Credit card advice and guidance PLEASE!!!

Theak

Hi I am looking at getting a credit card because I have a holiday coming up and want to treat myself to some new clothes and spending money.

The amount I'm looking at spending is £600

I like to get my head around it all and get the facts before committing.

I have seen a card (marks and Spencer's) that offers 15 months 0% intro purchase.does that mean that if I pay back what ever I have spent in that 15 months then I don't get charged any extra?

I can afford to pay monthly of up to £60 so I will have no problem paying back in time.

I wouldn't be using it for any other reason but just to buy things(not drawing out money).

Any advice would be very appreciated.THANKYOU

bengal-stripe

Theak wrote: »

I have seen a card (marks and Spencer's) that offers 15 months 0% intro purchase.does that mean that if I pay back what ever I have spent in that 15 months then I don't get charged any extra?

You will have to pay every month at least the minimum, which might be as low as 1%. If you pay the balance, either in a lump sum or in monthly instalments, before the 15 months are up, then the whole lot is interest-free.

Mind you, promotional rates like this one are not very easy to come by, if you have no track record (like you seem to have) of running a Credit Card account successfully.

BadBehaviour

I got that card with 5K annual income and just a mobile contract, bank account and settled Littlewoods account on my credit file. Never missed a payment or spent more than what was in my bank account, I must say.

Aquamania

Theak wrote: »

Hi I am looking at getting a credit card because I have a holiday coming up and want to treat myself to some new clothes and spending money.

The amount I'm looking at spending is £600

I like to get my head around it all and get the facts before committing.

I have seen a card (marks and Spencer's) that offers 15 months 0% intro purchase.does that mean that if I pay back what ever I have spent in that 15 months then I don't get charged any extra?

I can afford to pay monthly of up to £60 so I will have no problem paying back in time.

I wouldn't be using it for any other reason but just to buy things(not drawing out money).

Any advice would be very appreciated.THANKYOU

You still have to pay back the money.

Come this time next year you will probably want another holiday and want to treat yourself to some more new clothes and spending money, but you will still be paying back the borrowing from this year. :eek:

PeacefulWaters

Aquamania wrote: »

You still have to pay back the money.

This is always a reasonable point to make. Many borrowers focus on the minimum payment and not the debt reduction.

Come this time next year you will probably want another holiday and want to treat yourself to some more new clothes and spending money, but you will still be paying back the borrowing from this year. :eek:

The OP talks about borrowing £600, paying £60pm and not paying interest.

While I'm a fan of saving up for stuff the proposed repayments leave this individual debt free this time next year.

Aquamania

True, but there is Christmas in between which is often a financial stress time for the best of us, and a time when we all like a few nice new clothes to wear to the parties and a bit of extra spending money to splash out on those lovely prezzies.

Anthorn

I have some disagreement with the foregoing replies.

There are different ways of looking at a credit card balance. YNAB for example sees a credit card balance as an overspend and that's correct if the whole balance cannot be cleared when the statement comes in. On the other hand spending has to be related to income and it cannot be an overspend if the payments can be made on time and accounted for in one's budget.

At the end of the day a credit card facilitates instant credit and it can't be bad if that's what it's used for unless payments cannot be made in which case hello default, threatening letters and collection agencies.

Most credit card providers will allow a balance to be increased almost to the limit but will then want their money back and will be looking for a reducing balance as payments are made over the months. A balance which is always almost to the limit as more spending is added after payments are made is the sticky road to dependence, credit card slavery and reducing limits.

dealer_wins

Just my 2c OP, Im not typing this to be nasty...

This has the classic look of someone who is about to get into a lifetime of debt.

I would seriously say OP, dont do it.

Save up for luxuries, because when you have to use your hard saved money to pay for something its amazing how different your attitude will be.

Its easy to spend £500 on a credit card for clothes, but when you are potentially spending your saved up money its amazing how many times you will think "no, actually I dont want to waste my savings on this"

Never use credit for luxury items!! Actually never use credit at all would be my advice. Its really easy to get into a debt cycle that will run for your whole life. During my banking career I saw 1000s of customers that have loan after loan, borrowing for their entire working life, wasting £1000's upon £1000's in interest.

ricky_v

dealer_wins wrote: »

Just my 2c OP, Im not typing this to be nasty...

This has the classic look of someone who is about to get into a lifetime of debt.

I would seriously say OP, dont do it.

Save up for luxuries, because when you have to use your hard saved money to pay for something its amazing how different your attitude will be.

Its easy to spend £500 on a credit card for clothes, but when you are potentially spending your saved up money its amazing how many times you will think "no, actually I dont want to waste my savings on this"

Never use credit for luxury items!! Actually never use credit at all would be my advice. Its really easy to get into a debt cycle that will run for your whole life. During my banking career I saw 1000s of customers that have loan after loan, borrowing for their entire working life, wasting £1000's upon £1000's in interest.

Good advice, IMO the only time 0% cards should be used on luxury goods is if you don't want to spend your savings on the said items instead, as the savings will still earn interest (stoozing). If you don't have any savings then I personally would consider items such as annual line rental, annual insurance payments, annual rail season tickets, car repair, roof repair, boiler repair, and other essential spends to be put on a 0% card only, as used correctly will save you alot of money doing it that way.