Credit Card Newbie MoneySavers Guide Discussion Area

Llyllyll

weeMe wrote:

I have £0.00 on my account right now. Say, I spend £1.99 online. I have 56 days to put £1.99 into my account WITHOUT any being charged? And I can transfer the money in from another account online? So, basically, I could wait till the statment to arrive and then put money in

You will have a 'Payment due by' date on your statement. As long as the balance is paid off in full (and is cleared on the CC company's account) then you will not be charged any interest on purchases.

weeMe wrote:

What if I put in £5 after this £1.99 purchase. Does it mean I don't get any interest on my £3.01. And I am free to spend the £3.01 next month....???? :confused.

You are correct, you would not earn interest on the £3.01 and are free to spend it next month.

HTH

weeMe_3

Llyllyll wrote:

You will have a 'Payment due by' date on your statement. As long as the balance is paid off in full (and is cleared on the CC company's account) then you will not be charged any interest on purchases.

You are correct, you would not earn interest on the £3.01 and are free to spend it next month.

HTH

Thanks! Thats great. :T What I will do then is to move the money into the account as soon as I spend it.

I know I will be charged x amount if I write a checque and withdraw any cash. How about electronic transfer it to another account?? What would be the best way of getting back the £3.01 apart from spending it?

rasen45

Are store cards a no no, and witch is the best card in all opinons?

Llyllyll

weeMe wrote:

What would be the best way of getting back the £3.01 apart from spending it?

You get no reward from CC companies for overpaying (I'm talking specifically about cashback cards) so simply don't do it. Pay exactly what you need to i.e. full amount on statement every month and you should be ok.

Also remember NEVER to withdraw cash on a CC.

Llyllyll

rasen45 wrote:

Are store cards a no no...

Store cards usually have very high interest rates associated with them, but they may be suitable for using where, for instance, there are extra discounts and/or other benefits to be had from using them. The proviso would be to ensure that you pay them off in full before being charged any interest though.

rasen45 wrote:

... and witch is the best card in all opinons?

There really is no one definitive answer. It depends entirely on your circumstances and what you propose to use the CC for. I would have a thorough read of Martin's article here and then post back about any outstanding concerns or for opinions on specific cards.

Thanks

STTF

weeMe wrote:

Hi, I am a credit card newbie too. I have just received my A&L credit card which gives 0.5% cash back as a reward if I use my card. I want to make sure my understanding of what you are saying is right. Lets say:

I have £0.00 on my account right now. Say, I spend £1.99 online. I have 56 days to put £1.99 into my account WITHOUT any being charged? And I can transfer the money in from another account online? So, basically, I could wait till the statment to arrive and then put money in?

What if I put in £5 after this £1.99 purchase. Does it mean I don't get any interest on my £3.01. And I am free to spend the £3.01 next month....????

Thanks for your help!

And remember the 0.5% cashback is going to be easily wiped out by a single month of finance charges if you don't pay the entire balance every month.

teedy23

can a clever person answer my dilema? I have two active credit cards, card one is 0% balance £3000 but nearing end of deal. Card two is 15.9% interest with a balance of just over £1000. card two is offering me a balance transfer deal of 0% for 6 months. bearing in mind i have till 29th Dec to do all this and card one deal ends with January statement AND a fee of 2.5% on each transfer, is this worth doing? I could just manage to transfer £1000 to 0% card for a month,so leaving card two with 0 balance

weeMe_3

STTF wrote:

And remember the 0.5% cashback is going to be easily wiped out by a single month of finance charges if you don't pay the entire balance every month.

eeek... well, I am intending to avoid any charges ie I will direct debit the amount as and when I have used my credit card.... I am yet to start using it but it is scary stuff as I do not wish to pay 1p on bank charges and at the mo I am reading and re-reading all the t&c!!!! I know:

• The yearly amount to pay is £0
• There is 0.5% reward for annual spending of up to £15K.
• 56 days interest free per month for me to pay off the money spent.

I also get :
10% MoneyBack


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Get an extra 10% MoneyBack bonus if you make a card transaction or a balance transfer within 60 days of opening your account.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]but like usual, they tell you half the stuff you need to know! :mad: so I might give them a call at some point...[/FONT]

kippers

Me & hubby have just recd our joint M&S credit card. We were planning to just pay minimum pays each month and stick the difference in a Tessa (to get interest). However, we will shortly be applying for an interest free loan (thanks to this forum) from Energy Vision, to replace our our central heating.

What we are worrying about is our credit rating. If we only start paying the minimum payment will this affect our credit rating and stop us getting a loan from Energy Vision?

We have no debts anywhere (other than the morgage), i just wish we had applied for the credit card after the loan had been agreed.

By the way, this is my first post..........thanks for all the advice i have recd on cost cutting. We struggle to make ends meet due to our old house where things need doing...central heating, re-wiring, double glazing, damp etc our two children 7&8 yrs are definately not spoilt but they don't seem to miss out .

Sometimes it all gets on top of me as we try so hard to stay above water and then something else goes wrong! However this site has shown me that we are doing ok even if it is a struggle. Thanks all for that.

Anyway, i hope someone knows the answer to my credit rating question.

dazza657

xjlmummy wrote:

Sorry if this has been covered before - can't find it on a search anyway!

Hoping to become a Tart!:D but wary of accidently reapplying to an existing provider who provides under various guises/names (I ended up with 2 MBNA cards at one time - one for Virgin and one "charity" card...)

I'm new to MSE and loving it because there's sooooooo much room for improvement in my finances :j and hating it because I have been so b****y stupid in the past :eek:

Can anyone give me/link to a list of who does which card, or do I have to just check it out each time?

many thanks
Shari

Hello,

This is the first time on a chat room, So please bare with me.

I need to pay 1,300 by the end of the month & can't afford to.

As far as i am aware the only options i have are a load or credit card, i will aim to pay back the amount between 6 & 9 months.

I have never had a credit card before & don't want to get stitched up.
I hear you cant get 0% on ballance transfers but what about 0% on cash advances!!!

I want to know what the best way to do this with the lowest intrest payable to the lender or card.

Thanks very much

Ps:- if you can't help do you know anyone who can.