Cashback card that blocks overspending...

Lum

Gone through the numbers and figured out where I screwed up this month.

I do actually keep a manual track, I use an app called AndroMoney for it, every spend I record as a deduction and every income I shift back to the card I record as an income.

Problem comes with the incomes, particularly reimbursements for work expenses and from MediCash claims, these get logged in AndroMoney which, of course, shows the balance as immediately available. A double check of the site fails so show all pending deductions (which will be retroactively applied) nor pending payments (which are not retroactively applied) but shows a reasonable amount of available balance.

So it comes down to, I need to switch to a card that doesn't screw me over by delaying repayments, if only to give me time to clear away the £800 so I can switch to using it for reimbursible expenses only.

molerat

No, IMO you need to switch to a card that has a limit more suited to your needs. Running a card close to the limit is never a good idea.

Lum

Well as soon as the money I just chucked over clears (so next week) I'll see about raising the limit and failing that, switching.

Lum

Spoke to Asda who are fine with raising the limit, since I voluntarily lowered it and made a mistake. They also waived the over limit fee.

However they also confirmed that the card will knowingly allow you to go over limit by 10% (in addition to transactions they don't know about) because "some customers don't like having their card declined" and there is no way to turn that off.

Fortunately Asda don't log these on your credit file, but I'm still gonna switch.

The amazon card people told me I have the option to set alerts for both spending limit and proximity to credit limit at whatever values I like (Asda only allow an alert of between £50 and £250 proximity to credit limit) and that faster payments transactions are credited next working day, something Asda said was impossible.

I'll be taking on board the comments about an appropriate limit and disciplining myself to not use it. This last year has seen a fairly big drop in disposable income due to relationship breakdown, disability, and an extended hospital stay, but ultimately I'm in a position where after all fixed bills are gone, I have £800/month to cover food for two adults, emergencies and luxuries which isn't that bad really, especially as I only spend around £300 on food.

I'll try to use some of that to chip away at the one month defecit I'm running (even though it's a free debt) until I'm running at £800 in the bank and nearing £800 on the card near the end of the month.

Thanks for the responses, even the harsh ones.