Too many credit cards? aka "The Credit Card thread"

EvilRob said:
I'm paying £160 for a Virgin Reward+, £300 for a BA Premium Plus and £650 for an Amex Platinum now. Getting a lot for it but need so strategise/consolidate for the coming year and hopefully get some pro-rated refunds.
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Mate that's nuts
 
Got an email from Barclaycard for their usual transfer offers - the 0% cash transfer has a fee of 2.8% but their monthly minimum payment is 1% and is for until July 2016 (18 months).
 
Mysterae_ said:
Got an email from Barclaycard for their usual transfer offers - the 0% cash transfer has a fee of 2.8% but their monthly minimum payment is 1% and is for until July 2016 (18 months).
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The annoying thing with Barclaycard is you can only have once of their cards at a time. And their rewards card is still the best non amex and travel card going...
 
But Barclaycard (and other similar cards) offer guarantee on goods.

In the 80s my mum and dad had a joint credit card. After 6 months he cut the card up and they never wanted another credit card.
 
dlockers said:
Mate that's nuts
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It's been worth it for introductory year 1 bonuses. Within the first year of each:
  • 2x US biz class return flights booked (Virgin companion voucher)
  • 2x biz class Sydney flights one way booked (BA companion voucher)
  • Will get the return Sydney flight sorted out
  • Have enough points banked for another US biz class return x2
  • Plus travel insurance, lounge access and £550 dining credit on the Amex Platinum for year 1.
Going forward though, without the introductory offers I probably won't get enough points to make use of 2x companion vouchers a year. Will probably end up keeping just the Virgin one and pro rata refund back 75% of the £650 Amex Platinum fee.
 
dlockers said:
The annoying thing with Barclaycard is you can only have once of their cards at a time. And their rewards card is still the best non amex and travel card going...
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I agree, and it takes careful management if you are going to make use of a transfer and also use it for day to day purchases. If the 1% minimum doesn't cover all the purchases made then you'll get stung.
 
EvilRob said:
It's been worth it for introductory year 1 bonuses. Within the first year of each:
  • 2x US biz class return flights booked (Virgin companion voucher)
  • 2x biz class Sydney flights one way booked (BA companion voucher)
  • Will get the return Sydney flight sorted out
  • Have enough points banked for another US biz class return x2
  • Plus travel insurance, lounge access and £550 dining credit on the Amex Platinum for year 1.
Going forward though, without the introductory offers I probably won't get enough points to make use of 2x companion vouchers a year. Will probably end up keeping just the Virgin one and pro rata refund back 75% of the £650 Amex Platinum fee.
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Ah tidy. Not just letting them run then :). I am tempted to do the Natwest Premier black for lounge and whatnot. Just can't stomach £26/mo effective rate (you get £10 back for logging into online banking/2 dds).

Mysterae_ said:
I agree, and it takes careful management if you are going to make use of a transfer and also use it for day to day purchases. If the 1% minimum doesn't cover all the purchases made then you'll get stung.
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Interestingly MBNA stung me on this. I had a BT and then used it for purchases - and when I paid minimum plus spending, it didn't apply the payment as you'd expect (purchases attracting like 40% interest, BT attracting none). I can't remember their exact reason but it was some mumbojumbo and they refunded the interest I had accrued but said basically that's how the card works, like it or lump it. I ended up leaving the card totally unused other than for BT; no skin off of my nose. Closed it as soon as the BT was up.
 
dlockers said:
Interestingly MBNA stung me on this. I had a BT and then used it for purchases - and when I paid minimum plus spending, it didn't apply the payment as you'd expect (purchases attracting like 40% interest, BT attracting none). I can't remember their exact reason but it was some mumbojumbo and they refunded the interest I had accrued but said basically that's how the card works, like it or lump it. I ended up leaving the card totally unused other than for BT; no skin off of my nose. Closed it as soon as the BT was up.
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Indeed! I think the law changed to stop credit card companies from doing this shady tactic, any payment must be applied to the higher interest applicable balance now.

However, they thought of a few more to pull - your purchase balance at the statement date must be cleared in it's entirety, even of you are out by a penny they will charge interest on the full lot. You can't buy something at £35 and something else at £150 and opt to pay off only the £150 thinking the interest will be lower on the £35 purchase; as the full £185 wasn't paid back, interest is applied on the full £185.
Also, with Barclaycard lowering their minimum payment to 1% makes it enticing to exploit the cash transfer but also makes it a lot more easier to fall in to this "trap".

