Debit card or credit card?

retiredin2011

A disagreement between my wife and I which might blow up out of all proportion to the actual monetary savings or loss, so after some other input.

What would you do?

We are going on a cruise and the onboard account is in sterling, so no currency exchange costs.

Estimate £700 for spending, drinks, excursions, cheap baccy to help pay for the cruise :rotfl:, etc.

There is a 2.5% charge for credit card, none for debit card.

Our credit card is a 1% cashback card.

We have a BOS Vantage current account and keep between £3,000 to £5000 in it to get the max interest.

If we use a debit card the money will be out of our current account before we even get ashore on the last day of the cruise :eek:.

If we use our (mine) credit card, the cruise ends after my statement date so will not need to be paid (in full) for about 36 days.

Cruise ends 1st month, statement day 21st month, payment date 5th next month.

I am all for using the credit card for the convenience.

Someone has stuck their oar in and told my wife that we are throwing money away because the cruise line is charging 2.5% for the privilege of us using a credit card, whereas I say the amount is miniscule compared to the convenience of using a credit card against a debit card.

So what would others do?

Credit card or debit card?

This is just to settle the onboard account.

apt

Use the debit card. At current saving rates you'll need to save for 6 months to cover the extra cost of the credit card.

grumbler

retiredin2011 wrote: »

...
We are going on a cruise and the onboard account is in sterling, so no currency exchange costs.

I am not a fan of cruising and don't know how onboard account works, but pretty often merchants try charging you in ££ abroad when using so called Dynamic Currency Conversion to rob you.

Estimate £700 for spending, drinks, excursions, cheap baccy to help pay for the cruise :rotfl:, etc.

There is a 2.5% charge for credit card, none for debit card.

Our credit card is a 1% cashback card.

We have a BOS Vantage current account and keep between £3,000 to £5000 in it to get the max interest.

If we use a debit card the money will be out of our current account before we even get ashore on the last day of the cruise :eek:.

If we use our (mine) credit card, the cruise ends after my statement date so will not need to be paid (in full) for about 36 days.

Cruise ends 1st month, statement day 21st month, payment date 5th next month.

I am all for using the credit card for the convenience.

IMHO 2.5% is far too much even for 150 days, let alone 36 days .

Someone has stuck their oar in and told my wife that we are throwing money away because the cruise line is charging 2.5% for the privilege of us using a credit card, whereas I say the amount is miniscule compared to the convenience of using a credit card against a debit card.

If you have money I don't see any inconvenience and agree with the 'someone'.

retiredin2011

I am not a fan of cruising and don't know how onboard account works, but pretty often merchants try charging you in ££ abroad when using so called Dynamic Currency Conversion to rob you.

Dynamic Currency Conversion does not apply in this case.

Because the currency is sterling it is just like spending at home.

Bloomberg

retiredin2011 wrote: »

A disagreement between my wife and I which might blow up out of all proportion to the actual monetary savings or loss, so after some other input.

What would you do?

We are going on a cruise and the onboard account is in sterling, so no currency exchange costs.

Estimate £700 for spending, drinks, excursions, cheap baccy to help pay for the cruise :rotfl:, etc.

There is a 2.5% charge for credit card, none for debit card.

Our credit card is a 1% cashback card.

We have a BOS Vantage current account and keep between £3,000 to £5000 in it to get the max interest.

If we use a debit card the money will be out of our current account before we even get ashore on the last day of the cruise :eek:.

If we use our (mine) credit card, the cruise ends after my statement date so will not need to be paid (in full) for about 36 days.

Cruise ends 1st month, statement day 21st month, payment date 5th next month.

I am all for using the credit card for the convenience.

Someone has stuck their oar in and told my wife that we are throwing money away because the cruise line is charging 2.5% for the privilege of us using a credit card, whereas I say the amount is miniscule compared to the convenience of using a credit card against a debit card.

So what would others do?

Credit card or debit card?

This is just to settle the onboard account.

Using a credit card will be marginally more expensive but it is a small price to pay for the extra protection which it will afford you. I never use my debit card for purchases, if your card is cloned let it be the credit card.

innovate

Take both cards, in case you lose one of them, see something you can only pay for by CC, one of the cards doesn't work etc etc.

Other than that, on a projected £700 spend, you are talking about minute differences to the bottom line:

CC 2.5%: £17.50
CC cashback: £7.00
BoS interest (on £700 for a month): around £1.30 after basic rate tax

If you use the credit card: £17.50 minus £7 cashback minus £1.30 interest = £9.20 cost.

If you use the debit card: you don't get the interest and the cashback, so it costs you in the region of £7 + £1.30 = £8.30.

If you get your BoS interest tax-free, the credit card wins by a whisker.

Hope you will have a nice holiday, despite the differences about finances.

grumbler

Bloomberg wrote: »

...I never use my debit card for purchases, ...

Paranoia springs to mind.
I always use my debit cards when CCs are not accepted or charged extra.

grumbler

innovate wrote: »

If you use the credit card: £17.50 minus £7 cashback minus £1.30 interest = £9.20 cost.

If you use the debit card: you don't get the interest and the cashback, so it costs you in the region of £7 + £1.30 = £8.30.

I might be missing something but I don't understand this double arithmetic.

Debit card costs nothing if you deduct the lost interest from the CC cost.

CC costs 2.5%-1%-(lost interest). The lost interest is ~0.3%

Re Bloomberg's comment about 'protection' I don't see what section 75 protection can be needed even theoretically in this case on the top of the primitive chargeback, but again, I know nothing about cruises.

reclusive46

Does anyone know if Cruise transactions are done offline? If so the debit card might not work if it has not been authorised to work offline.

innovate

grumbler wrote: »

I might be missing something but I don't understand this double arithmetic.

Debit card costs nothing if you deduct the lost interest from the CC cost.

CC costs 2.5%-1%-(lost interest).
.

Suppose you are right, you have always been better than me with the numbers !

Bloomberg

grumbler wrote: »

Paranoia springs to mind.
I always use my debit cards when CCs are not accepted or charged extra.

FACT: A credit card offers a lot more protection than a debit card.

It is not a case of being paranoid it is just a case of protecting yourself as much as possible. Obviously if I was in a situation were only debit cards were accepted then I would have to use one.