To ask for help/advice from financially savvy online shopping MNers?

[Graphista]

My current bank card is due to expire soon. I have received a new bank card.

The difficulty is I am housebound and dependent on online deliveries and other services which I pay for by card.

I have spoken with the bank but I'm still feeling confused and anxious.

My main concerns are that I absolutely cannot risk not receiving a delivery/it being cancelled because the card I've used for that delivery hasn't worked.

I have some deliveries currently placed with 3 supermarkets over next few weeks because it's so difficult getting slots at the moment I'm checking with all the supermarkets that deliver to my address and grabbing slots when I can and checking out obviously to reserve the slots.

I don't understand how/when to begin using new card.

Bank says from when I use new card, old card still valid for 30 days but to be honest even they didn't sound 100% confident on that.

I have a credit card for emergencies which I have a very small amount of debt on from a large purchase a while back that I have been paying off.

I have been debating for some time whether to use that for grocery/online orders anyway, the plan being to pay off in full each month and this may help improve my credit history anyway. And maybe means I can negate the issues with the new card.

But I must be honest I'm not totally sure how the credit card works and if this would incur interest charges even if I pay off each month.

I find this kind of thing incredibly confusing and stressful.

I'm good at managing a budget I just don't understand the finer details of finance things.

If you could please explain in very simple idiot terms for me that'd be great

OK, the first thing you need to do is find the answer to this:

I'm not totally sure how the credit card works and if this would incur interest charges even if I pay off each month

Usually, you get around 50 days before interest is charged on a new purchase. So if you paid it off each month (or even after every time it was used), no interest would be incurred.

Your provider will have the exact details though so do check.

When you get a new card before you can use it contactless in a shop you have to activate it, I do that by using an ATM or in a shop, and entering the PIN in the number pad.

AFAIK you can use it online straight away, since its not a contactless transaction and you aren't withdrawing cash.

You can use a new card as soon as you get it, you don't have to wait at all. The old one is usually valid until it expires. So you can use either, but I'd use the new one as soon as you get it, and from then on go on and change the card details on any online shops you use. But don't worry about previous/currrnt orders. IME if the card is expired it rejects it at checkout, not when they send the delivery.

In my experience the new bank card should work straight away - at which point the old one won't - but if you don't use the new one yet the old one won't stop working until the end of the month in which it expires.

I would be very wary of using your debit card (where the money comes straight out of bank account) for online purchases. Much better to get to grips with your credit card. I use credit card for all online purchases.

You will get a statement every month with an amount owing and a due date. As long as you pay all of that amount by the due date you won't accrue interest. Doing this each month will help your credit rating.

BUT If you already owe money on a credit card and only pay it off gradually, presumably there is interest added on that - or is it 0%?

Sorry if that's a bit too much at once!

You might get some free purchase protection with your credit card if you buy online, possibly only on items over a certain amount - £100 or £200.

The date you have to pay it by is on the statement. As long as you clear the debt by the payment date, there's no interest added.
You can also arrange to pay by direct debit.

Has this been any help?

Thank you all so much.

I'm not even sure which credit card I have with the company I'm with and struggling to get info. Can't get anyone to speak to by calling their number and can't find info online. Frustrating.

It's a MasterCard based one that's all I know.

And actually looking at it, that's due to expire soon too so I'm not sure now if that's the way to go with all this.

IME if the card is expired it rejects it at checkout

The problem is when I ordered these deliveries I hadn't yet received the new bank card, things have changed since I checked them out that's what worries me.

There is interest on the credit card but I don't know how much (I'm rubbish at maths and I've lost the initial paperwork)

I've tried logging into my account details on the credit card website but it shows only the basic elements of the monthly statement, credit limit, how much I owe and the amount charged as interest. Doesn't say which of their cards it is or the % rate of interest.

Payment for online shopping is taken on the day of delivery. If there is a problem they would get in touch.

If you don’t want to change the card now then wait until the last order you have done with the old card is delivered before using the new one.

If you want to book another slot before your last old bank card delivery use your credit card.

Do you have your credit card statement that often has interest payment details in the blurb on the back.

You can go to the website of your credit card provider and look at the terms and conditions. This is for Barclaycard as an example
It tells you very clearly that no interest will be charged if you pay off the balance at the end of the month.

If you are accruing interest on the credit card debt you have, DON'T start adding to the balance (and therefore interest) by using it buy more, assuming you have funds in the bank.

I only know how Sainsbury's works, but with them you can amend your order (and therefore payment type) anytime up to 11pm the day before delivery. If your current card runs out at the end of April (e.g expiry date is 04/20), don't worry about any April deliveries. You can then amend any May orders and update the payment details.

You current card will continue to be valid until the expiry date..so any orders being processed will be fine.

