they clear the balance they dont get any interest.

Take it from someone who has spent the last 3 years as a credit card debt collector - DONT PAY THE MINIMUM PAYMENT ON YOUR CARD, YOU IDIOTS!!


Thanks

 

[Tom]

To be fair though Throd, they don't make it simple. There's no option on a repayment plan to pay back £100 a month for instance, instead (from their end) its either all of it, or a minimum payment. That leaves one having to phone the bank and set up a standing order, which, when the card is paid off, continues to be made unless you stop it.

 

[Furr]

He doesn't really have the cash to pay it off, Rent, Salary + petrol means he has very little left over to put towards it, I don't pitty him, he should have been smarter..... Banks got at him young though, gave him a large credit limit and said "Free money".

I still believe that for retail goods, not large purchases (cars, houses etc) you shouldn't use credit to purchase them. If you can't afford luxury goods such as those then you shouldn't.... but then that's me... And if you do use credit to purchase something then it should be made sure that it's within reasonable means you have enough income to pay it off. Lots of people are very naive and need to be given a chance... although another side of me thinks, at least now you'll learn!

 

[throdgrain]

To be fair though Throd, they don't make it simple. There's no option on a repayment plan to pay back £100 a month for instance, instead (from their end) its either all of it, or a minimum payment. That leaves one having to phone the bank and set up a standing order, which, when the card is paid off, continues to be made unless you stop it.

No, go to the bank, or ring and use a debit/credit card or use internet banking like I do, and pay as little or as much as you like. But shit, ALWAYS pay more than the minimum, unless times are really really tough.

If you're on a repayment plan, we call then Fixed Payment Arangements, thats a different thing, that says you've already fucked up and cat afford the thing, we've stopped your card and reduced your payments and stopped your interest and charges, and you aint getting no credit off anybody for a few years to come

maybe we misunderstand each other though, not completely sure, and I'm well pissed too tbh I've typed this like 19 times already.

I see people who's history shows 50 or 60 months over thier limit, 50 or 60 months worht of late payments, each one with a £12 charge. And when I tell them about it they either ignore me, or pretend they knew all along and it's just a temporary (5 year!) glitch and pretend to get offended about it. Fucking retards imho.

 

[throdgrain]

I still believe that for retail goods, not large purchases (cars, houses etc) you shouldn't use credit to purchase them. If you can't afford luxury goods such as those then you shouldn't.... but then that's me... And if you do use credit to purchase something then it should be made sure that it's within reasonable means you have enough income to pay it off. Lots of people are very naive and need to be given a chance... although another side of me thinks, at least now you'll learn!

This is pretty much the opposite of what you should be doing.

Use your card for day-to-day purchases, then pay it off, or a significant amount, at the end of the month. Small interest, and much safer against fraud. Use it for emergencys, like my £400 road tax bill next month, then may it off over 2 or 3 months or whatever.

If you want to buy a new car, get a bloody bank loan

 

[Vae]

Sorry Throd but Furr was refering to credit in general not specifically cards.

Personally I use my credit card as though it's a cheque that takes 30-50 days to be cashed It's paid off each month in full and at the end of each year they give me £100-£120 in cashback for the amount I've paid for on it in the year.

However I am particularly anal about money and have accounting records (almost to the penny) which go back to about 1998!

 

[nath]

This is pretty much the opposite of what you should be doing.

Use your card for day-to-day purchases, then pay it off, or a significant amount, at the end of the month. Small interest, and much safer against fraud. Use it for emergencys, like my £400 road tax bill next month, then may it off over 2 or 3 months or whatever.

If you want to buy a new car, get a bloody bank loan

Yup, exactly how I use mine. It's nice to know that whoever I'm paying has no direct access to my money.

 

[Furr]

This is pretty much the opposite of what you should be doing.

Use your card for day-to-day purchases, then pay it off, or a significant amount, at the end of the month. Small interest, and much safer against fraud. Use it for emergencys, like my £400 road tax bill next month, then may it off over 2 or 3 months or whatever.

If you want to buy a new car, get a bloody bank loan

As Vae says and what I should have been a bit clearer about is that I do mean credit in the broader sense like Loans, Mortages etc is perfectly resonable, it's a vital aspect of how we get things done after all.

