What is the point of charge cards?

mrcow

student100 wrote:

Firstly, with a debit card the cash comes out of your account instantly; with a chargecard you have on average a month to pay it off.

And that facilty is worth paying £95 a year for??!! You've still got to pay it off in full. What's the problem/difference with it coming straight out of your bank? If you need/want time to pay the balance off, then why not opt for a credit card with no annual fee which will give you the same facility for free?

Sorry, but I still think it's a waste of money. I can't understand why anyone would want one.

BTW as I said, I do get why companies would prefer to let employees use the facility for their expenses.

student100

mrcow wrote:

BTW as I said, I do get why companies would prefer to let employees use the facility for their expenses.

Oops, so you did...

Galstonian

If you can use the benefits offered and they are worth £95/year to you then a charge card is good value, otherwise it is not. If someone considers the 'prestige' offered by a piece of plastic to be worth it then it is because it is an entirely subjective judgement.

To debate the relative merits of charge cards on a moneysaving website seems rather pointless since they do not usually offer a means of saving money.

nrsql

If you use the benefits offered and would have paid for them then you can save money no matter what the fee. I reckon I saved nearly 1k last year due to Amex discounts which makes the fee good value. And add to that the free upgrades which I didn't need.....
Just depends on your needs - they obviously fill a gap in the market or no one would use them. I appreciate that some (maybe most) people would not have a use for a charge card and it wouldn't be worth any annual fee but remember not every one is the same.

Galstonian

nrsql wrote:

If you use the benefits offered and would have paid for them then you can save money no matter what the fee.

I think you'll find that if the fee costs more than the benefits then you will not save money. Of course the size of the fee matters.

nrsql

Sorry, that was a bit ambiguous.
I meant to to say
No matter what the fee it's still possible to save money via the benefits offered.

hence
>> I appreciate that some (maybe most) people would not have a use for a charge card and it wouldn't be worth any annual fee but remember not every one is the same