ccard or dcard to make it easier or get better check

2makeit

has anybody just used their credit card for everything and paid it off at the end of the month?
is it worth it or best just use debit card and just creditcard the expensive items if there might be a problem?
- which would increase your credit score better- creditcard or debit card?

lr1277

I use my credit card for almost all my purchases, then the bill is paid by the bank taking the money by direct debit.

Use of the credit card or debit card is partly determined by the llimit you have on your credit card. If what you want to buy is more expensive than your limit, you will have to make arrangements with the retailer to make multiple transactions, paying off the balance after each transaction. Or you could use your debit card with one transaction assuming you had enough funds in your current account.

The Protection provided by the card is not like insurance. It is not protection as such, more like making a claim for a complete lack of service or failure to provide the goods.

With credit cards you get some protection called S75 if the item costs between £100 and £30k The item has to be for you. The limit is for a single item. So if you bought 2 items at £60 each, then you couldn't use S75. I have seen discussions about airline flights that have multiple legs. Does each leg have to cost more than £100? Don't know. The other thing to remember is that with S75, the money to pay you comes out of the card providers procket. So sometimes they don't make it easy to claim the money back even thought there are statutory reasons why the card provider has to pay you back. Also you can't buy something through 3rd parties. So you can't book a flight or a hotel stay through a travel agent, then if either the hotel or the airline fails, you can't claim from the travel agent. You should have bought directly from the airline or hotel. This protection is most useful if the organisation you have bought from has gone bust and don't provide the goods/service and cannot in any way repay you.

The other type of protection is chargegack which is avialble with both credit and debit cards..Here card poviders are happy to oblige because the money comes from the seller's bank account. There are restrictions on claiming within 120 days of purchase or say in the case of a hotel booking, before your hotel stay. If you are given a refund through chargeback, the retailer can get the money back from your credit/debit card if they disagree with your reason for claiming the money. So make sure you try and resolve any issue with the retailer first. I think chargeback might work if the retailer has gone bust but I am not sure about that.

So don't expect refunds of either type in the following situaitons:

You book a hotel room with a sea view and you get a view of the town. That is for you to sort out with the hotel.

You book a SUV sized car but you get a small runaround. Again, argue with the car hire company.

You book a non-refundable flight and then you can't make the flight due to illness. The flight will still go ahead, you won't be on it. That is what travel insurance is for.

No such thing as a credit score that is used by the credit card providers. That is in the US and not the UK. You have a credit file, which credit card providers can see and will use to make a decision on whether to extend a card to you and if so the limit they will provide.

I think what I have said above is accurate. If not sure, I am sure other posters will correct my statements and help my understanding of how credit and debit cards work.

MorningcoffeeIV

2makeit said:

has anybody just used their credit card for everything and paid it off at the end of the month?

Yes. 64% of credit card holder do this.

Neither, both or either will raise or lower your credit score 

Only use of your credit card will impact your credit history  

CliveOfIndia

2makeit said:

has anybody just used their credit card for everything and paid it off at the end of the month?

Yep, I do this pretty much exclusively.  As long as you can be disciplined enough to only buy stuff you can afford, and always repay in full every month without fail (ideally by setting up a Direct Debit for the full amount) then it can have benefits.

If your current account pays interest, then you'll earn a tiny little bit of interest on the money you haven't taken out of your account (because you've put it on the CC) from the time of purchase until the time to repay the credit card (OK, it'll be peanuts, but better than nothing).

Probably a bigger advantage is if you have a card that gives rewards of some kind - whether that be cashback, airmiles, points of some kind, whatever is of value to you.  Choose a card that gives you rewards that you'll use - airmiles are probably of little value if you don't fly very often, Clubcard points are no good if you don't shop at Tesco, etc.

As regards your credit score, ignore it, it's not a factor in any lending decisions.  But regular use of a credit card (and always repaying in full every month) will build up a positive credit history (which is what counts), whereas a debit card won't.

And yes, a credit card will give you S75 protection on qualifying purchases - though do be aware of its limitations.

Fingerbobs

I've done pretty-much all of my spending on credit cards since around 1997, always paid off in full every month (unless on a 0% deal) and never paid a single penny in interest or fees (except one mistake many moons ago before I realised gambling transactions through PayPal would be treated as cash advances - only made that mistake once). 

Marchitiello

Short answer, yes, for about 25 years, and after an initial period done mainly for cash flow reason as a student, I have done all my spend on Rewards Credit Cards (aside of more recently my Forex spend done for the majority on my Chase DC for the 1% cashback on spending abroad) for all this time.

JamesPeter

Another here who puts 99.99% of spending through rewards credit cards (and have done so for years). Be that a co-branded points Amex or other 'percentage back' rewards cards. I have always cleared the balance(s) in full every month. 

As my local council even accepts credit cards for paying the Council Tax, I have just paid that in full on my rewards credit card for the next year. It gives me a few quid back (and it isn't treated as a cash advance either)! Will clear the whole balance as usual at the end of the month.

spinningsheep

Me. I spend almost exclusively on my credit cards and pay off in full by DD. 

Majority of my spending goes through Amex BA Avios card, have a couple of Visa and MC as a back up for the non Amex retailers.

My parents do the same using their Amex Nectar card, and use Halifax Clarity MC for the few places who don't take Amex. 

WillPS

Same as others, all spend on credit cards.

Currently -

All Tesco spend goes on Tesco Premium Credit Card (5% equivalent on first £2500)

Any other supermarket spend goes on Natwest Rewards (1% cashback)

Everywhere else that accepts Amex, except Costco, goes on Nectar Amex (1% equivalent)

Everywhere else I use Barclaycard Avios Plus (0.99% equivalent)

The Barclaycard Avios Plus is a short term thing, once the bonus on that pays out I'll be swapping it for the free one (0.66% equivalent) and using it in situtations where it'll earn more than the Tesco card (which pays 0.75% equivalent outside Tesco, but rounded down in £4 chunks meaning on smaller transactions you earn a lot less).

enthusiasticsaver

2makeit said:

has anybody just used their credit card for everything and paid it off at the end of the month?
is it worth it or best just use debit card and just creditcard the expensive items if there might be a problem?
- which would increase your credit score better- creditcard or debit card?

No, I put  day to day expenses on my debit card firstly because I find it is easier to budget as my Starling app picks up the spend for each whereas if it just all appears as one lump as a credit card repayment it just shows as payment. I like to split the spending up into fuel, entertainment, household and food/groceries. 

I don't have rewards on my credit card though and I am not bothered about credit score as we  do not borrow. I fully accept others do it other ways and I have in the past just used credit cards but now we are early retired I don't like seeing a large payment coming out all at once.  I use it for large items though for the S75  protection. 

Chrysalis

2makeit said:

has anybody just used their credit card for everything and paid it off at the end of the month?
is it worth it or best just use debit card and just creditcard the expensive items if there might be a problem?
- which would increase your credit score better- creditcard or debit card?

Credit card, using your debit card wont add anything to your credit file as its not credit.

Use it for things you can afford, normal stuff like food and fuel, pay it off in full every month, no interest and you build up your history.