What one thing would you tell the nation?

grumbler

hellomoto wrote:

...2) They offer a first buy deal eg. 10% off your purchase to get you hooked (now sometimes that may be tempting but how much are you really saving? £1? £2?)

Well, Argos 'Pay Nothing for 9 Months' is an equivalent to about 1.5% discount on purchases above £295.

3) They batter you to death with special offers "buy this!", "wow! 10% off day!"

Well, 10% off is a very good reason to take the card ...

4) You are always asked by the checkout operator do you want one but they never take the time to explain the T&C's.

Well, in this case the advice should be to insist in T&C to be explained.

5) God forbid you ever carry a balance, it will take at least a year to pay it off at these rates.

This (and only this) advice is really good IMHO, but again only if the balance is not 0%

I hate the things with a passion.

Hate is not the best emotion when you consider financial options available.

hellomoto

What I am trying to say is that USUALLY the negatives outway the positives with store cards, you need to look at how much you will gain if you get one.

1.5% of £295 is £4.42

BUT you could end up with debts you can't pay after being seduced by their offers, especially if you carry a balance.

I completly understand the benefits of these store cards and would not disregard them completly.

Also, do you get commision from Argos every time you mention it in a post?

grumbler

hellomoto wrote:

Also, do you get commision from Argos every time you mention it in a post?

Argos is the only store card I used once and still have. It was the first to come to my mind. If you ran out of real arguments it is not the best way to go into personals.

And do you still insist in your advice being the 'one thing you would tell the nation', assuming that the majority of nation are normal people?

The_Boss

grumbler wrote:

And do you still insist in your advice being the 'one thing you would tell the nation', assuming that the majority of nation are normal people?

Exactly. This person would rather tell the nation that something with a lot of benefits is evil, instead of something like : people with a promotional balance transfer should NEVER pay late or they risk losing the promotional rate.

hellomoto

Argos is the only store card I used once and still have. It was the first to come to my mind. If you ran out of real arguments it is not the best way to go into personals

I have much more that I can debate, the reason I mentioned it was due to the fact I find it inapropriate for you to "plug" a card twice in this thread, if it is such a great card, please create a thread in the apropriate place.

grumbler

The_Boss wrote:

Exactly. This person would rather tell the nation that something with a lot of benefits is evil, instead of something like : people with a promotional balance transfer should NEVER pay late or they risk losing the promotional rate.

I think the person telling this to the whole nation in fact insults the nation by making an assumption that the majority of the nation are mentally !!!!!! idiots incapable to read T&C and schedule payments. This site is about something different.

hellomoto wrote:

...I find it inapropriate for you to "plug" a card twice in this thread

Do you really think that mentioning some card as a general example twice in one thread is too much?

1.5% of £295 is £4.42

Is £4.42 too small amount for you to bother? Is 1.5% discount too small too? And what about 'pennies' in your signature?