Why Use Credit Cards?

NickX

storminbalder wrote: »

I am sure that you are intelligent enough not to encourage the use of knives, alcohol or indeed rope on here! So why encourage the use of credit cards?

It seems that some on this forum are, perhaps unwittingly, promoting a potentially very dangerous and unhealthy product.

It is quite simple what I am saying! Why won't you understand!

knives are required for cooking.

nothing wrong with alcohol in moderation, makes for enjoyable social occasions, and can be good for you in small doses.

rope is essential for rock climbing

As with the above items Credit Cards are only dangerous and unhealthy if miss-used.

If you understand how to use all these items they can be very useful and enhance your quality of life.

If you do not wish to use any of them then you do not have to. It is a personal choice.

My own decision is to use knives for cooking, alcohol on occasion and credit cards in a specific way. I don't like rock climbing so have no need for rope and don't participate.

storminbalder

I think what I am trying to say is this.

I originally looked at this part of the forum simply in wondering if I needed to get a credit card in order to hire a car. There is an awful lot of misinformation suggesting that hiring a car is almost impossible in this country without one.

This simply is untrue. I found that the first company I contacted (Enterprise - as it was closest to where I lived) did not distinguish between credit or debit cards in any way, shape or form.

I found an awful lot of threads that seem to suggest a credit card is both necessary and essential to normal life.

An awful lot of impressionable people will suffer as a result of this mis-information.

I have seen threads such as:

"How cool does your credit card look".

"The sub-prime credit card club".

This is to name but two recent examples - there are others. One of these seems to glamourise credit card use, whereas the other intends to encourage the most vulnerable to apply for and accept credit cards.

Surely this is not what this web-site should be seen to be encouraging. If I am wrong, then I am sorry, but I feel that the premise of the original post is correct, certainly in the light of recent catastrophic events.

NickX

storminbalder wrote: »

I originally looked at this part of the forum simply in wondering if I needed to get a credit card in order to hire a car. There is an awful lot of misinformation suggesting that hiring a car is almost impossible in this country without one.

This simply is untrue. I found that the first company I contacted (Enterprise - as it was closest to where I lived) did not distinguish between credit or debit cards in any way, shape or form.

The problem with using a Debit Card for car hire is that the car rental company like to take a substantial deposit to cover damage to the car whilst it is in your possession. Provided you return the car in the condition in which it was loaned to you, then they refund this deposit. This deposit can be in the order of £500

I guess if you had the available cash, you could leave a cash deposit. However, if you leave your Debit Card, the car hire company will pre-authorize an amount of the deposit plus the cost of the car hire to your card. The amount of the deposit will only actually process fully if you do damage the car, but it does mean that you need the funds available in your bank account for them to pre-authorize and if you don't have those funds then they will not loan you the car due to the lack of the deposit. Just to be clear, you are NOT spending this money, it is only a deposit incase there is a problem, but you need the funds available before you hire the car.

If you use a Credit Card, then the pre-authorization just uses up part of your available credit for a few days, then the transaction drops off. You have not had to part with any money whatsoever and it is much safer than potentially using up a significant amount of funds from your current account.

In addition the Credit Card transaction provides more security if the car hire company decides not to refund the deposit. You can dispute the transaction with the credit card company and shouldn't lose any money, whereas if they take it direct from your Debit Card the funds have gone and you are left in a much worse position than with a Credit Card.

Personally I would NEVER book a car or a hotel with a Debit Card for these reasons.

NickX

storminbalder wrote: »

I have seen threads such as:

"How cool does your credit card look".

"The sub-prime credit card club".

This is to name but two recent examples - there are others. One of these seems to glamourise credit card use, whereas the other intends to encourage the most vulnerable to apply for and accept credit cards.

"How cool does your credit card look" is a light hearted thread and I think you are taking it too seriously. The days when specific credit cards were a status symbol went in the same way that having a mobile phone made you look cool and important.

"The sub-prime credit card club". Have you actually read much of this thread? It is one of the longest ongoing threads on the board and is almost a chat room for people who have struggled to get the mainstream cards and are looking to rebuild their credit histories. By exchanging information, these people are able to learn more about credit rebuilding and enhance their own credit files. There cannot be anything wrong with that.

It seems that you (and the OP) simply do not approve of using Credit Cards, that is your perogative, but please do not judge other people who view Credit Cards differently and want to live their lives in a different manner to you.

PROLIANT

normanmark wrote: »

No it doesn't.

Yes..a true fact.

jasonwatkins

littleowl wrote: »

It appears to have been taken personally by a few people. which is a pity because it detracts from the larger question I was asking.

I think this sums up this thread really - many people have reacted quite defensively about their credit card usage when that clearly wasn't the intent that I saw.

