To ask how much you owe on credit cards ?

[anxiousmotherof1]

Getting to the end of maternity leave and i just realized i owe quite a bit on credit cards ! Dont think is that much but my husband is of the opposite opinion !
So how much you currently owe ?

Nothing - never have.

We do have a credit card which we use for larger purchases for protection. However, the balance is always paid off by direct debit every month.

Can you pay more than the minimum payment each month? That way it will go down more quickly.

I took out £800 0% on a credit card last year to pay for Christmas. I thought I'd have paid it off by now but still got £300 to go and Christmas is looming again! Think I'll have a paired back Christmas this year as it could turn into a cycle of debt and I don't earn much.

Abour £6.5k. Frustrating as it was only £1k earlier in the year when my divorce settlement came through but setting up a new home from scratch for me and DD has proved more expensive than anticipated (so many small costs that add up), and tbh we've had a few treats as well after a really difficult couple of years - not the ideal way to do it, but to some extent I agree with Mozzchops that life's too short.

Having said that, I'm not comfortable with the stage I'm at with debt at the moment, so, notwithstanding one non-negotiable expense that will have to go on the credit card next week, they are going away and we're having six months of belt tightening.

Zero - as I pay it off every month, I set that up as soon as I got the card.

I'm slightly budget obsessed and have a credit card 'pot' on my spreadsheet as soon as I spend on the credit card I transfer the money into the 'pot'. So I always have the money to pay the bill and don't spend what I haven't got, although the one month until I get the bill sometimes gives me some wiggle room.

I used to have a M&S card for the points but they slashed them, I now have an Amazon one so far I've had about £40 in vouchers for money I'd have spent anyway.

Interesting thread.

I have one with 5K on it though do have some savings that I could pay it off with now if I needed to. It is 0% and always has been, and accumulated a few years ago when I split with my ex and literally left with a carrier bag. I’m ok with it as it was more than this and I am slowly paying if off plus have never paid interest on it. Coupled with this, apart from my mortgage which I am also whittling down nicely, I have no other debt.

It is interesting as a friend of mine was saying recently that she does use credit cards. Nevertheless, she has a car loan and another loan for home improvements. Her actual debt was twice what mine is yet to her, it was fine because it was t on a credit card.

Rather ironically my credit card debt also helped me to secure a fab deal when I changed my mortgage a few months ago. It helped that I had a proven credit history without any default on payments.

Correction...friend says she does NOT use ccs!

1500 again a mat leave thing. But it's a 0% for 26m. So will be long clear by then.

£7,000ish across 2 credit cards. This is due to starting mat leave at a time when husband started new job which meant a salary drop whilst training

£897 which is 0% card and I'm paying at least £100 a month . but I've accidentally bumped a car and rather then go through insurance I've paid and that's £600 so that's on my cr card too

Between us as a couple, we have around £5000 on credit cards (I think our credit limit is around £20,000 which I find shocking). We currently pay around £200 off a month interest free, but we're hoping to clear the debt when we sell a house we own. We hate the debt too be honest.

So whilst I was shopping for a low interest CC I read the small print on about 10-15 of the best 0% interest offer cards (M&S, HSBC...and other equally big names I was considering)

They offered between 6 - 18 months at 0% interest but EVERY SINGLE ONE that I read had a clause saying that it only applied to purchases made within the first 50-60 days.

I’m doing a degree in finance but I’m no expect...yet. But basically that means if you buy a £5000 car a week after getting your card that will remain interest free for the full offer period. However if you’re reguarly using your card to shop...etc you will be charged interest as normal oh ANYTHING purchased over 50-60 days after you got your card!

Either I’ve totally misunderstood or there are ALOT of people being charged interest who genuinely believe they’re on 0% interest

*expert

Not sure how class came into the discussion
I am not british so dont really undestand this whole "middle class" obsession.
I agree with my husband it was unessesary to spend this much . Shopping just makes me feel better which i know is ridiculous!
I spend last night making a spreadsheet and i do thing i will be able to pay it off in a year

The highest ever about £120,000

In August £30,000, last month £54,000

Yesterday £11,000

By Friday of this week £0.

It all depends how you use the cards doesn’t it.

@MeteorMedow thats a very common thing . Most people use 0% to balance transfer from another card and then dont use the card again just paying it off . At least thats what i did !

£4500 - bought a car. Paying off £250 a month . Interest is 2%

Also zero. We don't buy things we can't afford to pay for.
We prefer to save up before we buy rather than buy and pay later.

£16
Always clear the balance monthly and never buy anything I can't afford.

@swizzels what do you do?!

B/w 0 and £1,000. I spend on it all month (food shopping, clothes, kids activities, petrol etc) and pay it off on payday.

@anxious

I think lack of financial education, especially amongst those who are more likely to struggle, is to blame for a lot of financial hardship. It allows big companies to take advantage.

I explained the 50-60 day thing to a friend of mine who was adamant the card she had was 0% interest and had paid for an holiday on it. Turns out she was paying interest (18.9% annual) on it and had been for months - she was mortified and had no idea.

But equally it’s not down to big companies to ‘idiot proof’ everything! I’m a mid 20’s undergrad Student and understood the terms when I read them. So they’re obviously not too hard - you just have to bother to read them.

About £65. Just paid off my 0% interest one that had over 2k on it. I was at one time In a bit of a mess financially with credit cards and overdraft. I try very hard to be more sensible now. Am not always successful 

@MeteorMedow well thats her fault :) its not lack of knowledge that let me to the debt more lack of self control

£1200, I have just purchased flights and concert tickets though. I’ll pay it off over the next two months.

I got into massive debt with CC when I was 18, banks threw them at me and I thought it was free money. Never again.

£3700 but working on it.