Extra boring thread for Monday: credit cards

We have the BA/Avios Amex card.

We use it for regular purchases as much as we can, and pay it off each month. We also go through their ‘portal’ to buy products if that’s available. You can go even deeper into the https://www.headforpoints.com/ website and get more out of it if you want to, but we don’t really do that.

Even so, with the companion voucher they do, it’s working out that we are able to get a pair of long-haul BA flights every other year.

still struggling to see how these are different

credit cards - you can only pay the minimum payment each month if you like

charge cards - you have to pay it off in full at the end of the month

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… but if you don’t pay the credit card off in full you pay interest. how is that different to paying a ‘charge’?

Got 2 with an accumulation of £3.5k debt on. Has been like this for a while and I only pay the minimum payments. Haven’t used either in a long while. I hate money so much.

I once went for an interview at Diner’s Club in Farnborough. The guying interviewing me said that it must be a pain of a journey. I said it wasn’t too bad as you can get a direct train. He told me that you can’t. I said I caught a direct one to get there today. He told me that I couldn’t have. I didn’t get the job.

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maybe if you send him that screenshot he’ll think again

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In practical terms - there may not be much difference between the two, between certain types of cards, but they are different technically

Got the Amex reward one plus another back up/when they don’t take Amex.

Get a good £300 a Yr in rewards from using it for everything and paying off in full each month. Don’t know why people don’t do this more tbh.

Got ridiculous limits on both of them similar to @UnicornPorn…don’t ever use it but kind of useful to know if we had a mad emergency we have that as a backup money option

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I only pointed out the distinction for some gentle/non-hilarious bants initially and now look what’s happened.

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It was pretty bleak, their offices were at the top of a shopping centre and I think Diner’s Club are doing pretty shit nowadays.

He was the boss of the guy who interviewed me. He surprised me with a bonus interview and just acted like a dick throughout.

I mean I am not a card snob (who gives a shit really) but just not something you hear is it.

‘Do you take Diner’s Club?’

Yeah, I think they used to have flashy airport lounges but not anymore.

I have four, had one that I didn’t really use for a while but ended up with a few which have been quite useful because of a terrible work expenses system so I’ve always just put stuff on whichever 0% card I have at the time and then pay them off when I get reimbursed.

Only use one of them (some AA 30 months 0% jobby despite being a non-car owning cyclist) but they are quite useful really. Never paid a penny of interest and hope I can keep it that way despite the work/money situation being fairly shit right now.

I’ve always been against credit cards ethically. Seen so many people end up in financial trouble. Always thought the system we have’s fucked and the logic of owing loads of money being better than not owing money to be questionable. Honestly find it very worrying that the vast majority of people buy into it.

I don’t owe a penny but i probably won’t own a house now. I’m alright with that. That said, it’d have been quite easy for me to save, say, £50k-£100k, but i chose not to because i’m a twat, so reckon it does show there’s a possible middle ground for people who want to own a property without slowly owing people money until you can owe a bank shitloads of money.

I’d be absolutely fucking petrified if i owed the sort of uni fees, mortgages and debts some of my pals, (former) colleagues or people on here have spoken about. I wouldn’t sleep.

the main difference is nowhere accepting amex

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Nah, only place I’ve had it rejected was Wilkos

I only ever have one on the go but went a bit mental with travel last year and now paying it back (less than 3k to go now, yay :roll_eyes:)

Surely one of the best semantic switches of all time: ‘debit’ cards hold credit, whereas ‘credit’ cards hold debt.

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