Such a thing as too much credit?

Mr_K

If you can't pay it back in full each month, then that's too much credit.

guesswho2000

Mr_K wrote: »

If you can't pay it back in full each month, then that's too much credit.

Disagree. My available credit exceeds my salary, and I pay back what I spend in full each month. The key is not spending what you can't afford - I obviously couldn't afford to spend my entire salary in a month, so I don't.

Having it available doesn't mean you'll spend it. In fact, not spending it seems to make it more likely that the card co's will give you the limit to spend.

wiseshark

I second that guesswho2000.

You must ask yourself, "do I need it" and "can I afford it". By afford it for me means, can I comfortably repay what I owe even if it takes me 5 or 6 months. As I always have my savings to fall back then I can confidently say "yes".

In general I tend to repay in full and occasionally carry a balance and give them some interest.

lisyloo

If you can't pay it back in full each month, then that's too much credit.

I disagree strongly.
For example let's suppose someone needs to buy a car which is essential for their employment and can pay it back in 6 months and have a 0% or low interest rate deal.
It makes total sense.
Obviously it's ideally better if you can save, but for a variety of reasons that not always possible in real life.

In general I would agree it's not sensivle to live outside your means but there are times in people's lives when they do have months where they overspend.
This does not have to conflict with sensible financial planning.

goldmask

For most stoozers, the problem is that you cannot borrow as much cheap money as you wish.

lisyloo

I have a £166K mortgage at 0.99% that I'm stoozing and making a profit on.
Do I have too much credit?
For a savvy stoozer it's never enough when you can make a profit with no risk.

But hey what do I know? I'm only making a profit out of the bank.

FreddieFrugal

At the moment I'm just hoping the new card will arrive before halfterm next week as we'll be going away for a few days and would be good chance to make use of that 5% cashback - I also need a tank of fuel.

lisyloo

I applied for an Amex card recently and it came pretty quickly.
I applied for the gold rewards one where you get £100 Amazon voucher for a £2000 spend in 3 months.
I'm actually finding it hard to use - it's fine for supermarkets and petrol, but a lot of on-line stores I'm using don't take it (or paypal either).
One example is Carole Nash my insurer who are quite a big insurance company.
So you may have to make a effort to put everything you can on it if you have a quota to reach.
I'm trying to put DH's spending on mine as well.

StuC75

Its not about having too much credit, its about having enough self control :-)

w211

lisyloo wrote: »

I applied for an Amex card recently and it came pretty quickly.
I applied for the gold rewards one where you get £100 Amazon voucher for a £2000 spend in 3 months.

So you may have to make a effort to put everything you can on it if you have a quota to reach.

I think you may be able to buy gift cards with your card, which counts towards your spend, which you can then spend at a later date. https://www.headforpoints.com will have an article on this.