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Original poster

To ask how much you owe on credit cards ?

569 replies

anxiousmotherof1 · 26/10/2018 15:49

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 ?

OP posts:
StartingGrid · 28/10/2018 22:03

@Relichunter a Barclaycard which every month without fail has BT and money transfer offers, current fee 1.9%. A Virgin card with 40 months 0% spending (got this to pay for a very expensive car repair). Also have MBNA card which always has BT and money transfer offers but thats probably because I haven't used it in years - should close it really.

reetgood · 28/10/2018 22:05

Around £700, gets paid off in full every month. I use for budgeted spending to get cashback. Not actual debt.

sophisticatedsarcasm · 28/10/2018 22:11

297.00

Jamieson90 · 28/10/2018 23:39

£0 and I have never had any credit card debt or even had a credit card. I only buy what I can pay for.

The reality is that if you just save up what you want, then by the time you save up you will be able to get what you want and then use the money you would have had to pay in interest on other things you want.

snapnfarter · 29/10/2018 00:43

After years and years of having numerous credit cards and balances totalling over 60k, I'm now freeeeeee!
Never. Again.

Ever.

BarbaraofSevillle · 29/10/2018 02:39

same here catx we had to pay off my Dads cards from his estate, cc debt dies not die with you

But the point is that if someone dies with debts but no money or other assets, then the debt does die with you. Surviving relatives do not have to pay outstanding debts out of their own money.

Die with debt and money in the bank, yes the debt is paid from the estate. I presume that if a person has no money but property, then the creditors will want money to be released to settle the debt but I don't know how that would work if a surviving spouse couldn't afford to remortgage for example.

BarbaraofSevillle · 29/10/2018 02:43

Jamie But the reality also is that most people with credit cards can afford the items they buy, and don't pay any interest.

Something like 60% of credit card accounts are paid off in full every month and are simply used as a payment tool that has numerous benefits not linked to being in debt or spending money people don't have.

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 29/10/2018 07:03

Nothing

But I do have an overdraft I dip into , most months !

Dungeondragon15 · 29/10/2018 09:16

Something like 60% of credit card accounts are paid off in full every month and are simply used as a payment tool that has numerous benefits not linked to being in debt or spending money people don't have.

Exactly. It's quite laughable that some people seem so proud of themselves for not ever using a credit card. To me it is a sign of not being able to manage money that well rather than the opposite.

ClaireAngelaReid · 29/10/2018 09:18

Nothing and I sleep better at night as a result. Mortgage aside I have no debt.
See if you can find the barefoot investor online and have a read. Sorted me out.

ShatnersWig · 29/10/2018 09:20

Another one with zero. In fact, don't even have a credit card, never have. Got to 44 with just a debit card and that's worked fine for me. Had a store card once, always paid it off. Hasn't been an issue with credit ratings, got a mortgage, only time I had a car on finance was 20 years ago, again, no issue.

Dungeondragon15 · 29/10/2018 09:24

A specific debt doesn't die with you but overall debt does. A significant proportion of people do not own a house. Even if they have some savings unless it is over a few thousand it may be used to pay for the funeral etc (funeral comes first unless things have changed) so the credit card debt does not get paid off.

ShatnersWig · 29/10/2018 09:26

It's quite laughable that some people seem so proud of themselves for not ever using a credit card. To me it is a sign of not being able to manage money that well rather than the opposite.

Why @dungeon? Maybe in my case it comes from the fact that we were ridiculously poor growing up - my parents could only just afford to have me (didn't have a phone in our house until I was 10, in 1984). It meant if we couldn't afford it, we didn't have it, and that was fine. But I manage my money perfectly fine, thank you. Most of my friends in their 30s and 40s still rent. I own my flat (small mortgage). I have £17k of savings; most of them have little savings. Yet I earn only £20k per year and most of them earn more.

Dungeondragon15 · 29/10/2018 09:36

Why @dungeon?

Because you are forgoing cashback and insurance by not having one. If you were really good at managing money you wouldn't be worried that a credit card would get you into debt and you would have one for the benefits.

