[Closed] Credit cards

If you can't afford it, you can't afford it, simple.

I’ve got one, two actually but I’m down to less than £200 debt now, it was a loooong journey.

The overly simplistic “if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it” really is the key, but.... and it’s a big BUT it’s not the whole story, lots of people who get in deep with them lose that link between income and expenditure, and credit cards were designed with this exact thing in mind, they erode the worry of over-spending because as long as you’re packing plastic you’ll never not be able to buy food, fuel or that little bill that comes out of nowhere.

Credit Cards really are a mugs game, the rates are high and the low repayments were just designed to keep you on the wheel forever, I know people who’ve carried big 5 figure debts for years, decades even, paying 20% every year in interest and getting no where with it.

All those 0% deals and cash-back incentives are just there to entice people who think they’re too clever to get into debt. I’ve heard them “I don’t do debt, well I owe Barclaycard £5k but it’s interest free for 3 years” I very much doubt they’ve got that £5k on account somewhere earning them 5% a year.

I will admit they’re useful for buying stuff you want a bit of come-back on or for the car hire companies if you don’t have a few grand to lend them whilst you’ve got their car, but the world would be a better place without them.

I only have one with a low credit limit (£500 the minimum they'd offer) which hasn't been used in 4-5years or so. I keep the card in my wallet for emergencies only. I use two current accounts, only one of which I keep a card in my wallet for. I transfer a set amount each month into that from main one for day to day spending. Other card stays at home in a box somewhere with all my financial docs etc. Works for me - no debt.

I managed to happily live without one until around two years ago (I'm 41 now). The main reason for getting one was that European car rental companies began to refuse to rent without one which got quite frustrating. The extra security when making relatively large (particularly on-line) purchases or flight bookings is handy, as is having a back up if a cash point eats my debit card. I almost never use it day to day though and never use the traditional 'credit' aspect as I've always been someone who spends money if I have it available and don't if I don't.

We use one for as much of our spending as possible - and pay it off every month. Currently a Tesco card so getting points that I can trade for Evans Cycles vouchers (though that is about to end). So, no debt and "playing" it a little. I'll maybe look to some other reward card soon.

I've never used one. Don't like debt apart from mortgage. If I can't afford something I can't have it.

I only use a credit card when buying online - there's better consumer protection for credit card purchases and there's peace of mind in knowing that the details of the debit cards linked to my current account are not quite so easy to get hold of…

I have one card. mbna did a very low rate card a few years back. 7% interest is nice whenever I have an emergency big purchase that will take a month or two to pay back. Most of ny friends have 20% interest on theirs.

The thing is credit cards do offer extra protection on certain things like flights etc so there is a point to have one. But you have to be able to trust yourself with it.

I do most of my spending on a credit card.

I also pay it off monthly.

It's good to have history.

It costs me nothing to have it.

Because I'm as pjay puts it "think I'm clever" ive made large purchases on 0 % and paid it down over the term leaving my own money in accounts earning more than zero. -but it's not about being clever it's about being diceplined

We have it for hire cars and extra cover when buying things.
But it almost never goes past end of month without being paid off.
It's always a 0% one.
They keep upping the limit - I think we're on £12k currently!

I have a few, one for general spending that gives cash back on purchases, its paid in full every month. A Halifax Clarity that does free foreign transactions for the few times we are on holidays and another that I'm paying for a sofa on. 0% ends in six months, have the cash to pay it off.

Just had a £500 refund - from the CC company - for two ski season passes as the service advertised is not available.

Just had a moany letter from the Halifax informing me that seeing as I haven't used their credit card for a couple of years, they are withdrawing it when it it comes up for renewal unless I use it before then or I phone them up. They did the same thing when I hadn't used my overdraft. Oh well.

Use 1 for all fuel and vehicle related purchases. Paid off monthly it let’s me easily see what we spend on fuel and maintenance.

Other 1 is used for online and things like flights etc. That’s always paid off again in full monthly now.

Have in the past not always paid off the full amount and it is a bloody expensive way to borrow. Problem is they make it bloody easy to do!

l0key

Member

If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it, simple.

I love these self righteous posts that crop up regularly on STW. It's worth remembering that most people couldn't afford to buy a house without borrowing, or a decent car, or plenty of other things, including higher education these days. Or perhaps we should return to the Victorian era where only the wealthy owned decent properties?

JP

As above, it can be a good way of improving your credit rating.

