Credit card or overdraft for supply teacher?

Mischa8

I'm asking this on behalf of my friend who's a supply teacher. She's currently on a yearly contract with a school and she earns quite a good salary but in holidays doesn't earn at all unless she either signs on or does temporary work. Her contract work is where she gets work through an agency but is virtually self-employed and has an accountant who works out her tax for her every year.

So far she's saved £800 but she applied for a Tesco CC (the only one she did apply for) and she has small balance on I think a Barclaycard (about £1-2K) but Tesco turned her down so she got huge OD for the summer.

I think she should apply for another CC - unsure which would be best.

Oh and would the reason she'd be turned down because she a) doesn't have a mortgage and/or b) because she's on a contract for a year rather than in permanent job.

She's quite good at saving and AFAIK rarely goes overdrawn.

Which CC is best for her?

corbyboy

Your post is full of a lot of contradictions.

You say she earns a good wage, but your implication is she is going to live on the credit card when she is out of work.

She has saved £800 but has 1-2K on a credit card? Why is this? She is probably paying interest on the credit card. Why not pay it off with her savings?

She won't get rejected because she doesn't have a mortgage, but not having a permanent job might have an effect.

What does she want the credit card for? If you can answer that it may be easier to choose the best credit card for her. Sorry for asking so many questions, but it's not clear what you are asking for.

Mischa8

corbyboy wrote: »

Your post is full of a lot of contradictions.

You say she earns a good wage, but your implication is she is going to live on the credit card when she is out of work.

She has saved £800 but has 1-2K on a credit card? Why is this? She is probably paying interest on the credit card. Why not pay it off with her savings?

She won't get rejected because she doesn't have a mortgage, but not having a permanent job might have an effect.

What does she want the credit card for? If you can answer that it may be easier to choose the best credit card for her. Sorry for asking so many questions, but it's not clear what you are asking for.

Sorry not to make things clear.

Last summer she went to Canada on holidays and paid for all that by CC (don't ask me why, I wouldn't do that).

I think (from having spoken to her) she wanted to consolidate her CC onto a 0% one (I did this with Virgin) but she either hasn't looked into this properly or got turned down.

She wanted the CC because she thought it would be cheaper than an OD and being off work for 8 weeks she needs more than £800 to live on, so she wanted the CC IN ADDITION to her rent etc expenses.

sorry if it doesn't make sense.

Mischa8

corbyboy wrote: »

Your post is full of a lot of contradictions.

You say she earns a good wage, but your implication is she is going to live on the credit card when she is out of work.

She has saved £800 but has 1-2K on a credit card? Why is this? She is probably paying interest on the credit card. Why not pay it off with her savings?

She won't get rejected because she doesn't have a mortgage, but not having a permanent job might have an effect.

What does she want the credit card for? If you can answer that it may be easier to choose the best credit card for her. Sorry for asking so many questions, but it's not clear what you are asking for.

Sorry - another point - she does have a yearly contract (due to be renewed this September for another year) - is this what banks/credit card scoring people would need to know and as she's just had temp/supply contracts in past through agencies would this not be enough?

izools

If she can't afford to save enough to survive during the holidays, where will she get the money to pay off her credit cards? It isn't free money.

Saying "I don't earn enough to save what I need for the summer holidays, so I'll borrow it in a credit card" is a sure fire way to get in an uncontrollable and unsupportable amount of debt. It's a dangerous way to think and I think it's best to curtail this sooner rather than later.

I think she is best advised to work out a better budget so that she saves enough during term time, or gets seasonal work to tide her over. They are the only sensible solutions

TFD_2

izools wrote: »

If she can't afford to save enough to survive during the holidays, where will she get the money to pay off her credit cards? It isn't free money.

Saying "I don't earn enough to save what I need for the summer holidays, so I'll borrow it in a credit card" is a sure fire way to get in an uncontrollable and unsupportable amount of debt. It's a dangerous way to think and I think it's best to curtail this sooner rather than later.

I think she is best advised to work out a better budget so that she saves enough during term time, or gets seasonal work to tide her over. They are the only sensible solutions

I disagree. Using a credit card to tie over a cashflow shortfall is an obvious reason. Particularly if she has a contract kicking in shortly that will allow her to pay this off.

You work, and have credit card balances. What makes these more legitimate?

lerabollera

A supply teachers wage is that of a regular teachers spread over the nine months (as opposed to 12 months like those on perm contracts) minus the agencies fees. It is a decent wage - my take home pay was fab when I did it but, I'm not being funny, she should have been putting money to one side for the holidays. She would have known about not being paid in the holidays in advance so the onus is on her to be more organised.

I realise that this doesn't answer your question but to get yourself into debt over something avoidable is silly.

izools

TFD wrote: »

You work, and have credit card balances. What makes these more legitimate?

I don't use them as a source of income, I don't rely on them, I don't depend on them. I know they are a commodity and I treat them as such.

The point I was making was in regard to the mentality surrounding the use of credit cards. Thinking they are a viable alternative to earning a wage is the start of a slippery slope.

Like I said, if the OP's friend couldn't afford to save for holiday time expenses, how can she afford to repay a credit card? Which, after all, will be more expensive than saving given the interest payable.

If I were in the OP's friend's position, I'd be signing up for some short term temp work to tide me over. Or at least sign on.

TFD_2

izools wrote: »

I don't use them as a source of income, I don't rely on them, I don't depend on them. I know they are a commodity and I treat them as such.

The point I was making was in regard to the mentality surrounding the use of credit cards. Thinking they are a viable alternative to earning a wage is the start of a slippery slope.

Like I said, if the OP's friend couldn't afford to save for holiday time expenses, how can she afford to repay a credit card? Which, after all, will be more expensive than saving given the interest payable.

If I were in the OP's friend's position, I'd be signing up for some short term temp work to tide me over. Or at least sign on.

Well as yours are all maxed out (according to your sig) no wonder you don't rely on them.

If the OP (or friend, whichever it might be) plans to use the cards for a few weeks to tide her over until she's working again, then this hardly seems irresponsible, if she can pay them off relatively quickly.

I agree that the OP (or friend, whichever it might be) needs to manage her cash better, but this reason for looking to take out a card seems better than most.

izools

No you're absolutely right I've been reckless with my cards this month, but then again I'm pulling a salary and am repaying £100 a month on each one following my spree. They'll be clear within a year. I certainly wouldn't have spent up to such a high balance on them if I were unemployed, let alone unemployed and not signing on!

I'm sorry I just can't fathom why she doesn't just sign on or why she hasn't registered with some agencies to ensure she's got some work lined up during the holidays. That seems far more reckless than maxing out some credit cards that I'm confident I can repay within the year without the slightest difficulty.

TFD_2

izools wrote: »

No you're absolutely right I've been reckless with my cards this month, but then again I'm pulling a salary and am repaying £100 a month on each one following my spree. They'll be clear within a year. I certainly wouldn't have spent up to such a high balance on them if I were unemployed, let alone unemployed and not signing on!

I'm sorry I just can't fathom why she doesn't just sign on or why she hasn't registered with some agencies to ensure she's got some work lined up during the holidays. That seems far more reckless than maxing out some credit cards that I'm confident I can repay within the year without the slightest difficulty.

But chances are she earns more in her working months than you do in 12 months.

If you read the original posts, you'll see she has a 12 month contract - that's hardly the same as being unemployed.