Super Duper Money Saving Card Shenannigans

[sayonara]

So I just got approved for a Mint credit card, with 0% interest for the next 8 months.

That means I can transfer my Barclaycard balance (yeah **** off you **** *******) and my Cahoot flexible loan onto the Mint card, and pay no interest on either. And then in 8 months time I can move the balance back to my Cahoot loan, or move to another 0% card offer, or just stay on the Mint card and still save about £500 a year.

Muah ha haaaaa.

Anyone got any other tips?

I quite like the sound of the "put all the money off your new credit card into a savings account and pay the minimum every month, but move the balance to another credit card when the 0% interest offer is about to run out" idea.

[ChubbyChecker]

Nice idea, but if you forget to pay it off you'll probably get stung... bad!

[sayonara]

"Direct Debit"

Even if I stay on Mint after 8 months, it costs £40 less in payments each month, and the combined interest is much lower.

Or did you mean with the "save their money" idea?

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by sayonara

Anyone got any other tips?

Don't borrow money?

[sayonara]

I think it's somewhat implied that that's redundant advice in the original post.

And if you do idea 2, you make money.

[Dante Hicks]

I'd do that but they laugh when I submit a credit card application now.

[sayonara]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

I'd do that but they laugh when I submit a credit card application now.

I went for Mint because they are a fairly new service (from RBS) and therefore probably have slightly more lax requirements - they need customers. If you keep getting applications rejected, don't make any new ones for a while - failed applications within a 6 month period can work against you.

The one to avoid right now is Goldfish, as they are taking large losses.

[roadrunner_0]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

I'd do that but they laugh when I submit a credit card application now.

ditto

banks hate me, apart from HSBC, who cant afford to hate me, as i own them 6 grand, and im not even a ****ing student

[Deathjam|wee]

lolly roffle

[Madina]

Originally Posted by roadrunner_0

ditto

banks hate me, apart from HSBC, who cant afford to hate me, as i own them 6 grand, and im not even a ****ing student

thats nothing compared to my mates money problem - owes his car finance people just under £7000, has lots of items on finance (e.g. tele, video, dvd player, ps2, the list goes on), owes the bank (due to a loan) £3200, owes £1500 on his credit card, £1000 on his overdraft - plus owes me £20!

not bad for someone who works fulltime and is only 19 (literally a couple of months ago he turned 19)

worst thing is he doesnt really have anything to show for all that debt (and when u point this out to him he always has the same reply 'iv got shitloads of dvds though')

[roadrunner_0]

tell him to try and talk to him bank about an individual review, depending on his job etc they might be able to offer him some good suggestions.

[Deathjam|wee]

tell him to hit his mum with a spoon

[roadrunner_0]

hitting his mum with a spoon will not solve his debt problems, unless she promises him serious money if he will stop, which i doubt.

[Emperor Rozenski]

Credit cards are a mug's game. Unless of course you pay off the full ammount every month, then they are just handy.

Newsflash: If you can't afford it, don't buy it until you can!

I nearly fell off my chair laughing today when I heard that the average credit card user pays 6 weeks of their wages a year in interest to credit card companies!

I'll stick to cash, Direct Debit and Debit Cards thx.

[Stew]

Thats because your "rational"

[Kurashima]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

I'd do that but they laugh when I submit a credit card application now.

Capitalism hates Communists.

[Kurashima]

Originally Posted by Emperor Rozenski

Credit cards are a mug's game. Unless of course you pay off the full ammount every month, then they are just handy.

Newsflash: If you can't afford it, don't buy it until you can!

I nearly fell off my chair laughing today when I heard that the average credit card user pays 6 weeks of their wages a year in interest to credit card companies!

I'll stick to cash, Direct Debit and Debit Cards thx.

Odd

I pay around £4 a month in interest. So thats less than £50 a year , .... wait , are there people here who earn £50 a week?

Peons

[roadrunner_0]

Originally Posted by Emperor Rozenski

Credit cards are a mug's game. Unless of course you pay off the full ammount every month, then they are just handy.

Newsflash: If you can't afford it, don't buy it until you can!

I nearly fell off my chair laughing today when I heard that the average credit card user pays 6 weeks of their wages a year in interest to credit card companies!

I'll stick to cash, Direct Debit and Debit Cards thx.

yes, but it was sooooooooooo useful to get that router i needed tonight for £35 rather than wait until the end of the month and get it for £50 you see...

[sayonara]

Originally Posted by Emperor Rozenski

Credit cards are a mug's game.
Newsflash: If you can't afford it, don't buy it until you can!
I nearly fell off my chair laughing today when I heard that the average credit card user pays 6 weeks of their wages a year in interest to credit card companies!

