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Credit Cards (pg. 3)
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| Jem_hadar |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
lol you guys :)
all those cute little perks is just a way to get you to spend more! |
i never end up buying another ADDITIONAL just bc i wanna get, for example, additional air miles.
im buying it anyways, might as wells get air miles at the same time for free.
id never buy more just for the purpose of extra air miles.
i still only buy what i originally want. |
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| DigiNut |
In terms of interest, there's no "best", there's only "bad" and "worse". Don't ever plan to rack up interest on a credit card - that's just about the worst financial decision one can possibly make. Get a line of credit if you desperately need the money, and if the bank won't give you a line of credit, you've got no business screwing around with any credit card.
I've got a Visa and MasterCard, but they're always paid by the end of the month. In general: MC for online purchases (low credit limit in case I use a dodgy site) and Visa for large up-front purchases that I don't want to carry around the cash for. I think the MC has some built-in Air Miles (no fees), and I also use a regular Air Miles rewards card (not credit card, so also no fees). That's just fine for "rewards"; anything else is probably a gimmick to get you to spend more, unless it's really specialized, like a PC card if you already do all your shopping at Loblaws.
I know you won't take my advice, but I'm giving it anyway: don't use a credit card for any other reason if you want to keep a good credit rating and stay in control of your finances. Don't give yourself incentives to rack up CC debt by getting some special card, especially one with annual fees where you usually just end up getting hit twice. |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by exstasie
If you were smart and finacially motivated...
You would sign up for one of those credit cards where you pay 0% interest for 1 year, you could transfer your balance from your other credit cards onto it or do a cash advance, transfer the balance over, and invest the cash advance into a 1 year GIC or something like that. |
Nice idea, except that if you already have a lot of credit card debt then you probably won't get one of those cards, and the pitiful interest you get from a 1-year GIC is hardly worth the effort. |
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| slingshot |
| I think Aeroplan would be the way to go for you Vlad. |
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| exstasie |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
Nice idea, except that if you already have a lot of credit card debt then you probably won't get one of those cards, and the pitiful interest you get from a 1-year GIC is hardly worth the effort. |
It is a good concept.
THose who are in debt probably wouldn't think of doing that in the first place.
MY only problem is that I can never get a high enough Credit limit. The max i could've gotten was $500...which wouldn't be worth all the effort. |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by exstasie
It is a good concept.
THose who are in debt probably wouldn't think of doing that in the first place.
MY only problem is that I can never get a high enough Credit limit. The max i could've gotten was $500...which wouldn't be worth all the effort. |
Sure it is. The concept in plain English is "buy low, sell high". The concept is easy, it's the execution that's hard. The higher you're hoping to sell, the more risk you have to take on, and when you're taking on any kind of financial risk, it's an exceptionally bad idea to do it with borrowed money. In fact, those who are deep in debt are precisely the ones who'd likely think to try something so risky and/or fruitless.
What you're really talking about is refinancing or restructuring debt, and there are better ways to do that than getting a gimmicky credit card.
Strange that they give you such a low credit limit if you never accumulate interest or miss a payment. My Visa limit's been raised to some asinine amount in $500-$1000 increments, and I never asked them a single time. Of course that's not surprising - they want me to spend more money on it. If they'll only give you $500 then they obviously see you as a credit risk... |
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| monishb |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zentac_75
The day I officially got myself out of debt was one of the happiest days of my life, seriously.
Building adequate credit ratings is important. But it is equally important to avoid debt with crippling interest rates.
Start saving at an early age to prevent the future necessity for CCs.
My friend worked for M/C. Those companies make Billions of interest rates. Majority of people end up paying them at some point in their life. |
I hear you man, i am almost out of debt myself, just one more month or so!
woot! listen to this man and start saving instead of spending. |
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| activate |
The best is the RBC Avion card. can get flights on any airline you want.. no restrictions.. and your points don't expire like with some other plans.
RE: Credits and credit cards. I work for a bank.. credit is what I do. If you use them properly, they're fantastic. pay your balance in full every month and you don't get charged interest. |
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| exstasie |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
Sure it is. The concept in plain English is "buy low, sell high". The concept is easy, it's the execution that's hard. The higher you're hoping to sell, the more risk you have to take on, and when you're taking on any kind of financial risk, it's an exceptionally bad idea to do it with borrowed money. In fact, those who are deep in debt are precisely the ones who'd likely think to try something so risky and/or fruitless.
What you're really talking about is refinancing or restructuring debt, and there are better ways to do that than getting a gimmicky credit card.
Strange that they give you such a low credit limit if you never accumulate interest or miss a payment. My Visa limit's been raised to some asinine amount in $500-$1000 increments, and I never asked them a single time. Of course that's not surprising - they want me to spend more money on it. If they'll only give you $500 then they obviously see you as a credit risk... |
Maybe its cause i was still a student...but who nkows.
AMEX gave me a charge card which virtual has no limit. Just have to pay it off every month, but its great for emergencies, like if I have to buy a car on it or something :P |
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| Jayx1 |
THE BEST CARD by far for rewards is:
MBNA Starwood Preferred Guest Mastercard
you get 1 starpoint for each dollar spent. The hotel rewards are very reasonable and here are the best parts.
#1 NO ANNUAL FEE!
#2 5000 SIGN UP BONUS
#3 YOU CAN TRANSFER TO ALMOST ANY AIRLINE POINT SYSTEM 1 FOR 1 (except of course, the big fraud known as Aeroplan)
#4 WHEN YOU STAY AT SHERATON THE FIRST TIME AND PAY WITH THAT CARD YOU GET 5000 BONUS POINTS
#5 WHEN YOU SPEND $10G IN A YEAR YOU GET 5000 BONUS POINTS
#6 WHEN YOU TRANSFER 20,000 POINTS ALL AT ONCE TO AN AIRLINE POINTS SYSTEM THEY KICK IN AN EXTRA 5000
Their interest rate sucks balls at 18% but thats why i NEVER carry a balance. Instead get a low introductory rate second no fee card at Presidents Choice Bank and just transfer the balance if you must carry it over.
I got a free flight to Argentina with American Airlines thanks mostly to this card! |
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| activate |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
Sure it is. The concept in plain English is "buy low, sell high". The concept is easy, it's the execution that's hard. The higher you're hoping to sell, the more risk you have to take on, and when you're taking on any kind of financial risk, it's an exceptionally bad idea to do it with borrowed money. In fact, those who are deep in debt are precisely the ones who'd likely think to try something so risky and/or fruitless.
What you're really talking about is refinancing or restructuring debt, and there are better ways to do that than getting a gimmicky credit card.
Strange that they give you such a low credit limit if you never accumulate interest or miss a payment. My Visa limit's been raised to some asinine amount in $500-$1000 increments, and I never asked them a single time. Of course that's not surprising - they want me to spend more money on it. If they'll only give you $500 then they obviously see you as a credit risk... |
The system automatically raises the limits of people from time to time providing they qualify. usually that means that they not only make their payments but ALSO don't carry much of a balance. They advise clients of that in the card holders agreement. you can ask for them not to do it.
the only cards that carry $500 limits are student cards. at my company we give $1000 for student cards. actually that is the lowest we go credit limit wise. getting a $1000 limit doesn't mean you're a risk then you won't get appoved for a card. $1000 limits are usually people that are younger and have not estabilished any significant credit history yet. |
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| activate |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zentac_75
Building adequate credit ratings is important. But it is equally important to avoid debt with crippling interest rates.
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the better your credit, the lower your interest rates.
The exception being credit cards as the rates only change depending on the type of card. |
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