Do/could you live without a credit card? Is this a goal...?

[old tree man]

I have and never will use a credit card, i think its down to me being old fashioned and i don't trust banks at all, so its never been an issue.
Russ

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Credit cards don't seem to exist in France so we have bank cards which are debit cards. You can use them on the internet or abroad because they are recognised as 'credit cards' when overseas as they have mastercard or visa logos on them but they are debited direct from your account and there's no credit or bill that comes in. Sounds like that would be the answer to everyone's problems!
.

Banks are altogether different in France unless they have changed a lot since I lived there.
If you write a cheque that "bounces" they freeze your account for a month AFTER you put the account back in credit, if you do it again it's frozen for three months and so on, or that's how it was 10 years ago, it may be different now.
The consequence was you could absolutely trust a French cheque without resorting to guarantee cards and the like.

Banks are a little more liberal than they used to be - they'll phone you to discuss before bouncing a cheque out of hand, just in cash you've forgotten to make a deposit or whatever, and it is possible to have an overdraft facility (albeit very limited) these days.

But it remains a criminal offence here to knowingly write a cheque with insufficient funds being available to cover it and it is also unlawful to write a post-dated cheque.

[Cheezy]

I haven't read all the responce's so sorry if this repeats but heres my thoughts. The goal on credit cards is responcible use. To be in control of it and not the other way round. I got into that place where I couldn't pay off my months spending then it snow balls and thats when problems occur.

I finally managed to get back in control ,since then I have a new strategy, which I'll come to later but when it comes to self sufficent, thats a personal choice everyone is different.
I only now use my credit card for internet purchases, which means I'm covered. When it comes to issh, where would you be with out books on certain subjects, many of which are specialist and only available on the net. Also It saves money not travelling into town (unless you walk/cycle).

End of 2006 I was struggling with the bills and control of my cash and credit, so I went back to when i was a student , precredit card and pre switch. I find switch can be almost worse than the credit card as I loose track of it, cash back etc.

Now I have a small amount of money going direct from my wage into a saving account. When I have enough in the account to buy a major purchase I can either use cash or use my credit card, then pay it off with the money.
On a weekly basis I go down to the bank and withdraw my weeks money , when it's gone it's gone, if I have surplus try to reduce the next weeks withdrawal, rather than blowing it in the pub!.

Final thought on credit cards, if you are in the market for a large purchase, a holiday, or sofa, electrical, where you are forward purchasing some thing you are going to receive at a later date, i would in the current climate recommend buying on credit. Because if the company you are dealing with goes bust you will be insured and get your cash back. Otherwise you could loose everything.

[JulieSherris]

No credit cards for us...

My hubby had horrendous debts from cards when I first met him - he was holding on by the skin of his teeth.
We worked hard to pay the debts off, but during that time, he had bad skin problems (psoriasis)

Now we have just a mortgage & the bank debit cards - no other loans, he has perfect skin, (albeit a bit on the wrinkly side ) & if we can't afford something, well, we go without & make do.

Sometimes, it's just nice knowing that he sleeps at night now, without the nightmares of 11 years ago.

Julie.

[deborah]

Seven years ago I had never had a credit card and didn't want one. When applying for my first mortgage all those years ago the advisor told me to get a credit card as it would help my application.

I ran up quite large ( for me ) debts and the cards are now chopped up. It will take me perhaps 4 years to pay it all off. My credit rating is now terrible. But I am making repayments and at least I know they WILL be paid off in the future.

So... credit cards?........ I abso-bloody-goddamn-lutely never want another one !

[MuddyWitch]

Our old neighbours never had credit cards, HP or owt like that. Their moto was; "pay as you go, if you can't pay, don't go" They saved hard for everything they wanted. This included a house. They opted to take their "right to buy" on the council house thet'd rented for 16 years.

The house was valued, with their discount and they foundhad 60% of this amount saved up. The problem came when they applied for a mortgage. They had no credit rating so were refused by FOUR lenders.

They took out a credit card, bought their groceries on it for a year, ALWAYS clearing the balance each month, then reapplied. They were delighted to discover their savings now covered 65% of the house & lenders were falling over themselves to lend the tiny mortgage they needed.

They cut up the card and went back to their former "no money = no purchases" life-style.

I just wish I was half as self-controled! We do clear our balances most months & if we can't quite manage it one month, we cut back till it's all gone. I'd hate to be with-out my card completely though, because I loath carrying more than a couple of quid.

