TOT Experian

[Clive George]

You can find out for free if you want. That's how I know mine. I probably won't bother checking again.

I love it when people assume stupid things. There are plenty of free (no annual fee) credit cards about. If you pay them off each month in time, you also don't pay interest. But it's still a loan which gets noted as such in your credit score - ie you get a record for good payment without having to pay extra for it. The loan is for the period between the transaction happening and the payment being made, ie a month or so.

Neither do I. In fact, I get a small cash cut of the transactions which go through my CC. The CC company make their money through the merchant fees.

[alan_m]

I pay no annual fee for my credit card and some of the amount I spend on it gets refunded (cash back card).

I also regard the CC company as a second source of warranty on purchases over £100 albeit I've never had to use this facility.

[Capitol]

I regard the CC company as the first form of warranty when buying air tickets, after the travel co went t*ts up the same day we bought the tickets. Her cc card from Tesco was excellent to deal with and credited her account within a few days of a claim being made. They were also excellent when her card was cloned at a petrol station. If only they could manage to keep the email address and US contacts in their system and manage to use them when there is a foreign problem. The telephone service has always been brilliant. I use the for all on line and DD transactions as we can always stop a purchase pending a conflict resolution. Our bank account is strictly manual for payments and it will stay that way. All our friend with on line banking have had loss problems, we're not going to join!

[alan_m]

Probably yes - it's often a long history of payment that is important for a higher score.

It's the repayment that is important and not the interest you pay. Defaulting will lower your score

No, but having a high credit score doesn't necessarily mean that a company wants you as a customer.

If they want low risk custom then they may only accept people with a high score.

If they want customers who stay 'reasonably' in debt they will reject people with a low score because they have no record of repayment or have previously defaulted. They may only accept people with an average credit score to exclude those who normally pay off debt quickly giving no additional profit.

Or to stop their own economy collapsing when the Euro fails.

[alan_m]

They usually say 'Representative APR'

My bank says....

[quote] Representative

Lending decisions are based on personal circumstances, so the rates we offer may vary between customers. When we advertise our products, we use representative rates to show what the majority of customers may be offered. [/quote]

A bank may have already rejected potential customers with a low credit score so they may be able to offer the headline rate to many current customers but they must also quote higher rates to those that are a higher risk.

[whisky-dave]

I'm curious but not sure why I need to know.

It's been a while since I've seen one that is free.

I tried on moneysupermarker but they wante dot know so much about me, my adress my bank even phone number. Giving all this info to someone is NOT what I call free, which is why I havent; bothered with a 'free' credit card.

Yes I know the theory I had one in the past. The the direct debit came out and I've use dthat ever since.

and I get cash back for direct debits on my DD card it varies between 1-3%. if I piad with a CC I donlt think it'd get the above.

[whisky-dave]

C compmany an annual fee for your card well done.

Yes that is one use I've concidered for them as I have with holiday insuran ce and travel and cinima tickets and all the other specails they throw at y ou because they really want to give you extra value.

Not too difernt from the buy one get one free offers as long as yuo make go od use of teh so called extras then it's worthwhile, but a months free intr ested on my shopping is just not worth it.

[Chris B]

If you are just curios then

will give you an idea for free in a monthly report.

If nothing else it does give you a head start on any fraudsters as they will tell you if any credit checks have been carried out on you - if they weren't done as a result of some application you have made then be suspicious.

I'm sure they will try to flog you some Rolls-Royce version but you are under no obligation to buy - you don't even have to cancel a trial version.

[whisky-dave]

Yes I know that's what I was told back in the mid 70s, but didn't tell me what it meant.

SO these componies that offer unsecured loans are they losing their shirt or raking it in ?

That';s just a conspiracy theory I've heard Germany would never do such a thing as risk the eiro to protect their own trade.

[whisky-dave]

Cheers I mught just give that a try. Bottle of domestos at the ready to clean computer of viruses... Oh I forgot I've got a MAc ;-)

[Clive George]

You probably don't. I certainly didn't, but I was curious enough to check.

I suggest you're not looking terribly hard.

Follow links on there and you can find plenty.

Or to pick a high street bank at random,

Any credit card company will want to know your name, address, bank, phone number. They're offering to loan you several thousand pounds, they're not going to do that to somebody they don't know.

If you're sufficiently tin-foil-hatted to find that instrusive, then yes, this conversation is a waste of time.

Santander 123?

I think I'd struggle to pay for my shopping with a direct debit...

[whisky-dave]

I tried to check but for spme reason it wanted to know my DOB address and many other things I assumed all they'd need is my account number and perhaps my name. So I was a bit suspoiuos as am am when even facebook wants details that I don't think it nees.

None that I like though, I don't like the T&Cs and I read them.

that's the one I cut up, wouldn't go for barclays again.

And I don't want to give my details out to everyone. If there CC offered me so much I might be tempted but I haven't yet found one that does. If one comes out I'll apply for it.

Not instrusive just not much use to me. Now I know peolpe with wads of CC and all sorts of card everytime I go into a shop (clothes especailly) they ask do you want our store CC I say NO even if they offer me 10% discount I still say NO.

[AnthonyL]

Interesting - pay your cash back credit card by dd and get two lots of cash back - bet there's a t&c to block it.

[Clive George]

Yes, they will need to know those details, they're essential to let them look up who you are and score you.

That's different to "it's been a while since I've seen one that is free.". There's plenty of them about for people who are careful with their cash.

Me neither, but I just picked them as a demonstration of how easy it is.

If you want to wear that tin foil hat, yes, people will not want to lend to you.

[anshu.dagar]