One phrase used in this thread, which I also have heard many times, is "paying for life's little hiccups". To go back to littleowl's original post, we had these 'little hiccups' long before we had credit cards and we dealt with them.

I do agree with the sentiment of the OP though. I think many people's value of money, and material things, is completely skewed because of the availability of credit.

Some may well say "well I bought a playstation 3 and paid it off over a couple of months". Fair enough. Why can't you save up for it over a couple of months and buy it when you have the money ?. Why does it have to be bought now ?.

So, for my tuppence worth, I do agree with littleowl's OP. I think many people - not everyone - but many people are far too attached to the idea of credit and wouldn't have a clue how to live without it.

storminbalder

NickX wrote: »

The problem with using a Debit Card for car hire is that the car rental company like to take a substantial deposit to cover damage to the car whilst it is in your possession. Provided you return the car in the condition in which it was loaned to you, then they refund this deposit. This deposit can be in the order of £500

I guess if you had the available cash, you could leave a cash deposit. However, if you leave your Debit Card, the car hire company will pre-authorize an amount of the deposit plus the cost of the car hire to your card. The amount of the deposit will only actually process fully if you do damage the car, but it does mean that you need the funds available in your bank account for them to pre-authorize and if you don't have those funds then they will not loan you the car due to the lack of the deposit. Just to be clear, you are NOT spending this money, it is only a deposit incase there is a problem, but you need the funds available before you hire the car.

If you use a Credit Card, then the pre-authorization just uses up part of your available credit for a few days, then the transaction drops off. You have not had to part with any money whatsoever and it is much safer than potentially using up a significant amount of funds from your current account.

In addition the Credit Card transaction provides more security if the car hire company decides not to refund the deposit. You can dispute the transaction with the credit card company and shouldn't lose any money, whereas if they take it direct from your Debit Card the funds have gone and you are left in a much worse position than with a Credit Card.

Personally I would NEVER book a car or a hotel with a Debit Card for these reasons.

That is simply not true for the reasons I've already stated. I had to pay £30 for rental for 24 hours + £100 deposit from my Maestro Debit card (£130 in total). I only had £133 in my account at that time. I don't have an overdraft facility. This would also have been the same £130 due from a credit card had I chosen to use one (indeed if I had one).

This is the sort of misinformed information on this branch of the forum that annoys me.

If you don't believe me then check! It as the Scarborough branch of Enterprise on Filey Road only 1 month ago!

NickX

storminbalder wrote: »

That is simply not true for the reasons I've already stated. I had to pay £30 for rental for 24 hours + £100 deposit from my Maestro Debit card (£130 in total). I only had £133 in my account at that time. I don't have an overdraft facility. This would also have been the same £130 due from a credit card had I chosen to use one (indeed if I had one).

This is the sort of misinformed information on this branch of the forum that annoys me.

Where is the miss-information ?

Your experience is what I described. You paid £130 which was £30 for rental and £100 deposit. You were able to do it because you had £133 in your bank account. If you had £129 in your bank account there would have been a problem with using your Debit Card.

If the car rental company had not refunded you the £100 deposit, then what would you have done ?

PROLIANT

storminbalder wrote: »

I have seen threads such as:

"The sub-prime credit card club".

Currently standing at nearly 300,000 views and over 4,000 replies...minus the "silly" post's that has been placed there..hmmm, not only has it encouraged a number of people to address there "credit profile" issues but given an area of support and useful data to assist people in recovering their credit worthiness. Please do not discredit the hard work of many MSE posters on that thread as it is only doing good, if you have an issue could you please PM me and we will discus the problem in more detail. If you would like to criticise just look around at the folk who are obsessed with "not repaying" what they legally owe to a Bank/Finance house, I am sure your words of criticisesm will work wonders on there.


Kind Regards

PROLIANT

storminbalder

NickX wrote: »

"How cool does your credit card look" is a light hearted thread and I think you are taking it too seriously. The days when specific credit cards were a status symbol went in the same way that having a mobile phone made you look cool and important.

"The sub-prime credit card club". Have you actually read much of this thread? It is one of the longest ongoing threads on the board and is almost a chat room for people who have struggled to get the mainstream cards and are looking to rebuild their credit histories. By exchanging information, these people are able to learn more about credit rebuilding and enhance their own credit files. There cannot be anything wrong with that.

It seems that you (and the OP) simply do not approve of using Credit Cards, that is your perogative, but please do not judge other people who view Credit Cards differently and want to live their lives in a different manner to you.

Please accept. I do not judge or indeed pre-judge people. I would, however be concerned that some young and impressionable people do read this web-site and I would worry that some people would be unfairly informed and feel it the norm to aquire such items and use them in a way that you are not necessarily suggesting.

One must remember that this is a public forum and one must try to behave responsibly. Or at least tell the truth and be honest.