It's Started!!! just 1 question

garyj123

Hi all, i have rang cccs (highly reccomended!!) and my mind was put at rest by a nice lady who made me feel human!. I have an interview with them on the 30th of this month which i think will confirm my gut feeling that i am going BR. I also, on reading on this board opened a cash minder account with the co op today so when i get all the info through i am gonna move all my direct debits over to this account and my benefits and wages and was told to leave the others (credit cards and loan) in the other bank untill we have had the interview and sorted out what we are doing. I know i will be getting a visa electron card with the co op but was wondering can anyone tell me where this type of card can be used? Can i use it at the shops, eg tesco, petrol stations etc?? Any help would be gratefull. Anyway for the first time in years i feel like i have got some control back over my money and dont feel so scared of the creditors i owe money too, as the lady from cccs said you cant give them what you have not got! and pointed out to concentrate on my mortgage, gas, electric etc. I am a lot clearer in my mind now and looking forward to the interview as this will be the next stage in getting my life back. One comment what really got me was when the lady at cccs said "now listen, you are not on your own now, you are one of our clients now and will be with you 100 % all the way. That was so comforting to know.
If anyone reading this is still thinking about it all then stop!!! go and ring cccs and get your life back on track too. I just wish i did it sooner!!!!
Will keep up to date with you once i have had the interview and let you know how i got on.
Best regards
Gary

shadowdragon

Hi and Well done for taking that first step.

I have a coop cashminder account and it can be used pretty much anywhere (well I dont have any problems). Dont think Tescos accept it online as you can have the account at 16 and might buy alchohol (so i have read on the boards).

Chin up and keep posting we are all or were in the same boat.

tigerfeet2006

The only places I have found you can't use it is in Travel Inn/Lodge (online or face to face.) National Rail Online but on stations, but there are other sites that book travel online with electron. Tesco online but you can use it in their shops.

If you are doing an online shop and it says no to Electron click on Visa and 9 times out of 10 it accepts it.

Dez-Titute

The Co-op card can be used in most places.I have used mine in tescos ect and no problems.

Would suggest as a back up you get a pre-paid visa from the likes of Virgin or if you have an Ebay/Paypal account they do a great offer costs £4.95 and topping up is free from your paypal account.

If you havent signed up for an ebay account would suggest you do it now as you may want to offload a few items in BR to give you a little extra spending on treats ect

dodecanese

Hi Gary
Ive had no problems anywhere with my Electron, except buying a train ticket (Northern rail, dont know if any of the other operators accept it).
Ive got quite used to my Coop card now and it was a bit of a surprise when they didnt take it, but had no other problems.

garyj123

Thanks for that, i have got the paypal prepaid card aswell for backup, just wanted to know mainly for tesco shopping instore as i dont want to be guessing how much my shopping is gonna be drawing the money out of the machine then be left over with anything from 5 to 20 quid in my pocket which in the end would just get wasted somewhere!!. Be nice if the only money coming out of the bank was the exact amount i spent.
How about petrol stations???? do they accept it?

tigerfeet2006

Had no problems with petrol stations though you can not use them in the pay at pump things.

fiveyearplan

My local council doesn't take electron for payments like council tax etc. I don't know about the paypal card but we are giving paypal a wide berth at the moment because of all their excessive charges and they have even taken money out of OH's bank account and we don't know why.

I have a cashplus card and highly recommend it. I think it costs £9.95 to set up and then £4.95 per month for unlimited transactions. I keep it for emergencies.

Rylynn

At present I have a solo card, but I did have an electron one some years back, one of my local petrol station has plastered over the pumps NO electron cards accepted, but that is one of the only places I ever had a problem oh and Tesco online and Asda online, due to the alcohol thing with age I think.

Did not know councils do not take them, but seem to remember that being the case, so will have to consider that, thanks FYP as I pay my CT each month right now by phone, so that will have to be a DD after BR.

All these litte bits of information are so helpful to so many of us.

tigerfeet2006

I am prety sure Asda now take Electron on line.

My council are fine with Electron.

When we first got our Electron card in 1998 the number of people who didn't take it by far outweighed the people who did. Now the only people I use that don't are the one's I have listed.

Rylynn

Thanks TF that is reassuring, the petrol station up the road still do not take it, and I have no idea why.

I cannot even remember why I had an electron card so it must have been ages ago when I had no debts, no loans, no credit cards, erm those were the days! I wonder how I got sucked into such much debt! moron me!