credit cards

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by basa

Um...they write to you ? ..........

My two CC companies didn't even tell me !! One is now up to £9000 and the other £4500 !!!!!!

HSBC do, at least they do to me, "as a valued customer blah blah blah" .. "we're upping your credit limit so you can spend more and we can take more interest payment's each month!"

[Chimaera]

When I was newly divorced I had to get a job - so I ended up on £11k a year (in London!) and my ex did me out of £12k settlement on our old house - so for the first few years I had to rely on credit cards for necessities too.
7 years later I have nearly paid off what I owe - but one card has increased my limit to £7.5k!! ! And they wonder why people get into debt.
It's made far too easy to get cards and overspend - it seems the quickest way to get your credit limit upped is to do this! Ludicrous!!
And I am continually being sent 'approved' applications for even more cards - I have changed mine over to a low interest rate one to pay off the balance, and have a cahoot one that I use for emergencies - and that's enough for me!
And now my children are adult I can look for a better paid job - but it's hard for young families on low incomes, with no safeguards in place. These companies want their customers to take on more debt - they make their money from the interest paid, after all!

I had a CC once.After my husband wouldn't stop spending on the damned thing ,he was away with the navy and bored and still hadn't learned to do without my salary when I stopped to start our family,and we had debts of £3000 because as soon as we reached our limit they kept upping the damned credit limit.

Eventually we had to go see our bank manager(Barclays and a humiliating experience) who made us cut up our cards and then tried to give us a loan(with even more interest to pay). We said no thanks and decided to cash in an insurance policy instead.

We now refuse to have a CC.My daughter doesn't have one either.
The most I owe anyone is the overdraft at the bank which is currently on the high side but I'll be paying that off next month.
I can feel proud about my financial savvy these days but I learned it the hard way.

Incog.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by basa

Um...they write to you ? ..........

My two CC companies didn't even tell me !! One is now up to £9000 and the other £4500 !!!!!!

I think they have informed me in most cases.

I asked for £500 when I first took it out in 1986, and it seems to of crept up to a £15000 limit without me asking.

I think debt is way too easy, I was called into the bank a couple of weeks ago for a review. The privelidge account manager and two collegues stayed on to meet me at 5:45PM just too see me, I bet people who are overdrawn dont even get that sort of attention from them!

They were basically trying to give me money and have left messages on my mobile this week. I only asked for some mortgage details and I cant shake them off.

[Enterian]

I get about three offers a week for new credit cards - it's all to easy to get a stack of them and get into serious debt.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by MikeyB

It only takes some common sense not to get into debt, either just get what you can afford, or don't bother.

I have a credit card for "emergency" use only, like if the car packs up, or something big needs doing on the house and I don't have the cash to pay for it.

well my friend i just hope that you never end up in the same situation as some people have here , its easy to be high and mighty about it when you are not in debt , so assuming you work , is your job there and safe for life ?????????? , i hope it is

Originally Posted by Enterian

I get about three offers a week for new credit cards - it's all to easy to get a stack of them and get into serious debt.

I used to take many of these up on their offers and move from card to card (but still keep some of the old ones). At one point I had nine valid credit cards and *could* have borrrowed about £60,000 on them.

Fortunately, not being a spend happy teenager I resisted the temptation and eventually cut them down to the four I now have. Generally I only use two of these, the ones that give me cashback instead of useless "points".

[Marge]

I have my own house and must get these credit card offers nearly every day, luckily I'm mostly sensible and throw them in the bin but shudder to think how much debt these people are trying to tempt me with.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Escapee

<snip>

I was using my credit card a lot for hotels, fuel, expenses and business lunches etc and they were only too happy to automatically increase my limit. I was spending a few thousand a month but it was cleared every month much to their annoyance I expect. :p

Not really, they are still taking 1-4% in commission from the retailer for the privilege. A couple of percent of a few thousand is a nice way to make a living.

