Credit card or no credit card.

MonkeyMan said:
I do know people who have £15k+ on credit cards and that would worry me a bit but as long as you stay on 0% interest deals with payments going out on time then they aren't paying any extra for it.
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How long can you keep shifting it around? At some point it will catch up with you.
 
I learnt the hard way, got myself in to 3k debt. Thankfully have cleared it but decided I won't be touching a credit card until I grow up a bit.
 
Vonhelmet said:
How long can you keep shifting it around? At some point it will catch up with you.
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Like I said I wouldn't be comfortable with that much but they aren't just paying the minimum so it is coming down.

You don't need to be afraid of them though, they are a tool to be used (albeit carefully). For example I've got £2k on one that I could pay off now but instead it's on a 2 year 0% balance transfer being paid off monthly (amount divided by months interest free so it will be paid). Just lets me be a bit more flexible with the money I have, entirely different to stacking a card up with debt which you know will be a struggle to pay back.
 
Yes they're fine if you can be disciplined.

We use reward credit cards like debit cards, don't go over our budget, and just pay them off in full every month.
 
I put everything through my CC and pay it off for the daily stuff and then I've got a CC I don't make purchases on that has a 0% for transfers for 4 years when needed. Contactless makes the process quicker for most of my purchases.
 
I have absolutely no willpower so I don't have one. Me and the other half are currently working on chewing through the amount of debt we ran up whilst both going through Uni (three CCs between us). I find having a debit card and/or contactless bad enough, one swish and upto £30 leaves the account.
 
Vonhelmet said:
How long can you keep shifting it around? At some point it will catch up with you.
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I started with a 0% purchase card to buy a car. I could have bought it outright but decided cheap finance was a better option. My intention was to just pay off the balance once the 0% card ended. But when the deal ended there were a ton of even longer 0% balance transfer deals, so I just moved it. Then did the same when that ran out and now on second car.

I've now got move saved up in overpayments on my mortgage than the remaining balance on all my cards.
 
I've got one with a limit of about 6x my monthly salary but I'll never ever need that much. It's bizarre how easily they throw credit at you.
 
I've got 3 cards at the moment. 2 have no balance on them, and I have no idea why I even still have them open. Main one that the Mrs and I use currently has a whopping £11.37 on it just now.

We use it for almost all our purchases, shopping, booking holidays etc. Once we use it in Morrisons for example (123 card for cashback) we'll make a payment to it using the app as soon as we get in the car. Gets us a wee bit of cashback every month, it all helps!

Regarding those with £15k on credit cards, I don't think I could sleep at night knowing that. Conversely, I bet nobody blinks an eye at having a £20k loan for a car though.
 
The only reason I have one is for travelling and online purchases, you get more protection that a debit card. I actually cut my limit down there is no reason for me to have a credit card with 10k limit tbh, Direct debit is set to pay off the balance in full each month. They are good if are not a idiot for spending money you do not have.
 
Gigabit said:
Barclaycard refuse to up my limit despite the fact I've been with them over a year and never gone over my limit, always paid my card back on time.
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Barclaycard seem a little odd.

I've had a visa with them since I was about 18 and had a Mastercard with them since I was about 21.
The original Visa account has been upped repeatedly, but the Mastercard stayed the same and for about 5 years since they moved that over to a Visa as well I've had a yearly letter saying they would increase my limit, but only actually did so this year when they doubled it.
 
diamount said:
You're not making them any money, that's why.
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I remember when I cancelled my card with them they decided to increase my limit. I always paid it off and then hardly used the account later on when I got cards with my bank instead.

I use mine as a debit card, pay it off fully each month. You'll find if you have a card with your main bank they will give you a better limit if you've had a longstanding account. Or they'll give you a good starter rate and then increase it after 6 months to a decent amount.
 
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