I have an Avios credit card which is useful for getting cheap BA flights.

Yes

Love all the self righteous bollocks above..typical STW-warriors. Anyway I use credit cards to buy EVERYTHING off the web....for the consumer protection, simple as that. If a company goes bust....ala UBYK et al....you don't lose a penny. There are a billion 0% cards out there desperate for your business, and as long as you aren't a total dunce, it should never cost a penny.

We do all our spending on CC and pay it off each month. We aren't high earners and have to be disciplined only buying things if we know we can pay it off. We've found it much easier to keep a track of our spending that way; cash in our pockets just seems to vanish.

We do all our grocery and big purchases on Tesco credit card for the points & pay off each month but main reason was to have a "joint account" without the legal tie up of a joint bank account. Still easy to miss the money owed on credit card when assessing financial health, but we are pretty careful with our spending these days.

We do all our spending on cc. And pay it off every single month.

1. We get insurances on our purchases
2. We get very good bonuses like vouchers which we wouldn't get on debit

It's only a mug's game if you're not disciplined.

I've got loads. Tesco one for the points, NatWest one that does cashback, a couple of start-up bank ones that do free foreign money, and a couple more on miscellaneous bank accounts. Just choose the one that is cheapest or gives the best reward. Also good protection from losing the money as already mentioned. Always paid off in full every month. I treat it just like cash only it's better than cash. If you don't have the discipline to pay it off every month then I can see the point off getting rid but if you can then they are a very handy tool

Have only had them to take advantage of long 0% terms but only had them for 3 or 4 months. Lived for 10-15 years without them after leaving Uni.
Got 2 at the moment which I use for buying things for the house I’m renovating but I have the money in savings to cover them, it’s just for the insurance/payment protection thing really.
Get one when I go abroad which doesn’t charge anything for using outside the UK - again have the savings to cover it anyway.
Never paid any interest on any cards but I must have had about 15 of them over the last 10 years - made about £250 in cashback for applying for them though!

I’d never buy anything, apart from a house, if I had to borrow money to get it. Always saved up and bought cars, why pay hundreds a month to get a new one when you can get a 10 year old one which is just as reliable? Won’t win me ina a battle of the Jones’s I know but I’m not paying for that dubious priviledge.

3 here. halifax clarity which only gets used on holidays abroad (DD to pay off in full at end of month), tesco which we just buy weekly shop with and pay off each month too, then we always seem to have a 3 or 4 year 0% jobby for the latest 'project'. recently thats been new windows, new bathroom, now its new bedroom. (DD set for whatever we can afford to pay monthly to finish it early).

i like the idea ^^^ of using one just for fuel/vehicle costs tho, so ill probably double up the clarity card for that use and pay for all my fuel on it.

why pay hundreds a month to get a new one when you can get a 10 year old one which is just as reliable? Won’t win me ina a battle of the Jones’s I know but I’m not paying for that dubious priviledge.

same. im very much 'anti the jones's' and happy to have the sh1ttest looking car on the street (as long as its got dab and good speakers), smugly listening to mates and neighbours telling me how much theirs cost. bound to backfire on me now ive said that......

why pay hundreds a month to get a new one when you can get a 10 year old one which is just as reliable?

Because it’s not just as reliable, and you don’t have warranties to fall back on anything major that goes. You can get great cars, obviously, but I’ve had some big bills on cars that are 10 years old. I’m not justifying the cost of a new car, but don’t pretend that a 10 year old one is just the same.

I have 3 credit cards and buy basically everything on 2 of them, but I’ve not paid a penny of interest in years. One has a £15k limit at 4.9%, so works out cheaper than a bank loan most of the time!

What I think is irresponsible is companies simply upping credit limits. Only one of mine offers me an increase which I have to accept, the other 2 just tell you they’ve upped it. I can’t imagine what the payments would be if I maxed all of mine out.

ah, this again.

Credit / credit cards are not evil; misuse of them is (and by that i point the finger more at the companies that lend large amounts to people that they shouldn't, rather than the people themselves although there are plenty who know what they are doing and do it anyway)

As well as purchase protection they practically pay me to have one - I buy most stuff in the month on it, as a result I don't run down my bank balance until the bill comes due and I save the interest on my offset mortgage. It's not huge, but it's free money and when rates were higher it was worth something.

And then they give me money off vouchers (M&S card) too.

