credit cards

Former Member

ive just got a credit card, silly i know, but still, being a bit of a newbie to the credit card thing i was just wondering ...

i know the best way to use them is to pay them off at the end of each month, avoiding interest BUT if i paid for something big like a holiday or something i'm not sure id be able to afford to pay it off the following month SO could i pay part of it off? or would the interest be really high?

Former Member

the only way to avoid interest using a credit card is to either - not spend money you dont have (which by the sounds of it you are )

OR

take advantage of a card that has x months 0% interest

Former Member

check your terms and conditions - some of them give you 60days interest free on everything ,most of them don't. you can pay a bit at a time, but its only advisable to do this on 0% cards

Former Member

When you get your statement - it will include a minimum payment you have to pay for that month - it varies depending on how much you have on your card. As long as you make the minimum payment you can pay off as little or as much as you want - BUT you will get charged interest on the remainder. Interest rates on credit cards are generally quite high - so the best thing to do each month is to a) not to try and spend more than you earn and b) pay off what you put on there in full.

Former Member

Credit cards are much like any other form of borrowing, you look at the charges you are likely to incure and decide whether or not you wish to pay it.

It might be that you want that holiday or whatever but cant pay all at once, but you can over say 4 months, then depending on the card you have to see how much it would cost you and whether that extra say £50 is worth it.

Former Member

Wyetry wrote:

As long as you make the minimum payment you can pay off as little or as much as you want

Yep.

Why not save up the cash before you buy the holiday rather than pay the interest charges?