I got stung a while back when the other half used her card (same account) right before the statement date which I didn't spot. That £25 purchase cost me about £40 in interest iirc :rolleyes:. A good spreadsheet and monitoring would avoid this, but stopping using the card is much easier! But it's 0.5% cashback.....:D. The cashback did more than cover the interest, but still....
 
Mysterae_ said:
However, they thought of a few more to pull - your purchase balance at the statement date must be cleared in it's entirety, even of you are out by a penny they will charge interest on the full lot. You can't buy something at £35 and something else at £150 and opt to pay off only the £150 thinking the interest will be lower on the £35 purchase; as the full £185 wasn't paid back, interest is applied on the full £185.
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That's rough - never knew that! Try and keep my cards distinctly separate since the MBNA issue.
 
Anyone overtime gotten rid of their credit cards? I used to have quite a few and I'm down to 1 now and considering closing that too. I absolutely hate debt after getting into quite a bit when I was younger. Our savings are in a good place so we shouldn't need to ever use a credit card.
 
LiE said:
Anyone overtime gotten rid of their credit cards? I used to have quite a few and I'm down to 1 now and considering closing that too. I absolutely hate debt after getting into quite a bit when I was younger. Our savings are in a good place so we shouldn't need to ever use a credit card.
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I have a single credit card, use it exclusively for online purchasing for the added protections and balance is paid off in full every month automatically. It's a glorified debit card in my use case and keeps the credit rating in good stead.
 
darkgen said:
I have a single credit card, use it exclusively for online purchasing for the added protections and balance is paid off in full every month automatically. It's a glorified debit card in my use case and keeps the credit rating in good stead.
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This is a good use case if the benefits are worth it. I'm guessing cash back is ~£50/year?

I'm not worried about credit score, as I've just bought my forever home and don't use credit.
 
LiE said:
This is a good use case if the benefits are worth it. I'm guessing cash back is ~£50/year?

I'm not worried about credit score, as I've just bought my forever home and don't use credit.
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There are cash incentives etc for some purchase types, when I remember to check, but then again I only buy stuff I want, not where there could be a cashback offer available for something I don't. It's the Halifax Clarity card, so helps when abroad too with less harsh conversion rates when paying for stuff in local currencies.
 
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I have an MBNA card with a zero balance and I've formed the habit of using it to buy petrol, then paying it off when the statement is created.

Just to keep the card ticking over.

So, by paying it off in full every month I'd expect to accrue no interest, however I regularly get charged about 65p interest each month.

I only need to buy a tank of fuel once per month and it's about £65, so it looks like I'm being charged 1% interest for some reason.

Any ideas why I'm being charged this?

I couldn't find the answer on the app, and after a long hold time in the phone to them waiting to get through I gave up.
 
bainbridge said:
I have an MBNA card with a zero balance and I've formed the habit of using it to buy petrol, then paying it off when the statement is created.

Just to keep the card ticking over.

So, by paying it off in full every month I'd expect to accrue no interest, however I regularly get charged about 65p interest each month.

I only need to buy a tank of fuel once per month and it's about £65, so it looks like I'm being charged 1% interest for some reason.

Any ideas why I'm being charged this?

I couldn't find the answer on the app, and after a long hold time in the phone to them waiting to get through I gave up.
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I've found that if you wait for the statement, by default your payment is already 'late' so you get charged a fee for the bank keeping you in credit even if its for a day. If your account says your statement is due on the 21st, pay off the balance before then.
 
EvilRob said:
It's been worth it for introductory year 1 bonuses. Within the first year of each:
  • 2x US biz class return flights booked (Virgin companion voucher)
  • 2x biz class Sydney flights one way booked (BA companion voucher)
  • Will get the return Sydney flight sorted out
  • Have enough points banked for another US biz class return x2
  • Plus travel insurance, lounge access and £550 dining credit on the Amex Platinum for year 1.
Going forward though, without the introductory offers I probably won't get enough points to make use of 2x companion vouchers a year. Will probably end up keeping just the Virgin one and pro rata refund back 75% of the £650 Amex Platinum fee.
Click to expand...
If your partner doesnt have an Amex card, rotate the accounts between you. Amex is 24 months if i remember correctly.

Both Barclays and Barclaycard also have Avios offers.

The upgrade vouchers for us worked well. 4 upgrade vouchers, c300k avios, for business returns to Toronto we returned from recently.
 
Derek W said:
I've found that if you wait for the statement, by default your payment is already 'late' so you get charged a fee for the bank keeping you in credit even if its for a day. If your account says your statement is due on the 21st, pay off the balance before then.
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I've tried paying it off before the statement date but it says I cannot make a payment as no balance is due.
 
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