A credit card is just a pocket-sized mortgage. Call me insular but I don't know many people who bought their houses outright, and strangely I know very few mugs. Perhaps borrowing money is not just for mugs? The evidence seems to suggest it.

I think you're confusing "mugs borrow money" with "money borrowers are mugs".

Credit is a fact of life in this society, but as you can see from THE POINT of this thread it's easy to ride the system.

Like Kura, my interest is a measly £50~ per annum. That's peanuts. I'm happy to pay that for the convenience of being able to travel the globe at will, order tickets to the Opera over the web, and buy myself a new piece of consumerist electro kit without having to traipse into town carrying wads of cash in my paws.

[edit] except that I ****ing hate ballsycard now and I'm leaving them. Ta ta chaps. I'm also waiting until 10 days before the end of the 90-day satisfaction deadline on my insurance policy with them, and cancelling that too. ****ers.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by sayonara

A credit card is just a pocket-sized mortgage. Call me insular but I don't know many people who bought their houses outright, and strangely I know very few mugs. Perhaps borrowing money is not just for mugs? The evidence seems to suggest it.

You're correct of course, but the difference is that (generally) credit cards are a much higer rate of interest than a mortgage.

The difference (often) between poorer people and richer people is not that one is in debt, it's the method and type of debt. Poorer people tend to depend on money from more expensive or unregulated sources (from loan sharks or 'informal lenders', to catalogues, credit cards, store cards, etc). More wealthy people often still owe money, but it's secured and cheaper (a mortgage or secured loan). Obviously very wealthy people still use credit cards but if they are sensible they will follow the Barclaycard's chairman's advice and pay them off each month.

There's nothing wrong with credit cards per se - if you're using them in the manner you mention in the opening post they're fine. They do however often promote irresponsible spending, impulse buys, and unmanagable debt etc, etc. Credit limits often seem wildly unrealistic and purely related to payment history and not ability to repay. My mother's credit card limit is well over double her gross annual income - mine is 1/54th of my annual income for instance.

[queball]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

mine is 1/54th of my annual income for instance.

Hmm. I'm gonna guess you make £27K and your limit is £500.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by queball

Hmm. I'm gonna guess you make £27K and your limit is £500.

No.

My limit is 350. (according to a report I got from Experian, I've been late paying in 20 of the last 36 months payments)

[sayonara]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

You're correct of course, but the difference is that (generally) credit cards are a much higer rate of interest than a mortgage.

So don't buy a house with it.

-1 Redundant

[Radical Edward]

heh, my credit card limit on my UK card is about 2K or something, since I am such a good payer. on my German card it is about the same. German credit cards suck though, the banking system here is nowhere near as good as the UK.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by sayonara

So don't buy a house with it.

Mortgages aren't only used to buy houses (or homes generally).

[Zh|l]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

No.

My limit is 350. (according to a report I got from Experian, I've been late paying in 20 of the last 36 months payments)

Thats my limit on my cc also.

I feel inadequate when friends say their limits are much higher

ps: I never reached that limit

[Dante Hicks]

It was the limit I got when I joined as a student five years ago. They still haven't upgraded it.

I've been past the limit about 80% of the time I've had it though, to be fair to them.

[Radical Edward]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

It was the limit I got when I joined as a student five years ago. They still haven't upgraded it.

I've been past the limit about 80% of the time I've had it though, to be fair to them.

that will be why. They just kept upgrading mine without asking me. I think it started at 500 and then just went up and up.

[sayonara]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

Mortgages aren't only used to buy houses (or homes generally).

Fine then.

- "a house"
+ "anything you might use a mortgage for"

[Mong]

Originally Posted by sayonara

I quite like the sound of the "put all the money off your new credit card into a savings account and pay the minimum every month, but move the balance to another credit card when the 0% interest offer is about to run out" idea.

I did that. I had £2000ish in an overdraft and credit card. Got myself an Egg card at 0% for 6 months. Then moved to an RBS (now Mint) at 0% for 10 months, then again for another 6 months.

Problem is; I now owe £3500!!!

Oooops

Heh, I can afford it :P

M.

[sayonara]

You're meant to put their money into a high interest savings account while you're on 0% interest Mong.

lol

[roadrunner_0]

i just asked HSBC to drop my limit down from 2k to £500 as it was too blooy tempting

[Tomkat]

I'm not getting a proper credit card until I'm actually earning money...

[pyirt]

Originally Posted by Proteus

Don't borrow money?

Too damn right. I owe so much money, I`m stuffed for the next few years :-(

[sayonara]

Originally Posted by pyirt

Too damn right. I owe so much money, I`m stuffed for the next few years :-(

Don't despair - there's plenty you can do to shrink the debt as far as possible.