More like to cover their escalating lifestyle costs Also, I see what you're saying fishball, but I suppose the amounts would have to be in the hundreds to at least make some profit. Smaller amounts would be countered by surcharges and annual fees. Higher amounts would make one think why they are even spending that much in the first place (i.e. might be better to cut expenses than to seek profits on interest).
There are no surcharges or annual fees if you're a prudent credit card user Plenty of cards have no annual fees, just need to shop around. They may not always have rewards but a fee-free card is the best card, anything else is just a bonus. Examples include: Multiple banks' Low Fee Credit Cards Bankwest's Platinum $0 CC 28 degrees Mastercard Ascent Gold AMEX BMW Gold AMEX HSBC's credit cards
I'm getting a credit card from my bank shortly. I'll be in debt every month on it, until the end of the month - then the slate will be wiped clean. Credit cards are amazingly useful tools, just take responsibility for yourself and there's nothing to worry about.
Did you & the bank sign a contract? Or did you just sign a piece of paper? If not 2 signatures on a piece of paper then NULL & VIOD. A contract is between 2 entities. One signature makes in a false document. Power to the people.
Like many things, credit cards can be good or bad depending on how you use them. I never pay any fees or interest and always pay the balance off every month - I use them to my advantage.
I think annual fees are the simplest to get out off (usually it's a minimum spend per year). But I don't see how you'd avoid surcharges on all services unless you happen to not use any services which charge a surcharge. @_@ *would be pretty lucky* I'd say that the situation is best for those who can pay for their services with a credit card at no extra cost, and _also_ happen to have enough surcharge-free services to cover the minimum spend. Pretty specific I'd say :/ e.g. 1. Say one service I pay for costs $400 a month. If by paying via CC there's a 1.5% surcharge, then the total surcharge is $6 Let's say I put that $400 in UBank for a month instead, I'd be generating ~$2.17 interest However, the $6 surcharge already put me in the red, and the $2.17 interest only reduces my loss to a total of $3.83. Even if somehow I were able to double the interest income (perhaps by delaying payment until the last moment), there's no way I could reach $6 or surpass it. e.g. 2 Suppose I am able to pay my phone bill using a CC at no surcharge. If my bill is $30 a month, then I'd be paying a total of $360 a year, which is less than the minimum spend for most CCs. Therefore, I'd be charged the annual rate of (let's say) $26. $30 could generate ~16c interest in a month. Without compounding, the total per year of interest paid is ~1.95. The annual fee put me in the red by $26. $1.95 would not cover it at all. So unless you're in the "sweet spot" where most of your services are surcharge-free AND add up to the minimum spend, you'll be in the red.... So there
This question is what my friend asks as well. I never get surcharged :|. What the hell do you people do to get surcharged lol. You always have a few cards on hand to make sure you can use one which won't get you a surcharge! And if cards aren't any good you pay cash, change to elsewhere or avoid the thing all together. Better than nothing. Also a few of the cards I listed have no minimum spending, no annual fee, no transaction fees etc. Take your pick. Untrue. I have multiple cards which are all annual fee free with 55 days interest free and some have rewards. Some cards off the top of my head which are 100% free regardless of spending: BMW Gold AMEX Ascent Gold AMEX All HSBC credit cards 28 degrees credit card Bankwest Platinum $0 card and probably others I've left off. Take a look around, do your research, you too can win by betting against the banks.
There are always deals coming up where banks waive annual fees for a year or more. There are no surcharges on groceries, petrol and most general purchases. Anything with a surcharge is paid via bpay or something else - unless there are other circumstances like getting free travel insurance or whatever. Also, no surcharges on paypal purchases, or some dealers with an online presence like roxburys or prospect stamps and coins.
Bill payments :| That's all. I don't think changing to another provider just to suit ones CC plan makes sense. e.g. I wouldn't change my ISP since I chose them for technical factors Having a few truly no annual fee cards would be fine I suppose. Can't lose there. It woulda cost less to pay cash in those examples It's sorta what I was getting at. That would solve the minimum spend issue, which was the easiest to solve. I'm sure it can work, but I wouldn't suggest anyone to start spending more, change providers or take up new services _just_ to avoid CC surcharges and make the CC plan work. Groceries are essential, so that's a good example of where the plan can work with no money down (as long as the store doesn't charge a surcharge). If someone is gonna spend on some discretionary consumer item from an online shop anyway, then at least they can get some interest back from it - fair enough. Personally I'd rather not spend the money in the first place. At least in my situation, groceries are pretty much the only thing I can "delay payment" on and make a profit by delaying. My discretionary spending is practically zero :| I'm more about saving than spending. So yea, if anyone is fortunate enough to not be surcharged for all their utilities, then they should definitely look into this.
I just looked at ALDI's website... that's where I do most of my shopping, and they charge a surcharge. "Please note however, that there is a 1% surcharge on all credit card purchases to cover the cost of the service." Oh well, that basically means I can only make profits when I buy from Woolies, and I only buy express lane quantities there @_@
Im more excited about my loyalty card points the CC bill "Platinum" for the month isn't even looked at really. i do need to address my finances, starting right now, thanks guys for bringing it up.. They even charge me $165 a year to get a higher interest rate, the highest in the land.. Special rates, and i don't do a thing about it.. i will actively trying to reduce my CC debt and pay it off for the first time in 11 years. i just estimated $26000 in repayments over that time for a few hundred dollars worth of free stuff. wine, bottle opener, the rest i just wasted.
I've got one (actually a couple), but I don't use em for anything except: - Buying stuff online occasionally if they don't take debit/Bpay; - Buying plane tickets, because the card I have gives free travel insurance if you pay for the trip on the card; - Using my American credit card occasionally just to keep my stupid FICO/credit score at a reasonable level (at 730+ at least - I'm Aussie by birth but married an American, so have an account there too, and the retarded US credit system penalises you for not using credit you have) But even when I do use them (which isn't often), they get paid off immediately. I have never in my life incurred a single cent of interest - balance is always $0 at end of month. Also, they are only zero-annual-fee ones (as if I'm going to pay an annual fee for something I only occasionally use). It's astonishing how people treat them as if they are magical cards that allow them to have whatever they want at any time, as if it's "fake" money somehow and never needs to be paid back, and rack up the kind of debts you hear about. I mean you'd only need a rudimentary understanding of basic arithmetic to realise how insane that is. I mean, you shouldn't be borrowing more money than you need to anyway ... but even if you did, there are far better (and cheaper) ways to do it. Then again, as horrible as it is to say this, I kind of feel like they are financial Darwinism at work, in a way. :/ This is the main Australian card I use. No annual fee, no minimum spend, inbuilt travel insurance, interest-free period - the lot. You can't lose with it (provided you pay your balance each month!). It really is getting something for nothing.