I don't generally buy anything I can't pay off at the end of the month but I will happily take a 0% deal if it's on offer too. I'm sat on a sofa typing this that's only half mine right now 😉

No CCs or other tick here (we live in social housing) because **** debt and the type of people who want you to get into it. Financing consumption and driving want/greed is ****ing the planet.

Don't have the money to buy something outright? Easy, just save up for it. Usually by the time you've saved up the want has passed or you'll struggle to hand over £xxxx for whatever bauble you wanted which can lead to a nice cushion for when you do actually [i]need[/i] to buy something.

Depends on how you look at credit cards, the mistake people make is seeing them as a means of credit, there are much better options. I would guess most of us who use them daily and pay them off see them as plastic cash. In 25 years of having them I've only ever not paid them off twice, once back in the early 90s and once by accident, underrated by about six quid. I have debt but it's controlled and not a result of blind credit card use. Expect society to become more plastic orientated, some pubs don't take cash these days, it's a trend that will continue.

We buy everything on credit cards, hardly ever use debit cards, why would you when you can get free vouchers etc and it gives you a credit history

Why do you need a credit history? Serious question- if you pay for everything with cash in person or debit card, live in social housing and don't want a new car, why do you need a credit history?

Because most people use credit, phone contracts, mortgages, car loans, overdrafts, Sky contracts etc. Without a credit history it's more difficult to access these things. Do you need a credit history, no, is it useful, yes.

why do you need a credit history?

Have you never had a mortgage?

Got one, but haven't used it in about 8/9 years!
For online purchases I use PP as it gives a similar level of buyer protection (I think?).

Otherwise I like to live within my means. Though if I were abroad and needed to get a hire car or similar then I might whip it out.

Have you never had a mortgage?

From the reference to social housing I assume not. But that’s not really a decision many can make, so it’s moot, and even among those in social housing I suspect most would rather buy a property if they could. So have a need for credit.

Usually by the time you’ve saved up the want has passed

This x10000. I recently saved up for a new TV - got to my goal of £600 and the effort of saving it up when I got thee had the effect of stopping some spending the money on something I already had (just wanted a bigger one) and spent some of it sorting my bike out as that would have a better effect on me (been off bike a while due to injury and was lacking motivation to restart).

No, I've never had a mortgage and have never wanted one, we paid cash money for our car and neither of us have a phone on contract. I understand we are [i]exceptional[/i] in this respect though. We have got BT phone/telly/interweb because my OH likes MotoGP and I need t'internet for work.

I think social housing's great if it's done well, there's no way I'd want to buy somewhere and be responsible for its upkeep ad nauseum. We pay a reasonable rent, the housing association employs a range of people to administrate and look after the house and its workings and we don't have to worry if the roof blows off or the boiler packs up.

edited- you could tie this thread in with this one-

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/savetheplanettrackworld/

Want less, spend less, use less.

Because it’s not just as reliable, and you don’t have warranties to fall back on anything major that goes.

Not in my experience! Had 3 new cars through work (need one to do job, isn’t a perk as such). First one needed a £3k new gearbox, second had loads of small bits done, my current one has had issues too. None of the cars I’ve ever bought with my own money have ever broken down or had big bills - but then I get Japanese (Toyota/Nissan mainly) and search round for a very good one. Most I ever spent was £2.5k on an 7 year old Corolla which was actually virtually new - 17k miles will full Toyota history and garaged it’s whole life.

Ive got 2. One is a travel card that doesnt charge fees for using abroad. Got it for that reason when driving to the alps for the tolls etc.

Also got a rewards card that i upgraded from my initial card. Just gives me points for using the card for petrol and groceries.

Both are paid off in full on a monthly direct debit.

I think the only thing ive used actual credit on is my PayPal Credit account once, just to see how it worked.

We put everything from a pint of milk to a holiday cottage booking on our cc, pay it off at the end of every month though.

I use mine for car things, meals I can't afford to take the wife out for and splashing out at Xmas.

It gets paid off, eventually, sometimes with a lower rate bank loan.

I'm the anti stwer in this thread I guess, but FFS some of you lot do make me wanna puke with your superiority

I do most of my spending on a credit card.

I also pay it off monthly.

It’s good to have history.

It costs me nothing to have it.

Same here. Worked in a bank when they first came out and got one right away. Always pay it off in full every month, and if I won't be able to I don't spend. In all that time I've only ever paid interest once - when we had skinted ourselves in a house move and there just wasn't any money left. Paid something like £7 in interest; that was 30 years ago and it still pains me!

