why get a credit card???

stvthms6

Hi
Ive never had a credit card because ive always thought "if you cant afford it? dont buy it!" But i,ve been told to get one for the "benefits" (insurance , warranties ...) . I would pay it off IN FULL if i had one. Can we discuss which credit cards offer the best benefits please???
Thanks

[Deleted User]

Not much point in discussing which cards give the best benefits. Need to discuss what credit history you have. No cards - have you had other loans, credit, etc?

The reason being, you won't get the cards at the top of the credit tree with no history,

stvthms6

never had anything really . surely if i have a good credit rating i can get any?

Wobblydeb

If you pay it off in full, then yes, you can get some good benefits from credit cards.

To my mind the best benefit is either cash back or rewards vouchers. I am pretty sure the main website has a review of those offering the best benefits.

You could also go check out the stoozing forum to see how you could make use of 0% deals (by leaving a balance on the credit card at 0% and then investing/saving that money elsewhere). For me, there's too little benefit to stoozing at the moment, so I use cashback.

Capital One pay 1%, which comes off your statement once a year, so I got nearly £100 knocked off my Christmas spending

Another recent good deal is Halifax. Spend at least £300 per month, and you'll get £5 "reward" knocked off your balance the following month. That's a better rate than the Capital One card....

BackOnTrack

stvthms6 wrote: »

never had anything really . surely if i have a good credit rating i can get any?

If you don't have a credit history you are not going to have a good rating

[Deleted User]

You woun't have a good credit rating without having previous credit. Lenders need to see you can handle credit before giving you the good stuff.

Best to try your own bank in the first place.

lisyloo

Can we discuss which credit cards offer the best benefits please???

ALL offer section 75 protection because it's the law.
Some offer cashback, insruacne, rewards and varynig amounts of interest free days.
There is no BEST, it's down to personal preference.
I personally prefer cashback but some people prefer rewards.

If you haven't had a car before you will be quite restricted and as others have said you should start with your own bank.
This is because they have internal history of your account management so are more likely to give you are card rather than other banks who only have your very limited credit report.
So I think you have to start with the one you are most liekly to get initially.

Pheebs67

stvthms6 wrote: »

Hi
Ive never had a credit card because ive always thought "if you cant afford it? dont buy it!"

Having a credit card, doesn't mean you "can't afford it" . . .

stvthms6 wrote: »

But i,ve been told to get one for the "benefits" (insurance , warranties ...) . I would pay it off IN FULL if i had one. Can we discuss which credit cards offer the best benefits please???
Thanks

"Best" benefits are down to personal perspective.

What I find "Best" may be useless to you, and Visa Versa.

Personally I'm only interested in Cashback, the consumer protection that buying on a CC brings and the ability to have a secondary cardholder so that all of mine and my wifes spending are in 1 place for easy categorisation so I know what I'm spending in which areas.

As above, think about your current credit rating and apply for products that give you the best benefit - which if your credit rating isn't established yet, your 'Best benefit' might be getting a card that you can revolve a balance on (spend and pay off in full) to build up a credit history.

ManicMum

Quite useful abroad too. especially in the US - if you aint got credit, you are a nobody. Very hard to do anything there without credit card.

Wobblydeb

I thought I was good with money, but ran up debt twice over before learning that lesson. Third time, I finally got it, and asked the CC company to reduce my limit to what I could comfortably pay off in a month or two. I think that was about £500 at the time. More than enough for true emergencies like repairing the car.