But when it comes to cards I'm changing my idea of a completely free market to a more lefty-wishy-washy view that peoples earnings should be linked to the amount they are given on credit cards, for most people it's not a problem but there are far too many young, naive and just plain stupid individuals who get into deep shit with them and thus get raped by credit card companies causing all sorts of problems. For the sake of a brand spanking new super Large TV or whatever if you can't afford really afford it then don't friggin buy it.. But yeh.
I'm also anal about money.. saving is my thing, only in my mid twenties but having learnt the "credit card and overdraft" lesson of my student years and being bailed out by the rents, being financially sensible is so much better, just wish it hadn't been so easy to get in that situation in the first place.. ah well stupidity of youth.

 

[Raven]

A card is good if used properly. I use one for most of my online purchases, you get insurance for starters then pay it off when I get the bill. I do now and again use it to buy something I can't afford in one hit and can't really wait for. We also bought our living room furniture on credit (though on 0% apr) along with our bed. We try to keep it at 1 loan payment a month, when one is paid we can afford to get something else, if we need it. When I turned 18 I was bombarded with loan offers, credit offers in shops etc. I fell for it and bought loads of stuff. In the end most of my money was going on paying bills eventually I had to borrow money off my Grandparents to clear them and then paid them off a bit each month, took 3 years to clear it.
Its far to easy, or at least it was before the collapse, to get huge amounts of debt that you could in no way afford to pay, everywhere you looked there was offers of credit, loans thrown about like raffle tickets.

Credit isn't bad, its what makes the world go round. People abusing credit is what is wrong.

 

[throdgrain]

Furr/Vae ok gotya I understand what you mean now. I would have replied last night but it was too much hard work.

I dont beleive that we should tell people what they can spend or anything though. I do beleive that is just state interference, and that less laws and regualations are required, not more

 

[Chilly]

Less laws and regulations ended with vast subprime debt problems all over the planet due to shitty practices at Moodey's & co ratings agencies and the banks inability to value anything properly (or care).

People are inherantly thick and will take what is given. If someone screws up at the age of 20, they are in a very poor position for arguably the most important decade of their life, where their careers, families and living arrangements often settle down. Add in financial problems and all of that can (and does) come unstuck.

People need to be better educated when it comes to money, but in the short term, need to be bitch slapped into not taking up all these stupid credit offers.

I have two credit cards, both paid fully every month and one of them even has a nice cashback element (my amex platinum thingy) which is a nice christmas present.

 

[throdgrain]

That's just Nanny State stuff Chilly, I dont hold with it.

 

[GReaper]

Credit cards can stop incompetent companies like [thread=242094]this one[/thread] raiding your bank account and leaving you without any money for day to day spending!

 

[Chilly]

That's just Nanny State stuff Chilly, I dont hold with it.

You can wave the nanny state flag at almost every law, the interesting bit is working out which laws are useful and a net benefit to society and which are not.

Murder laws tend to be pretty handy, else you could just stroll around killing people willy nilly. Is that the nanny state at work?

Human nature is a complex beast, and needs complex treatment in a large, modern society. Shouting nanny state every time a law comes in that interferes is not helpful. Of course, some laws are clearly bullshit, but many are sane and reasonable in the context of human behaviour.

 

[MYstIC G]

No, go to the bank, or ring and use a debit/credit card or use internet banking like I do, and pay as little or as much as you like. But shit, ALWAYS pay more than the minimum, unless times are really really tough.

Maybe even write a cheque?

 

[throdgrain]

You can wave the nanny state flag at almost every law, the interesting bit is working out which laws are useful and a net benefit to society and which are not.

Murder laws tend to be pretty handy, else you could just stroll around killing people willy nilly. Is that the nanny state at work?

Human nature is a complex beast, and needs complex treatment in a large, modern society. Shouting nanny state every time a law comes in that interferes is not helpful. Of course, some laws are clearly bullshit, but many are sane and reasonable in the context of human behaviour.

This is one of them. Making laws saying who you can lend money to and who you can't?

One of the things that really annoys me is people saying I NEVER HAD A JOB WHEN I TOOK OUT THIS CARD!!

Like it was my fault. They took out the card, they can deal with it. Or older people, say over 70. are they not allowed to have credit cards by your special rules "for our own good" ?

It's about time people took responsibilty for thier own actions in my opinion.

Meg - Cheques?? nar, no one wants them