when you're on the bench do you live off credit cards

[BolshieBastard]

well no credit card only needs you to pay back £10/month for each card so that can keep ya going for a while

when you get contract you can just wipe out the debt

Can you spot the flaw in your statements? Hint, I've made it easy for you.

[chris79]

Most credit cards have a minimum repayment of 2 - 3.5% of the balance, per month. This is to stop people borrowing £50k, buying flash cars, then paying £2 back a year leaving a mountain of debt/interest when they die.

Assuming you had 20k of debt, £5k over 4 cards, that would be approx..

2% of £5k = £100/month.. x4 = £400/month repayment.

Of course you can always just keep borrowing the money back if you can get the right deals.. but most balance transfers these days charge 3-4% of the balance being transferred.

In short, you can do whatever you want, the question is whether its financially viable, worth the hassle, and whether you can juggle all these eggs at once. A good spreadsheet, some direct debits, and a positive balance in ones current account would see to it...

On a side-note, cars are never a good investment, they only cost money to run, depreciate in value... the true cost of the enjoyment of a sports car is quite massive once you work out the difference between investing in the car, and if you had invested in something which goes up in value instead.

[contractor79]

On a side-note, cars are never a good investment, they only cost money to run, depreciate in value... the true cost of the enjoyment of a sports car is quite massive once you work out the difference between investing in the car, and if you had invested in something which goes up in value instead.

dude you can enjoy a car, you spend a lot of time in one.

you can't enjoy an ISA

[VectraMan]

Most credit cards have a minimum repayment of 2 - 3.5% of the balance, per month.

My new Virgin card is 1%, which is pretty good. And if you can buy something equivalent to the monthly payment on your card, and then pay it off each month, you've satsified the minimum payment without paying it.

[sweetandsour]

Sorry but you sound a real arsehole with no idea how to budget judging by this post and your other one about leaving yourself with a huge tax liabilty to pay with no money left in your co.

Frankly, you are asking for trouble mxing out your credit cards and asking questions such as 'how many cards can you have?'

Shhhhhhhhhh!

We need people that are easily parted from their money like this so that the banks make enough profit to be moved off state-aid.

[JoJoGabor]

My new Virgin card is 1%, which is pretty good. And if you can buy something equivalent to the monthly payment on your card, and then pay it off each month, you've satsified the minimum payment without paying it.

I'm not sure of your logic here.

[chris79]

dude you can enjoy a car, you spend a lot of time in one.

you can't enjoy an ISA

If that's what makes you happy and is worth the money to you, then it's the right option for you and the correct one.

[chris79]

I'm not sure of your logic here.

What he means is, say the minimum payment is £20... instead of paying your next tank of petrol on your debit card, you pay £20 on your creditcard (as £20 direct debit will come from your creditcard that month)..

In effect the c/c balance stays the same, and you don't really notice any difference in your current account cashflow.

The only downside to this is that if you have a good deal on your creditcard, say from a balance transfer, any 'purchases' usually get added to your creditcard at a much higher APR, and the way the repayments work on your card is normally the lowest interest first, meaning that over time you will start paying a larger proportion of interest on your c/c.

The golden rule with good deals on creditcards is to get the money transferred on there, then lock them away and never use them again (unless of course the c/c company offers you another good deal).

HTH.

[Tingles]

This thread REALLY scares me!!!

Been there, done that - one good thing to come out of it....

It cured me of buying high priced, shiny cr@p and living beyond my means.

I don't ever want to be in the place I once was....

Do yourself a favour - don't believe the hype of the well paid ad executives - you don't 'need' more stuff....

I now buy 'life experiences' not more chattels...

[sweetandsour]

This thread REALLY scares me!!!

Been there, done that - one good thing to come out of it....

It cured me of buying high priced, shiny cr@p and living beyond my means.

I don't ever want to be in the place I once was....

Do yourself a favour - don't believe the hype of the well paid ad executives - you don't 'need' more stuff....

I now buy 'life experiences' not more chattels...

Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

The country needs people like this to borrow and spend money they haven't got on things they don't need to lift us out of recession.