Should I get a credit card?

Lou3000

I've never had a credit card. I am 58 and was made redundant 2 years ago and since then have managed to get two part-time jobs to try and get a 37-hour wage (if you get my drift). I earn approximately £11,000 a year and find it impossible to save from that. Any money I have saved has been by a small amounts at irregular intervals - reader's letters published in magazines, on-line surveys, writing for consumer sites, things like that. I've managed to 'amass' the grand total of nearly £475 in 18 months.

I am saving with a goal in mind. My hubs and I want to go to Australia to see our son. We haven't seen him for 3 years. I don't want to make this a very long post but suffice to say I need to get together at least £2,500 to pay the fare and travelling expenses for both of us. When we go to Oz, we intend to go for 3 weeks so I'd have to take 1 week as unpaid leave.

My loans will all be paid off by 2010 by which time I'll be 60 years old, knackered - but still working!

I was toying with the idea of possibly getting a credit card to specially pay for our Australia trip. There are so many threads on here about credit cards but they all morph into each other and I'm none the wiser.

Can someone tell me in plain language :rotfl:whether it might be a good idea to get a credit card just to pay for our trip? I understand there are ways to make borrowing on a CC much cheaper - but I get confuddled. I don't want to get myself into more debt. I already have the 3 loans to pay off (although one will be paid off later this year so I'll be £60 better off each month) and I have an overdraft of £600. We don't smoke, drink or go out. I try to be careful with household spending but we live in a far-flung rural area where the cost of living is expensive and even the best intentions are scuppered when I go to the supermarket armed with a list - only to discover they haven't got half the stuff on the shelves (bread, milk, basic essentials - that kind of thing). If we had a Tescos handy, I reckon we'd be quids in! The cheapest loaf I can buy is 65p but hubby is diabetic so needs brown and the only one he likes is £1.75!!

Anyway, I'm rambling. Can anyone make any suggestions? :rolleyes:

agsnu

You say you don't want to get into more debt, but you're asking about spending £2.5k on credit. That would put you into significantly more debt.

Sounds like a credit card would be a terrible idea.

dannynixon

I agree, how old would you be when you plan on clearing the balance?

Lou3000

I guess I always knew it would be a bad idea! It's just that I see people who are able to finance a good lifestyle and yet claim they don't have any savings or, indeed, a fabulous salary. They do, however, have loads of credit cards. I assumed, wrongly, that maybe a credit card would be a viable alternative to another loan providing the right credit card was used. When I hear Martin talking on the radio, the words 'credit card' comes up a lot!

One of the loans I took out years ago was with the Bank of Scotland. I worked out the PPI recently, and of the £152 per month I'm paying back, the PPI is £28. If I'd known then that I could have taken out a separate PPI, I would have done. I couldn't honestly say that I was mis-sold the PPI but I was certainly under the impression that it was necessary for the loan. I took out a loan for £5000 about 2 years ago and the separate PPI I arranged online is just over £7 per month

Oh, well - thanks for your honest answers. I guess I'll have to hope WritersShare gets back up and running soon so I can at least earn a few more pounds! I think I was feeling low after the news this week that long-haul flights are going to be slammed with at least another £250 extra charges :mad:

Guess Australia is just a dream.