Its been a funny old week...

andyfromotley

A few things have happened this week that have made me ponder about my changing attitude to credit and money.

I popped into the Halifax today and applied for and was given a Clarity Card for my upcoming trip to the states in the summer. Whilst i know this is a sound financial decision i left with an almost heavy heart as i am all about reducing my debt and kind see credit cards as the enemy to some degree! (don't worry i have holiday savings to pay off the clarity in full!)

I then got home to find a letter from B/C to say they have kindly increased my credit card limit from £10,800 to £14,800!!(current balance £0) Days gone by it would have been a silent whoop!! followed by a quick plan to max it out!! Now my first thought was, ok how do i reject this. This has been coupled with a huge increase in mail shots from CC companies as i have reduced my personal debt. Its almost like they are frantic to keep me up to my eyeballs in it!

Finally i am off to London for my BIL's 50th today, its a quite expensive do what with the travelling etc, and i have the money saved up and accounted for sitting in my bank for me to just go and do it. This would Never Ever have been the case before i started with my DFW journey (and ynab). It feels strange, and good.

I'm not sure what all this means but i feel like i am totally changing the way i look at money, finances and all of this stuff. Given that i'm 48 i feel that there is something significant going on.

Sorry for the random rambling!

bexster1975

Hi Andy

Great to read you seeing a difference. I think you do have to change your thinking, I'm sure not doing is how people slip back I to old habits. Enjoy the offers of extra credit, just don't use what you don't need. If you wanted to reduce the credit limit, if you have online access you can reduce it on your account. It will usually happen immediately. Otherwise just call them and ask for it to be returned to previous level. Great news about having money aside for the weekend. Hope you have a great time.

Bexster

asparagus1968

Yep, I agree, it's the mind-set that has to change for it all to work out well. Good on you!
May I ask why you have a credit card with a massive balance open anyway?

andyfromotley

asparagus1968 wrote: »

Yep, I agree, it's the mind-set that has to change for it all to work out well. Good on you!
May I ask why you have a credit card with a massive balance open anyway?

Because its a barclay card which seems to have a pretty much permanent BT offer on it. My current HUGE balance ends its 0% in October so i'm keeping the BC until then just as a back up, (its not the best deal as its has 3% fees for about 19 months) because the thought of not getting a BT and facing interest on 12k makes me break out in a cold sweat!!

But come then i shall close all of them except the new clarity card which i will keep for holiday spending (paid off in full!)

rockm87

Oh i love rejecting those increases!!

PinkPoppies

Sounds as though you are doing brilliantly Andy! :beer:

Sharon87

Why don't you keep that limit, you may need it to transfer the 12k onto in October.

I always find if you manage finances well then CC companies like to give you lots of credit! Even though I have debts slightly smaller than the OPs the CC companies still increase my limits! My Tesco CC went from £900 to £5900 because I used it for the first time in 6 months!

japmis

andyfromotley wrote: »

I then got home to find a letter from B/C to say they have kindly increased my credit card limit from £10,800 to £14,800!!(current balance £0) Days gone by it would have been a silent whoop!! followed by a quick plan to max it out!! Now my first thought was, ok how do i reject this. This has been coupled with a huge increase in mail shots from CC companies as i have reduced my personal debt. Its almost like they are frantic to keep me up to my eyeballs in it!

I find this really infuriating too; when I called my bank to remortgage, their first question was how much do you want to borrow?

Mikeone

andyfromotley wrote: »

its a quite expensive do what with the travelling etc, and i have the money saved up and accounted for sitting in my bank for me to just go and do it. This would Never Ever have been the case before i started with my DFW journey (and ynab). It feels strange, and good.

That sort of thing kept happening when I started to reach the final straights of my DFW journey and it has never stopped happening. It's the benefit of a total shift in mindset. I used to be terrible with money (and scared of it) but now I'm the person that friends and family approach for financial advice. Crazy.

GandalsStaff

andyfromotley wrote: »

I then got home to find a letter from B/C to say they have kindly increased my credit card limit from £10,800 to £14,800

The same happened with me, i started with £1500, they increased it to £2250 then £3050 then £4950 and now £7550. I have now manually reduced it back to £1500 and will reject all further attempts to increase it.

asparagus1968

Knew you'd have a plan !