I have never had a credit card (I'm now 30). Missus has one for getting the shopping - the only reason for this was that it was a Boots Advantage Egg Card, which was extremely generous with the Advantage points you got for using it. So generous, in fact, that they canned it, so now she has a plain old Egg Card, which gives a little cashback but is otherwise of little use. We keep the credit limit at £1,000 and I have had to write to Egg more than once to ensure this, because as others have said, Egg would love it to run higher and higher. This has resulted in us getting a £20 charge a couple of times for exceeding the limit, but I bear with it because it's better to get a £20 kick up the bum than to get out of control.

Missus is a full-time mum so we live on one salary, which means we have less than some of our friends, but I'm blessed with a job that pays more than the combined salaries of some of our other friends, so we have nothing to complain about - especially as some of them got married and bought houses more recently than we did, so their mortgages are sky high.

All in all, we've avoided debt by being very careful, but my experience of having just one child for a year has been a very expensive one so I can see how anybody can get in trouble, no matter how careful they are.

Kronas - a friend of mine with teenage children used to have a sign in her kitchen:

NOTICE TO TEENAGERS:

Quick! Leave home, get a job and start paying bills, while you still know everything!

Life is not nearly as easy as you seem to think.

[Enterian]

Originally Posted by Debsy42

I have my own house and must get these credit card offers nearly every day, luckily I'm mostly sensible and throw them in the bin but shudder to think how much debt these people are trying to tempt me with.

Beware of the ones who helpfully fill in your details for you - I'm always careful to put those through the shredder first!

[ronald146m]

Originally Posted by kronas

having watched a program about credit card debts how can people rack up debts ...

Was this the programme Kronas?

Spend it like Beckham

Ron

[basa]

Originally Posted by towny

I have never had a credit card (I'm now 30).

Originally Posted by towny

Missus has one for getting the shopping - the only reason for this was that it was a Boots Advantage Egg Card, which was extremely generous with the Advantage points you got for using it. So generous, in fact, that they canned it, so now she has a plain old Egg Card, which gives a little cashback but is otherwise of little use. We keep the credit limit at £1,000 and I have had to write to Egg more than once to ensure this, because as others have said, Egg would love it to run higher and higher. This has resulted in us getting a £20 charge a couple of times for exceeding the limit, but I bear with it because it's better to get a £20 kick up the bum than to get out of control.

I like Egg !

Originally Posted by towny

Missus is a full-time mum so we live on one salary, which means we have less than some of our friends, but I'm blessed with a job that pays more than the combined salaries of some of our other friends, so we have nothing to complain about - especially as some of them got married and bought houses more recently than we did, so their mortgages are sky high.

Hmmm...mine's a full timer too, but I'm on average salary = debt problems looming !!

Originally Posted by towny

All in all, we've avoided debt by being very careful, but my experience of having just one child for a year has been a very expensive one so I can see how anybody can get in trouble, no matter how careful they are.

Wait 'til you've got two pre teens wanting shoes and clothes 24/7 (they grow like weeds !!). My 11 year old eats as much as me (and she's thin as a rake !). That's not including the phones, PCs, TVs, stereos they want !!

Originally Posted by towny

Kronas - a friend of mine with teenage children used to have a sign in her kitchen:

NOTICE TO TEENAGERS:

Quick! Leave home, get a job and start paying bills, while you still know everything!

Life is not nearly as easy as you seem to think.

How true is that !!!!

[gazzae]

Its strange, I can only get one credit card with a limit of £200! I have applyed for cards from egg, marbles etc etc and they all turn me down.

I don't think I have bad credit rating as I have a loan for my car and my PC which I have never missed a payment on. Plus I have an £80K mortgage that I've never missed a payment on either.

Maybe I'm just lucky that they don't want to give me credit cards!

Originally Posted by gazzae

Its strange, I can only get one credit card with a limit of £200! I have applyed for cards from egg, marbles etc etc and they all turn me down.

I don't think I have bad credit rating as I have a loan for my car and my PC which I have never missed a payment on. Plus I have an £80K mortgage that I've never missed a payment on either.

Maybe I'm just lucky that they don't want to give me credit cards!

Can I just say that each time you are turned down credit, it goes against your credit rating, I was told this when I applied for a mortgage, my financial advisor said it counts for loans and credit cards and everything credit wise.