Used wrong and they become a weight round your neck, I hate the fact I have mine, had to use it to help with things we needed when we got the house.

It’s on interest free for 3 years, I didn’t pay much attention to paying it off, now have 12 months to clear it, it’s got to go and never used again!

I think it’s right if i can’t afford it I can’t have it. The problem is sometimes you think what did I spend it on?? I have no idea sometimes, it was cut up 12 months ago and I plan to have it gone by the summer, then just try to live life within my means...difficult when the house needs many repairs but if it’s beans on toast and I still get to go biking then bonus!

he he..funny STW endless virtue signalling....

"i pay mine off every month....." aka i have enough money

i dont....ha ha 20k spread over 3 flipped now and then to interest free... goes up a bit each year...helps me live beyond my means

i sleep fine

Never had one as i've never considered my pitiful earnings enough to justify the potential fallbacks of over extending my budget, a simple bank card (visa debit) does me fine and at 47 i doubt i need one now

Like the sensible people here I have one that I use for spending (fuel, general shopping, bike bits etc) and it gets paid off in full every month.

A year or so ago I had a terrible credit rating due to various reasons, once all the crap had cleared off my credit reports I got a £200 limit credit builder card and used that every month and paid it off in full. Still have that same card only it's got a £700 limit now and my credit rating is now very good.

Having a good credit rating is never a bad thing even if you never plan on using it, but even then broadband/phone, utility providers, car insurance etc all do credit checks.

Tip for those trying to improve their credit rating is not to use over 50% of the limit on a credit card as this seen as a negative.

It's not I couldn't live without one, more I wouldn't want to.

For me, they only offer benefits - it's gets paid back in full every month plus I get points when I spend.

I used to use the debit card for contactless. but the CC is now contactless so everything goes through that.

I think it’s right if i can’t afford it I can’t have it.

So in this idyllic world, your car throws a turbo, taking out a valve. The bill is £1400. What exactly do STWers do? Or do you all have a spare couple of grand for this?

How about a boiler that dies and is £3500?

In the fortunate position that I do have cash savings to cover that. Well aware that’s a very lucky position to be in though, and it’s the first time in my life this has been the case, so certainly no judgement from me. I agree the high and mighty crowd are a bit odd.

Are they actually the majority in the world though? Or am I just a complete failure?

Neither. A small minority of people have savings equivalent to more than about 2 months net salary. If I’m being a bit of a dick then I’d say someone living in social housing is probably not sitting on a huge cash pile, and if they are they should get out of the social housing so someone who needs it can move in!

People on here are going to be above average earners, so it’s going to be skewed, and definitely above average for judgemental sanctimony.

I got an interest free for two years card, in order to buy a 2nd hand bike and wheelset with it. It's my first in nearly 20 years. Also been using it this month on lots of small things to avoid overdraft after Christmas spending. That wasn't really how I planned to use it, but no problem yet!

judgemental sanctimony

??

Someone asked a question.
They got lots of answers.
Some folk don't like some of the answers.

Having long term debt on a credit card means you won't be able to pay for that "emergency" engine repair or new boiler, whereas paying it off gives you a buffer for such contingencies.

There’s a very definite undertone in some (not all) posts though.

I’m sure many people would sooner pay off debt (not all), but having debt isn’t inherently an indicator that you’ve failed.

What exactly do STWers do?

Preventative maintenance helps.

Or do you all have a spare couple of grand for this?

I do, yes. Ok I have a company car but there is nothing that expensive in my flat I couldn't just get fixed or replaced if needed to at any time.

Or do you all have a spare couple of grand for this?

I don’t earn much but I do, yes.

It’s a sad state of affairs that people who are sensible are branded sanctimonious or “virtue signallers”. But then that’s how the CC companies and other lenders like it, isn’t it? People being sensible doesn’t line their pockets.

We've got 7 or 8 between the 2 of us, though that's increased recently as I have a couple of Amex cards as the benefits are way better than Visa/Mcard, but then need to have a MasterCard equivalent to hand for places that don't take Amex. All our spending goes on them, and we regularly refer each other for cards then close our own, to take advantage of referral bonuses and new card bonuses. It is a bit of a hassle and takes discipline but when the benefits in vouchers/points/cashback are in the hundreds of pounds worth every year it's worth it. Paid off in full each month and not missed a payment for over 15 years.