MW

[Millymollymandy]

Credit ratings are wierd things. Years ago we went to find out ours only to find that it was the HOUSE we lived in that had the rating rather than us. Of course tons of people who had previously lived in our (rented) house in a dodgy part of London had CC judgements against them. (Luckily we were only doing this out of interest having learnt that one could, not because we were after a mortgage!).

[oldfella]

Never had a credit card, but have a debit card for use in the garage for fuel;

[Shabba]

Tom Hodgkinson says in his book " How to be Free" (something of a Bible for me!) that credit was invented as a means of encouraging the working classes to spend as much as possible, whilst paying them as little as possible. I think this is true and I have never had a credit card. I know it would be too much of a temptation for me and I've seen the mess other people have got themselves into with them.

Infact my Dad's second marriage broke up when he discovered that his wife had forged his signature on several credit card applications, had taken out about 3 cards in his name and had run up several thousand pounds worth of debt. She then had the almighty nerve to leave him to deal with the debt, took the children and demand child support from him!

I think they can be good if you have the self-discipline to only use them for emergencies, or you pay them off every month. A lady I knew had some deal where she got £10 worth of M&S vouchers for every £100 she spent on her card. She was buying a new car, for which she had the cash, but she paid for it on her card then paid the balance off immediately and had £500 worth of M&S vouchers which covered her entire christmas expenditure! I think when they can be manipulated for your benefit in that way then thats great. Only its all to often that the only people that benefit are the credit card companies.

[Milims]

Somtimes the credit card companies can be a bit stupid! A friend of mine was offered a £40,000 credit limit interest free for a year so he took it as cash and stuck it into a high interest savings account the paid it back to the credit company 364 days later! They were furious and he made several thousand pounds!

[Uller]

I didn't have a credit card for years - mainly because I was scared of being seduced by the idea of 'free' money. My spending habits have changed in the last couple of years though, and I've had one for 2 years.

I like it for one main reason. Our salaries are paid into a higher interest savings account - this balance remains high for most of the month until we pay off the credit card bill. This means we are earning more interest on the higher balance. If we paid for everything with cash, the money would be in a normal current account and the balance would dwindle throughout the month, meaning far less interest. (This obviously made more of a difference when you could actually earn some interest on your savings - probably doesn't really matter now!).

It is also a charity card - as Rosendula said, the charity doesn't get a very high %, but as just about all our outgoings over the last 2 years have been on the card, it does build up.

I never use it to buy anything I don't have the money in the savings account for and have always paid the bill at the end of the month. It works really well for me, but mainly because I just see it as a different way of spending money I have, rather than a source of credit. I think that is the difference between credit cards being useful and disastrous.

[MikeM]

Just cos the weak willed can't resist the lure of cheap credit doesn't make them evil, they're just bits of plastic!!!

If you were suffering from various undiagnosed illnesses on top of severe depression, unable to work and trying to survive on next to no money you too would perhaps find yourself 'weak willed'.

Fair enough the cards themselves are just a bit of plastic. It's the companies behind them which prey on the 'weak willed' that are evil. And you cannot convince me that a company which sepcifically targets people with bad credit ratings and offers an APR of 39.9% are anything but the scum of the earth.

Sorry about this, i always try to avoid ranting on here but this is quite close to my heart as my mother in law is doing her best to run a charity for people who have suffered abuse and because of credit cards she is facing closure.

well, I use credit to run my finances (very successfully as well ) so I don't see the need to anthrapamorphsise (sp) about companies. They just do what they do, I take advantage of them to my betterment. I don't do anything special or clever, so anyone can do it.
Not sure what your MIL's got to do with me tho, not do I suffer from mental illness, so I suspect I wouoldn't find myself "weak willed" . Hope this clears up some things for you. But as you brought it up, could you tell me what percentage of people in trouble with credit cards all into your group?

[JulieSherris]

Mike, I don't think Looby meant that her MIL's problems were anything to do you....
I think she was trying to say that not ALL folks who get themselves into problems financially are necessarily 'weak-willed', as you put it.

I expect that you don't mean to, but many of your posts sound as if you are personally attacking other members, or at the very least 'putting them down'. I know that the ability of 'smiling from the wrists down' is not an easy task to achieve, but it sure makes places like this a lot more friendly when you try to do it.

It's nice that you have no problems handling credit cards & such - but different strokes for different folks, huh?

Julie.

[MikeM]

interesting Julie, very interesting.

[Shabba]

interesting Julie, very interesting.

This is the first time I've noticed anyone being genuinely unpleasant on this site and it's very disappointing. You are incredibly smug and patronising and since we're in the mood for insults your spelling and grammar are appalling!Suck on that, wiseguy