Credit Cards

Actually I find them really convenient – just use them wisely! ie I use a credit card to save me carrying much cash (safety), or a cheque book (convenience) or relying on a key card (transaction fees).

People only struggle with them if they spend more than they can afford instead of realising that they still have to pay it off with their own money!

Pay it off each month before the interest kicks in, and with CBA for example, your reward points can effectively cover your annual fee for having the card.

I don’t have, don’t want, and never had a credit card in my life.[]

I have the St George’s multi-access card, so I can still use the credit facility when taking money out or buying something (through VISA), and I can only spend what I have available in my bankaccount.[]

It works very well for me, because I don’t like spending money if I don’t have it. (Apart for loans for investments I wouldn’t want debt).[xx(]

Credit cards can be very good or very bad, depending on how you use them.

It is a good idea to have access to a card with a large limit for emergencies. I know someone that made some miscalculations with her home loan and was about $10,000 short only days before settlement. She used a credit card for this shortfall. Standard rates for short term money lends are about 6% per month, so 17% for a credit card isn’t too bad.

But beware, credit cards will decrease your borrowing capacity as lenders take into account the card limit whether you pay it off fully every month or not.

Terryw
Discover Home Loans
North Sydney
[email protected]

same here – i love them too, though i wasn’t always like that.

we have a diner’s (our preferred card) and a gold visa for places where diner’s is not accepted.

they are a great way to track expenses while picking up pts along the way. the diners is a charge card rather than a credit card, but in either case we have never paid interest on any of cards and dont intend to. we understand though that others may not be as disciplined as us (have a few friends with serious CC debt)and that these cards can get people into serious debt.

we even limit our visa card expenses to max pt advantage limits and put the rest on the diners where $ limits do not apply.

julie

Well don’t worry I’m way under 70 and I have been wanting to get a cheque book for a long time but was told they attract bad tax for every transaction you make from the cheque account, is this true?

Tan

Altough cheque books are convenient, some banks like CBA sharge 10-15c a cheque.

Matt

“If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always had.”

“Isn’t it time for a change?”

*raises hand* I work in debt collections for one of the pillar banks. [] (Please don’t hurt me).

The people I deal with (only those in arrears or over their card limit), usually dont have a clue about credit cards. They simply don’t understand how to use them!

It makes my stomach turn when I speak to people who allow $500+ per MONTH in their budget for credit card interest. Parents with 4 kids, young couples living of govt benefits, students aged under 20! I warn them that they will get a late payment fee of $x and an over limit fee of $y and they just say “Yeh, no worries” as if it’s something unavoidable???

On the other hand, the people I associate with are like the majority of you guys who support credit cards. They use them for a convenient access to funds, and reap the benefits of the reward programs. Most have never paid a cent in interest.

Credit cards are great if you are honest with yourself about your capacity to be able to repay the balance at the end of each month. They are a never ending nightmare of debt if you don’t.

Anyway, if you guys have any questions about details of credit cards, feel free to direct them my way []. I also deal with personal loans, (secured and unsecured) transaction accounts and, slightly more relevantly, mortgages. So if you have any questions relating to the Collections side of those products (not that any of you ever would []), direct those here as well.

Ciao for now,
Steve

ps: Working for a bank, i get fee free accounts. I have never once used my cheque account for a cheque despite being charged nothing for the privelige.

“Knowledge is Power”

Hey YI,

If you don’t mind me asking what bank do you work for?

Matt

“If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always had.”

“Isn’t it time for a change?”