Your #1 Credit Card Mistake

Sagaris

Getting the first one - then the second!
They're on their way out now - thanks to this site!

Squirrel29

I had the chance to buy a horse and needed £2k quickly. I drew it out cash on credit card. I paid it back within couple of months (was on a good salary then and didn't have debt worries) but didn't realise the implications re cash advance and huge interest on that (ouch!).

PROLIANT

Most of the above boils down to poor financial management, credit cards are a good thing and will work for you if you manage them correctly, abuse them and like anything in life it will probably bite you in the a**e, I have had financial trouble in the past and now believe that good financial management comes before going shopping, spoiling yourself etc etc, credit cards aren’t evil, they are given to us on a trust basis, can you imagine if lenders made us pay back the full amount each month? At the end of the day if you plan your finances and work out a living budget, you cant go wrong, if you bite off more than you can chew then its your own fault, we are all adults and I believe that we are responsible for our own actions and no good blaming others for our carelessness, yes people get unlucky at some point in there life i.e. unemployed etc but we recover from this and adjust accordingly, I did and boy can I tell you a few things about my financial past, maybe not today though, its just simple math isn’t it? Income = £1000 per month - Bills @ £800 per month = £200 spare cash i.e. do what the hell you want with. Simple.

james10999

Why moan about credit cards - what you need to be addressing is your lack of managing your own money! Get a grip and stop moaning!

Credit cards have been great for me. I pay off my balance in full each month, get a garantee on anything i buy over £100 if i have any problems plus get get 1% cashback on everything I spend on my Egg Money card,

Plus - with the Virgin Money card, I took it out and got a £5k limit, withdrawe it into my ICESAVE account and am watching the interest pile up in ICESAVE whilst on 0% with Virgin till March 09.

Money is to made out of these cards - for people who MANAGE their money. However I can't complain - it's people who don't manage their money and have £1000's on credit cards in debt that enable credit card companies to give these promo's!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

CannyJock

Worst mistake I've made with Credit Cards? That's easy - leaving it so long to start proper stoozing.

Been a casual stoozer for years without even realising it. If I think of all the money I could have made by ramping it up sooner it'd have me in tears.

CannyJock

ViHan wrote: »

I agree with getting a card in the first place. Getting one in the first place was my financial downfall. One led to another led to another and so on... got into the cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul for a couple of years. Dh and I took the bull by the horns and paid them back via debt management (the only way we could afford to pay them with Dd1 on the way).
We became debt free in 2006 and now although we have a live credit card each its rarely used and paid off as soon as possible.

Good to hear you got yourself out of trouble. But are you seriously blaming the card companies for making you spend the money in the first place?

I'm not defending their very effective sales and marketing, and the whole concept that a "Gold" or "Platinum" and now "Black" card is a status symbol, and the whole "spend now, pay later" attitude prevalent in most parts of the media - but end of the day you dug a hole and climbed in it.

It sounds to me like you made a mistake, you paid the price, and you've learned from it. As most of us have

chriz1000

I can understand why people make mistakes with credit cards, but if you can’t trust yourself with your own credit you really shouldn’t take advantage of it.
I would say for me it was not realising the cards full potential for the first two years of my adult life. When I was 20 I realised that credit cards are a true asset when utilised in the correct way. Needless to say without credit cards and being able borrow over £100k on them on them in interest free borrowing I would probably be earning about 3 times less than what I do today.
Without their flexible credit I wouldn’t own my own detached house, a high end sports car and a several valuable businesses.
So yes if you’re stupid with credit cards they can be your worst enemy, if you use them wisely and to your advantage they can be one of your greatest assets.

ViHan

CannyJock wrote: »

Good to hear you got yourself out of trouble. But are you seriously blaming the card companies for making you spend the money in the first place?

I'm not defending their very effective sales and marketing, and the whole concept that a "Gold" or "Platinum" and now "Black" card is a status symbol, and the whole "spend now, pay later" attitude prevalent in most parts of the media - but end of the day you dug a hole and climbed in it.

It sounds to me like you made a mistake, you paid the price, and you've learned from it. As most of us have

Ohh no no! I made the mistake! I just wish in hindsight that I had never bothered in the first place with the cards. One maybe but I was younger and stupid and I hadn't a clue how to be responsible for my own debt. I learned the hard way and I won't ever be in the situation where I owe thousands on unsecured debt again.

Wyndham

CannyJock wrote: »

Worst mistake I've made with Credit Cards? That's easy - leaving it so long to start proper stoozing.

Yup! That's mine too!

Martinslovechild

What would I say the single most grievous misuse, abuse or lapse in judgment with my credit card was?

Easy - stoozing only £107,000 on credit cards. I'd have loved to have gone higher, but for some reason it started getting difficult when I hit £107K !! LOL!