Credit cards

Former Member

Ok atm i have a lloyds tsb american express card and its pants as i got it for emergencys really but i can't use it many places as hardly anyone accepts American express. Bit stupid really if i can't use it.
So can anyone recommend one that i can actually use should i need it?

Former Member

Mint, Egg, Capital One, Barclaycard....

Bascially anything with the VISA or MASTERCARD symbols.

Former Member

Do any of them have low interest rates if i did get something and got delayed paying? I don't really know what i am looking for when it comes to these. Plus i don't want any annual fees or anything. I just want a card that i can just pay off what i put on it, if i use it. Sorry i'm probably not making much sense

Former Member

egg card at the mo are offering 0% apr on balance transfers until 01/11/06 (with charge) and purchases a bit earlier.

i work their....wooo

oh and egg is fully servicable online as we are online bank

Former Member

I have a VISA credit card from my bank (HSBC). The rates vary depending on the account that they let you have.

Former Member

Don't go with your bank, unless they are doing a good deal. Look beyond the 0% headline offers, and see what the typical APR will be after the end of the offer.

HSBC are thieving cunts, who should all die a slow and horrid death. I sincerely hope the CEO gets brutally tortured to death, and have a bottle of champagne ready and waiting for when it does.

Egg are very good, so are Mint. CapitalOne and MBNA, on the other hand, are very expensive once the special deals run out. Banks are normally more expensive than cards which are only available through online applications, such as egg, and the credit cards smile offer.

If you don't have a huge balance to transfer look beyond the 0% offers and concentrate on the typical APR. 13% is good, 18% is not.

Former Member

Kermit wrote:

If you don't have a huge balance to transfer look beyond the 0% offers and concentrate on the typical APR. 13% is good, 18% is not.

I don't have any on it now.

Former Member

Kermit wrote:

Don't go with your bank, unless they are doing a good deal. Look beyond the 0% headline offers, and see what the typical APR will be after the end of the offer.

HSBC are thieving cunts, who should all die a slow and horrid death. I sincerely hope the CEO gets brutally tortured to death, and have a bottle of champagne ready and waiting for when it does.

Why do you say that? I've always found them to be pretty good.

Former Member

SKY actually have a credit card offer at the moment for 0% until 2007 on purchases or transfers. Look up the sky credit card on google. It does say that you need a good proven credit rating though, so it depends how your history is..

Former Member

Randomgirl wrote:

Why do you say that? I've always found them to be pretty good.

Because they have personally robbed me and the wife of about £1000, over the life of our account there.

Fucking thieves, helping themselves to money when they want and then refusing to refund charges even when they were wrong.

In the list of worst banks, HSBC (the C does stand for cunt btw) has somehow managed to overtake Barclays in the cuntishness stakes.

I wouldn't wish a HSBC bank account on my worst enemy.

As tweety does not have a balance to transfer, then many of the 0% offers are irrelevant. In which case she has one consideration- which card offers the lowest APR.

You can discount MBNA and CapitalOne straight away. And the banks.

Former Member

Kermit wrote:

Because they have personally robbed me and the wife of about £1000, over the life of our account there.

Fucking thieves, helping themselves to money when they want and then refusing to refund charges even when they were wrong.

In the list of worst banks, HSBC (the C does stand for cunt btw) has somehow managed to overtake Barclays in the cuntishness stakes.

I wouldn't wish a HSBC bank account on my worst enemy.

As tweety does not have a balance to transfer, then many of the 0% offers are irrelevant. In which case she has one consideration- which card offers the lowest APR.

You can discount MBNA and CapitalOne straight away. And the banks.

I have had a completely different experience with HSBC. When they have fined me a couple of times for things I've done wrong they have always refunded it when I complain about it. There are a few things that annoy me like the cash point charges on foreign branches of HSBC (the world's local bank my arse) but overall they are ok to me.

Barclay however were the biggest bunch of cunts ever when I had an account there. The spelt my name wrong on everything despite me complaining about 4 times about this (and my name is a very easy name to spell) and the took money from me (got it all back in the end though as they admitted they weren't authorised to steal from their own customers) and generally drove me mad.

