Credit cards for dummies

[AJAYE2015]

Hello
Hopefully someone can dumb this down for me
I am going to be booking a few holidays in the next few weeks
Rather than just booking them and using my money I might as well make use of someone else's money and perks and just pay it off within the 30days of booking them

Regarding the holidays and hotels it will probably be around 15k worth

Don't know if anyone can point me in the right direction or is it just better to book with my debit card etc

Any help for this donkey would be much appreciated thanks

[blue_haddock]

I personally use my tesco club card credit card but since they have recently reduced the amount you get i'm thinking of looking for a different card.

There are a few where you get Amex which could be worthwhile on 15k of holiday.

Also remember you get purchase protection when using a credit card so helpful if you get issues with any part of the booking.

[fat80b]

I use my credit card (s) for nearly everything and would never opt to use a debit card unless I absolutely had to.

I make use of a British Airways Amex for all spending and have a Virgin Atlantic cc for when Amex is not accepted. I also have the amex backing my paypal so I can pay online and collect the airmiles. And I then have another which I barely use (which gets a small amount of cashback) and one with my current account provider just in case.

I also have the wife as a second card holder on most of them so she spends on them as well (and she has her own as well just in case)

As such, we put our entire life through credit cards including all groceries, shopping, work expenses, holidays, foreign money etc, you name it. And we pay them off every month.

You get 30/40 days free credit and online protection etc. I wouldn't be without them

[fat80b]

One thing to note is that if you have never had a CC before, getting one with a 15K limit straight away might prove a little tricky - You sometimes have to build up the credit limit over time depending on provider.

[blue_haddock]

fat80b said:

I use my credit card (s) for nearly everything and would never opt to use a debit card unless I absolutely had to.

I make use of a British Airways Amex for all spending and have a Virgin Atlantic cc for when Amex is not accepted. I also have the amex backing my paypal so I can pay online and collect the airmiles. And I then have another which I barely use (which gets a small amount of cashback) and one with my current account provider just in case.

I also have the wife as a second card holder on most of them so she spends on them as well (and she has her own as well just in case)

As such, we put our entire life through credit cards including all groceries, shopping, work expenses, holidays, foreign money etc, you name it. And we pay them off every month.

You get 30/40 days free credit and online protection etc. I wouldn't be without them

I also do all my daily spending on my credit card and its automatically paid off in full each month.

[Ari]

If you have any doubts at all about whether or not you should use a credit card for purchases, have a read of this.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

It is astonishing the amount of help and protection available if things go wrong!

[AJAYE2015]

fat80b said:

I use my credit card (s) for nearly everything and would never opt to use a debit card unless I absolutely had to.

I make use of a British Airways Amex for all spending and have a Virgin Atlantic cc for when Amex is not accepted. I also have the amex backing my paypal so I can pay online and collect the airmiles. And I then have another which I barely use (which gets a small amount of cashback) and one with my current account provider just in case.

I also have the wife as a second card holder on most of them so she spends on them as well (and she has her own as well just in case)

As such, we put our entire life through credit cards including all groceries, shopping, work expenses, holidays, foreign money etc, you name it. And we pay them off every month.

You get 30/40 days free credit and online protection etc. I wouldn't be without them

Your doing what I want to do, I might as well use someone else's money and get whatever benefits that I can

[AJAYE2015]

Ari said:

If you have any doubts at all about whether or not you should use a credit card for purchases, have a read of this.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

It is astonishing the amount of help and protection available if things go wrong!

Thank you

[Jon39]

I have used an American Express credit card for many years.
They offer various different cards. Mine I think might be called Platinum. It is a no fee card, with annual cash back.
Purely use as a normal payment card, settle the account each month, then once a year a cash bonus is added to the account.
I like that simplicity, no fees and getting money back for using the card to pay in exactly the same way as anyone else.
The cash back just this month is £90, but it is not usually that much.

I also have a backup credit card from another provider. That accrues points, which have to be redeemed when remembered, so bit of an extra fiddle.

If anything goes wrong, there is a difference between debit card (bank is in control) and credit card (customer is in control).
I found that out last year! Fortunately I was not swindled out of much, but couldn't get my money back. Have not used debit cards since.

Edited by Jon39 on Monday 10th July 22:11

[Sy1441]

I use my Amex for pretty much everything, points are great.

[AJAYE2015]

Looks like amex is the way forward
Thanks everyone