Whose got the trousers on?

[EternalOptimist]

I've had several car loans over the years (my present one is fully paid off), and I have a mortgage. I didn't need a credit card to get either. I needed a demonstrable history of stable income, and good track record of keeping up with the car loans and mortgages I'd taken out previously.

whoa there.

his description of naivity was not based on a loan or a secured loan.
He didnt know that.

anyone who does not have a credit card is naive. that really puzzles me

[mudskipper]

How do you build points up, ms? Is it by spending so much per month, whether or not you pay off the balance?

Yep - at one point GM Card was 5% of what you spent, then went down to 3. I think Tesco is 1%, but with their clubcard deals, it's effectively around 3% if there's stuff you want. Even if you spend them in store, you get the 'double points' offers a few times a year.

Have only ever paid interest once - and that was when I accidentally paid a couple of quid short on the balance. Now I always round up so it won't happen again.

It really is money for nothing.

[Gentile]

Yep - at one point GM Card was 5% of what you spent, then went down to 3. I think Tesco is 1%, but with their clubcard deals, it's effectively around 3% if there's stuff you want. Even if you spend them in store, you get the 'double points' offers a few times a year.

Have only ever paid interest once - and that was when I accidentally paid a couple of quid short on the balance. Now I always round up so it won't happen again.

It really is money for nothing.

I've never done the whole loyalty card thing either. I always had this idea that they're just taking up space in my purse, and I didn't want to have a reason to spend money I didn't have just to get the points. There might be something in it and credit cards, though, if like you and me you don't spend beyond your means. The savings you mentioned above are certainly pretty impressive. Did you have to buy from certain car dealerships to get the benefit of the deals?

[Gentile]

whoa there.

his description of naivity was not based on a loan or a secured loan.
He didnt know that.

anyone who does not have a credit card is naive. that really puzzles me

Yes, I think he's on pretty shaky ground there. I can see the point of some of ms's positive reasons for having one, but taking one just to get a credit rating is for the birds. Unless you've never had a loan, or you've been tulip at paying the ones you have got back, maintaining a good credit rating is easy. You don't need to accept easy forms of pre-arranged credit just to get a credit rating.

[EternalOptimist]

Yes, I think he's on pretty shaky ground there. I can see the point of some of ms's positive reasons for having one, but taking one just to get a credit rating is for the birds. Unless you've never had a loan, or you've been tulip at paying the ones you have got back, maintaining a good credit rating is easy. You don't need to accept easy forms of pre-arranged credit just to get a credit rating.

it's getting worse though.

if you buy into the whole shonky edifice, you get a grand off your car ????
do people honestly believe all this is free ??

[Gentile]

it's getting worse though.

if you buy into the whole shonky edifice, you get a grand off your car ????
do people honestly believe all this is free ??

No, I'm sure they don't. It's paid for by the number of people that don't use credit cards wisely (which is a substantial majority), and who therefore pay massive charges for the credit they obtain too easily. I also suspect that the deals are limited to certain partner companies whose products may well be just as negotiable to someone prepared to pay cash. I could easily see me being able to negotiate the price of an average new car down by £1000-£1500 if I paid in cash, or better still bought from a dealership in Cloggers rather than a local one, and just paid import duty etc on the purchase.

[vetran]

it's getting worse though.

if you buy into the whole shonky edifice, you get a grand off your car ????
do people honestly believe all this is free ??

no its at the expense of the other customers that don't take advantage of the deals.

Nice in depth survey

A firm called RS Consulting interviewed 24 couples across the UK at length about their financial habits.

this I do with my wife :

She will carry out the research into the various policies available and if she finds a suitable product she will “present” it to her partner.

of course I have done similar research and throw suggestions in. But allowing her to make the decision on prospects gives her part ownership, if I don't do that anything that goes wrong is all my fault.

[EternalOptimist]

[QUOTE=vetran;1637150]no its at the expense of the other customers that don't take advantage of the deals.

QUOTE]

eh ??
so if one person gets 1k off their car its free, but if 100 got for the vouchers it costs a lot ???


there is a lot of wooly thinking about this, and I think the marketing of these schemes has created a culture of dumb acceptance

[redgiant]

I've been using cashback credit cards for several years to pay for everything that doesn't charge me to use them. Not quite as good as the GM card that mudskipper mentioned but I get over £200 a year in cashback for doing nothing but spend money on day to day stuff as well as business expenses.

Currently I have a Capital One Cashback (1%), Amex Platinum Cashback (1.25% - They charge an annual fee of £25 for this now for new customers) and Barclaycard Cashback (1% - they don't do these anymore). I pay these all off each month so no interest charges for me.

As for the trousers it's a 50 / 50 split here

[vetran]

[QUOTE=EternalOptimist;1637154]

no its at the expense of the other customers that don't take advantage of the deals.

QUOTE]

eh ??
so if one person gets 1k off their car its free, but if 100 got for the vouchers it costs a lot ???


there is a lot of wooly thinking about this, and I think the marketing of these schemes has created a culture of dumb acceptance

Some customers ask for and get discounts, others pay full price

Company has a profit target so list price is set at a figure that allows that profit target to be achieved whilst allowing discounting for customers.

The ones that get discounts do so at the expense of the ones paying full price,
If a fleet company buy at 10% discount yet the public pay full price then the public are subsidising the fleet company.

if the credit card charges 4% merchant fee and gives 1% off for their customers then the merchant fee could fall towards 3% allowing the list price to fall by up to 1%. But they aren't going to do that because so few of their customers exploit the deals.

The vouchers create loyalty and are therefore seen as cheap advertising.

none of it is charity.