Former Member

I think Barclays are alright, not that I like them enough to still bank with them or anything.

Avoid CapitalOne if at all possible; they're evil incarnate.

Former Member

Don't go with Coop Bank. Fucking ethical my backside. Funnily enough, smile are far better.

Egg are alright unless you miss a payment then they hound you 5 times a day.

HSBC is the best credit card I've got - the APR isn't amazing but they treat me well as a customer.

I agree with Kermit in general about not going with high street banks. Online companies like Egg etc tend to offer better rates.

Former Member

Babyshambler wrote:

Don't go with Coop Bank. Fucking ethical my backside. Funnily enough, smile are far better.

Smile are Coop, aren't they? Or a bit of them.

Nationwide are good, because they aren't a bank.

Former Member

To be honest I'd ignore everyone's personal opinions of each different bank because everyone is bound to have been treated differently by each one.

I'd just look for the best 0% offer on purchases for the longest time, then shift to another card once it's over. Some places are introducing transfer fees for balances, but it's normally still less than you would pay in interest over the period if the interest free offer is for long enough.

Former Member

Crocidolite wrote:

Smile are Coop, aren't they? Or a bit of them.

smile are a part of Coop Bank. But they treat their smile customers far better.

I know, I used to work for Coop Bank.

Former Member

Kermit wrote:

Don't go with your bank, unless they are doing a good deal. Look beyond the 0% headline offers, and see what the typical APR will be after the end of the offer..

You assume everyone doesn't pay their balance in full each month? :chin:

Doesn't matter one jot if the APR is 99% if you pay it in full each month

I alway pay in full so APR means nothing to me .. so I went for a card with cashback.

Former Member

See i don't plan on using it much and when i do, paying it off without interest HOWEVER i would like to know that if one month something happened and i couldnt pay it all off that it wasnt a stupid APR

Former Member

I went for Egg in the end. Applied online and have been accepted, its on its way

Former Member

JustWondering wrote:

You assume everyone doesn't pay their balance in full each month? :chin:

Doesn't matter one jot if the APR is 99% if you pay it in full each month

I alway pay in full so APR means nothing to me .. so I went for a card with cashback.

but you need to remember that generally people have credit cards because they're a bit short of money. therefore can often only afford to pay back the minimum repayments each month.

Former Member

lucifer devil wrote:

but you need to remember that generally people have credit cards because they're a bit short of money. therefore can often only afford to pay back the minimum repayments each month.

It depends... mine you get at least a month from purchasing the item to having to pay it off in which time I have usually been paid or whatever.

If you need to borrow money longer term there are far better ways of doing so than on credit cards.

Former Member

Randomgirl wrote:

It depends... mine you get at least a month from purchasing the item to having to pay it off in which time I have usually been paid or whatever.

If you need to borrow money longer term there are far better ways of doing so than on credit cards.

i know, i don't have any.

i opted for 3 store cards instead!

and i tend to only pay the minimum amount back so it's taking ages to pay them off.

Former Member

lucifer devil wrote:

i know, i don't have any.

i opted for 3 store cards instead!

and i tend to only pay the minimum amount back so it's taking ages to pay them off.

Store cards are up to four times as bad as credit cards in terms of interest.

Former Member

Mist wrote:

Store cards are up to four times as bad as credit cards in terms of interest.

i know, never said they weren't.

Former Member

Credit cards are evil, store cards are worse. And that's all I've got to say.

Former Member

lucifer devil wrote:

but you need to remember that generally people have credit cards because they're a bit short of money. therefore can often only afford to pay back the minimum repayments each month.

Different nations have different attitudes to credit and spending money they don't have.

In the UK many millions of people think it's perfectly fine to spend more money then they earn and consume now and pay later

Whilst in other countries people will go without the luxuries and live within what they can afford.

In countries like France over drafts are either very small or non existent

In Germany they save a greater percentage of their earnings then in the UK

Former Member

The Japanese are the best savers by far, I think the americans off course are the biggest for live for today and to hell with tommorrow

Former Member

Trouble with credit cards

must admit I got into quite a bit of bother with credit cards, took me ages to sort things out with my bank etc. if anyones interested this site was really helpful with advice