When you come to place the next order and go through checkout then you can update the expiry and cvv (3 digits on back) of your card. If the month has passed and you have your card pre loaded then it should prompt you to update anyway.

As someone said you only need to formally activate if you want to use contact less which is irrelevant for your current situation.

Regarding the credit card. Mastercard is the card type. The bank you are using will be on the card. E.g barclaycard, HSBC, Tesco, halifax. The branding will be printed on the card.

Generally the majority of credit cards if you pay within 30 days of accruing the debt then there is no interest. However if you already have debt on the card that isnt interest free you will continue to accrue interest even if you pay off the amount you spent on shopping.

The difference is if you have interest free debt any payments made will be allocated to outstanding debt which is accruing interest before its allocated to the interest free debt.

If you get statements it will normally give you the balance and how much interest its accruing in percentage and value.

If it says 0.00% then it's not accruing any interest.

The large banks do protect customers from fraud when it comes to debit card purchases. So there is no harm in continuing to use this method but a normal procedure would be to check your account regularly to make sure you recognise all transactions. Anything you are sure you didn't do you should speak to the bank. But to reassure you banks are very good are tracing obvious fraud. For example a large payment made overseas or several small transactions in a short space would be flagged and the bank would contact you to verify If you have made them.

Ok I've managed to find out the credit card has a 57 day deadline on paying off new charges without interest, weird time period and I think to keep myself straight I'm better paying off either immediately or monthly when I'd normally be paying off the debt anyway.

The debit card supermarket delivery issue where I'm confused/worried is the situation whereby at some point I'm likely to have a delivery booked where it was checked out using the old card but at the same time a delivery for a later date booked where I need to checkout using the new card so 2 pending deliveries with different cards applied - am I explaining that right?

If it weren't for the current crisis I would normally only get 1 delivery a week with 1 supermarket as a regular order.

Due to the difficulties getting slots and getting particular items I'm grabbing slots when they're available which is pretty unpredictable and that's meaning some weeks I'm getting 2 deliveries and others none.

It's all giving me a headache!

As I suggested above I think the most straightforward option is to use your credit card for the next couple of deliveries until the last pending delivery on your old card is done. Then switch to your new card.
So something like this
This week - old card delivery & new slot CC
Next week - old card delivery & new slot CC
Week 3 - last old card delivery & new slot CC
Week 4 - CC delivery & new slot new card
Week 5 - CC delivery & new slot new card
Week 6 - CC delivery & new slot new card
Week 7 - new card delivery & new slot new card

I don't think using 2 cards will be a problem as long as the card you use is valid at the time of the transaction - I've done that myself when I forgot I had the old card saved as the default payment method.

Honestly i think you are over thinking this.

Cards usually have a month overlap.

So if your current card is due to expire in 05/20 then you should get your new card within the next few weeks if you havent got it already. I would suggest that for any transactions going forward you use the new card.

any transactions pending on your current card will go through.

If your card expiry is 04/20 then start using your new card now for any transactions going forward.

If you have an order already checked out for a delivery after the expiry date then you may need to contact the supermarket to verify if it will go through and ask them to update the card if needed

If Asda is one of your Grocery deliveries, you can change the card payment details without amending the order, because I did that with mine a couple of days ago.

If I were you, assuming we're talking supermarket shopping, I'd log into my account and review each order and add/remove anything you need, then check out again, at which point you should have the option to confirm or update the card details. Change them all to the new one as it's valid straightaway, then you won't have the worry of "what if".

Asda will currently only let you amend two days before, but you can change the card details separately.

OP, can you tell us which supermarkets, so we can help more?

The supermarkets are Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s:

Very nervous about this changeover.

Graphista

Please don’t get worried. Your old card won’t suddenly stop working. Let those deliveries stand. Do a couple of deliveries on your CC until the old deliveries are delivered then move to your new card.

You can write yourself a timeline so you know when to switch over.

Ok, have taken the plunge and ordered a Tesco delivery using new card. It’s not for a few weeks so if there’s any problems hopefully it’ll flag in plenty of time

I’ve a couple ASDA deliveries booked under old card so hoping they still work.

So worrying and confusing to me.

Credit card I need to call them and see what happens with the new one of that too, when I can expect it etc.

I’m debating once I get new credit card maybe (depending on how things are with this current situation) if it might be a good idea to pay off the balance (I could at a push there’s not much left to pay off but I’ve been delaying in order to ensure I have definite money available for the increased costs at this time) and then use it for grocery shopping going forward - but paying off in full each month (I now know I have 57 days actually on this card but I think it would be a good habit and it’s what Martin Lewis advises) and building up my credit rating?

Credit currently lower end of “good” according to mse/experian at the moment which I think is good considering I’m on a low income.

But it would be nice to get it as good as possible.

Thoughts?