Maybe in my case it comes from the fact that we were ridiculously poor growing up - my parents could only just afford to have me (didn't have a phone in our house until I was 10, in 1984).

Perhaps it is because I am older than you but not having a phone in the house doesn't seem to me to be a sign of "ridiculous poverty". I knew plenty of people without phones growing up (including myself) bathrooms, inside toilets etc. Anyway, DH was ridiculously poor and he doesn't seem to have a problem using a credit card.

It meant if we couldn't afford it, we didn't have it, and that was fine. But I manage my money perfectly fine, thank you.

I don't buy things I can't afford either. I do use a credit card though and pay it off every month because as another poster has said, there are benefits with insurance. I also get a get quite a lot of cash back i.e. I make money from using it.

ClaireAngelaReid · 29/10/2018 09:38

The credit card insurance is a joke, that was what instigated my closing all accounts, they didn’t pay out anyway

Xenia · 29/10/2018 09:38

I have 3 credit cards I currently don't choose to use. I do realise I could get points if I used them but that's not really worth for me the psychological effects of having money on the card. I prefer just to use cash or the debit card to pay for stuff. That works for me and I suppose I'm well off enough that a few hundred pounds a year I might "make" with some of the perks and deals on cards are not worth the downsides. I did let one of my children put an expensive holiday I bought for 9 of us last year be put on their card so i did not "waste" the air miles the adult child would have got so I do know the plus points (I then paid them the money a few minutes later).

Just do what feels right for you but some people do put far too much on a card, get sucked into debt and find it hard to pay off and is like a millstone round their neck.

Dungeondragon15 · 29/10/2018 09:40

The credit card insurance is a joke, that was what instigated my closing all accounts, they didn’t pay out anyway

They have paid out for me in the past e.g. when an airline went bust recently I got the cost of my flights back because I had paid for them with a credit card.

overagain · 29/10/2018 09:42

ClaireAngelaReid what insurance are you talking about? If it's the legal protection on goods over £100 then legally they have to pay (services they don't). If PPI or similar then that isn't the protection we're talking about.

tiggerkid · 29/10/2018 09:45

Don't owe anything. Use one credit card only for loyalty points and clear balance on it monthly.

BarbaraofSevillle · 29/10/2018 09:48

The credit card insurance is 'Section 75' of the consumer credit act that makes the credit card provider jointly liable with the supplier for provision of goods and services if the total cost is between £100 and £30k and any part of the cost was paid on credit card.

If you have a kitchen fitted or similar work on your house and the company goes bust halfway through the job or makes a mess of it and doesn't make good, the credit card company will pay.

If your airline goes bust, the credit card company will pay for replacement flights and consequential losses (eg flights at short notice costing more than those booked well in advance). This happened to us when Monarch went bust.

Full details on how to go through the process on the consumer rights section of Moneysavingexpert.

ShatnersWig · 29/10/2018 09:48

@Dungeon The insurance thing doesn't always work as others have already said. Also, the cash back thing. Most cards give a real pittance so unless you are spending a LOT on your card, the amount you get back is really negligible. To get one that gives decent cash back, you have to pay a monthly fee (such as Amex, which a lot of places won't accept) which negates what you earn on cash back.

I used to work in financial services btw, and know all about cards.

Oh, "ridiculously poor" is obviously in comparison at the time. We didn't know anyone else without a phone and I never had any new clothes bar school uniform once I went to secondary school. Everything was jumble sales (whatever happened to those?).

survivalmode · 29/10/2018 09:49

£800. Paying it off slowly. Haven't spent anything on it for a couple of years.

BatsAreCool · 29/10/2018 09:50

Insurance paid out for me as well when I put a gym membership on it and they went bust. There are minimum and max limits on things before insurance kicks in. I think some PP linked to the regulations earlier in the thread.

thegreylady · 29/10/2018 09:51

Nothing at the moment but it has been up to £2000 in the past.

BatsAreCool · 29/10/2018 09:51

Cross posted with BarbaraofSevillle

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