No wonder the UK has such debt........

Well, since obviously 50p per day is not the same as £5 per month, how does this actually work in practice? Is it 50p per day capped at £5 each month? I presume the facility is not intended to support long-term debt, and would be withdrawn if over-exploited.

If the 50p per day charge really applies when "any of it is in use", then this is most definitely *not* better than a credit card interest rate when the amount by which you overdraw is small.

Typically one might overdraw by only a small amount, for only a short time. Say it's £100 for a week. Then the charge at 50p/day would correspond to an uncompounded interest rate of 183% per year.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun
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I never seem to have much luck with these things.

I remember signing up to a blue Amex card (at motorway services!) because they had 2% cashback or something for the first two months. Trouble is, it took nearly two months to get the card! In the end I never used it.

More recently, Barclaycard also had a cashback for selected periods. So I bought loads of things, but when the statement came, no cashback! It was only added on the following statement, according to some conversations I had with certain gentlemen in India.

And although I was very, very careful about paying the statements, one month it must have got forgotten, and got charged £20. Equivalent to wiping out £2000' worth of cashbacks!

(And when I then tried to cancel the card, because there was some 70p credit owed to me, they still kept sending me statements each month. Was this thing cancelled or not? It was never clear.)

I like to use cash now. For example, I happen to know that at my next destination, the local banks will change sterling within +/- 1% of the spot rate (while my local travel agent in the UK was using +/- 25%, ie. 50% difference between buying and selling rates).

Reply to
BartC

You do know that you subsidise the CC industry even if you pay cash? All traders that accept bank cards have to pay a fee to the banks. That gets loaded onto the prices they charge.

I use a credit card but only for large cost purchases. Then pay it in full each month so it costs me no more than using cash plus if the purchase is over £100 I have a claim against the CC company if anything goes titsup

Reply to
alang

Cards in general (both debit and credit) have a huge advantage over cash in any situation where you don't fully trust the seller, as they give you the ability to do a chargeback if the seller fails to meet their legal obligations. That's a heck of a lot easier than trying to get your cash back from a dodgy retailer. For items costing over £100, credit cards are better than debit cards as the law makes the card company jointly liable for the performance of the contract. That can be worth it even if you end up paying interest on your credit card purchases.

Mark

Reply to
Mark Goodge

I dont think anyone has raised the best point yet, the cc takes over liability for the goods. Twice we have claimed when companies go under. Carpet co. and scottish power.

Reply to
joe

If Scottish Power has gone under, it's the first I've heard of it.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

If they 'hated' you they wouldn't give you a card. I read somewhere around

60% of UK credit cards earn no interest.
Reply to
nospam

"BartC" wrote

How do you know it's over 30%pa? It could be as low as 16.9%...

"BartC" wrote

Reply to
Tim

Many just use it as a convenient payment method. Especially abroad. Or on-line. Or to rent a car (where some security is needed).

In that case it can work well, and some even get 'cashback' or other benefits. But it is easy to get caught out with extra charges, so I tend to use debit cards.

Reply to
BartC

As I understand it, the scam works like this: the credit card company charges the store, say, 2% of the purchase price. Then they split the proceeds with you 50:50. So they make money, and you make money and so are encouraged to use the card everywhere.

With cash purchases or debit card transactions, the costs are less than 2% per transaction, but it's illegal to discriminate against credit cards (as I remember the rule), by offering discounts for cash for example. So these people are subsidising your bonuses by making it viable to pay that 2%.

Then there are the people who have to pay inflated interest on credit cards, because they can't pay off the statement, and those who aren't as disciplined as you (or forget it's a double bank holiday weekend and payment will be late), and get stung for unexpected charges so many times a year. They also are contributing to your 1% that the credit card company would otherwise be less willing to dish out.

Reply to
BartC

Which did you choose?

Reply to
Ophelia

I must admit I looked at that twice:)

Reply to
Ophelia

Did you test that power supply?

Reply to
alang

Yes - the socket has come away inside. My daughter needs one for her studies, so she is getting it repaired - I haven't got time to fart about!

Reply to
Maria

I went for a basic Asus model in the end. They are supposed to be the most reliable, so we'll see!

Reply to
Maria

Good luck:)

Reply to
Ophelia

No time to fart???? Dear me...

Reply to
Ophelia

Was it not? when they gave out the extra breakdown insurance which gave you the money back if you did not claim under it, after 5 years. I have checked Google, but cannot find it. It was about 5 years ago, and we claimed from credit card. I am curious now, and will look further. Sorry for the wrong info.

Reply to
joe

He's not lending he's borrowing!

Reply to
mechanic

Not quite.

It might be better (when expressed as a theoretical interest rate) than the interest you pay on unpaid debt on a credit card past the bill's due date (typically 30% ps, AIUI), but it isn't better than the 0% interest which is what you pay on a credit or charge card *if* you pay the bill in full every month.

I have a similar OD arranegement to yours, but never use it. Well hardly ever, and only ever by accident if some bank transfers are delayed towards the end of the month.

Discounting those mishaps (which usually cost less than £1 when they occur), I never pay any bank anything for anything, and I get £90 - £100 back from Amex every summer.

Kev (Ret.) has given much the same advice, and he is right.

Reply to
JNugent

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