Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment My big purse and my credit cards

GreenMum writes:

Well, if there’s one thing can be said about me, it’s that I’m frugal. That doesn’t mean I don’t SPEND money, it just means that I’m careful about WHAT I spend it on, and more importantly HOW I spend it.
I have a big old purse, stuffed full of receipts, library cards (for ALL family members… how does this happen?!), books of stamps, and just two credit cards.
I am fortunate enough to have had a very sensible father, who opened a bank account for me at a young age. That bank (mentioning no names, but it’s Lloyds TSB) has been very good to me over the years, and I’ve stayed loyal. I was tempted by student offers to open accounts with other banks, however, when I finally decided to compare credit cards, it was back to Lloyds TSB I scurried. Now, mainly because they were offering airmiles, re-named more recently to Avios points… so with every purchase, I get back ‘points’ which I can redeem against theatre, hotels, nights out… that sort of thing.
We have recently decided to take the boys to DisneyLand Paris before they get too old (whenever that will be, I don’t think even I am too old to go!)
And every 1000 points I have collected through my credit card purchases, I now have £50 to spend on a trip to Paris with my boys… so exciting!
Now – this brings me to the HOW I use my credit card… as I said, “sensible…” – So, I have my credit card payments set up so that deductions are automatically made from my current account. This way I don’t unwittingly build up a big credit card debt, and feel more in control of my finances.
I also use my credit cards for larger purchases such as my new camera (yay!) simply because I know that my purchase will be insured – and in light of a recent camera retailing brand’s demise and consequent phoenix-like performance thanks to Dragon’s Den Peter Jones) I think that’s quite ‘sensible’.
Another example of why buying more expensive items using a credit card for such things as your summer holiday can be heard on last week’s YOU AND YOURS on Radio 4. Fast-forward to 26 mins, 40 secs (although there is a good bit about council grants for washable nappies just before that!)
In summary, a family recently lost thousands of pounds after trying to book a holiday villa from a reputable owners direct website, only to be conned by criminals, who use a genuine listing on the website, and then changed the details, conning one family out of £9000 who had transferred money into the “house-owner’s” bank account – the cruel moral of that story seems to be that had they used their credit card to book, they would have been covered for the fraud by their credit card company.
So this has made me even more resolute: continue to use my credit cards, CAREFULLY, and sensibly, and most definitely for the larger more expensive purchases, taking a few Euros in my big purse to DisneyLand Paris to buy some Mickey Mouse ears, and a couple of ice-creams too..