Also bought our last car on one at interest free, which is currently half way to being paid off. I have enough in savings to clear it now but why bother when that money is gaining me interest somewhere else and the cc costing nothing.

Got one, pay it off monthly. Always use it for purchases like flights, hotels. Had a flight to Bulgeria but the airline (Wizz Air) kept changing the times so I canceled. They refused to give me a refund even though the email said I'd get one. Claimed a full refund through visa, money credited to me in about 10 days. All I had do with send them a copy of my receipts.

Credit cards like alcohol. Used sensibly and they are fine. Wouldn't book anything except by CC.

As many others here I have one that we use and pay off in full every month - and get lots of rewards into the bargain. However after Christmas (and a couple of clients not paying large bills as expected) I couldn’t pay it off for the first time ever - £60 in interest for a £2k bill :-O no wonder people get into spirals of debt. Still, I’m fortunate in that mine is paid off now.

I have credit cards and pay them off in full every month

I have one credit card in my sons name which I use and pay off every month, this helps his credit rating

I sometimes use it when I get a good deal, I bought a bike at a really good discount which meant I had that bike that bike immediately, I paid it off over a year, which was a struggle, but I had a nice bike/and an asset I may not have saved up for but had to because it was on credit.

I guess its all about discipline and being sensible

So in this idyllic world, your car throws a turbo, taking out a valve. The bill is £1400. What exactly do STWers do? Or do you all have a spare couple of grand for this?

How about a boiler that dies and is £3500?

Pay it with a credit card, pay it off with savings. Would be screwed if the boiler blew up 2 months in a row mind. TBH if it was the boiler I'd put it on a 0% card and pay off slowly and keep my savings intact.

We were in the ‘pay it off each month’ camp until last year when our rental flat tenant stopped paying rent.
8 months later with no rent, court/legal fees for the eviction and a complete redecoration we have found the credit card very useful to keep us from going begging to the parents.
It’s amazing how quickly 2 months of wages (which I had saved) can disappear and whatblooked like minimal outgoings can suddenly seem a bit more onerous when you lose 25% of your income.
In this instance credit has been helpful to allow us to afford to pay for legal stuff and decorating, but I’d be properly worried if we needed to use it for food etc... and although we aren’t paying off in full every month we are paying a lot more than the minimum.
Mixed message I suppose but yeah, I think credit cards have a very useful place but I agree with the alcohol analogy used above.
I don’t think most are being sanctimonious but it does come across that way sometimes. By the same token the other side can appear belligerent but I’m sure they aren’t...

In my 20's I had credit card debt, not as much as some, but at around 2momths wages equivalent enough to cause poor sleep.

Now fully paid off and I still have the account with my bank, but card cut up and disposed off. If a suprise £3k bill came in I could get a new card sent out with a delay of a few days for payment if need be.

However once the CC debt was paid off aggressively I continued to pay myself that same amount of money into my investment savings account. It is amazing how much quicker your savings grow when they receive 7% interest compared to paying off a 4 figure sum plus 17% interest.

I don’t think most are being sanctimonious but it does come across that way sometimes. By the same token the other side can appear belligerent but I’m sure they aren’t…

I wonder if you could split the 'sides' 52/48... 😆

Debit card only here, carry two cards in my wallet - debit card and driving licence

Have amex, barclaycard and halifax clarity card but don't use them. Use the latter when I'm abroad only

I have one that I pay off each month. Earns a few points and had the protection.

I went daft with CCs and loans in my youth so have learnt the hard way.

Had a zero credit card balance until my daughter was a few months old and we wanted to buy a video camera so we would have some film of her crawling, walking and starting to talk etc spent about £150 on the card.....20 years later I have managed to finally clear my credit card off!!
Money was tight with a new-born, so the monthly repayments inevitably left us slightly short before payday and as soon as something unexpected happened i.e. washing machine packed up, car needed new tyres it had to go on the credit card.
The balance fluctuated over the years from a several hundred to a few grand but never got out of control or more than could be afforded, but it was just impossible to get it paid off completely.
I can see how people do manage to get themselves into huge levels of debit with them. I've switched a few times over the years when 0% deals have come up so usually had more than one card at once (usually only 1 had the balance on it) but have often had £20-30k worth of credit available to me at any point if I wanted to spend it. The temptation has been there at times just to buy something on the card and worry about it later.
The irony now that it's paid and I'm not having to make monthly payments on it I have more money available and don't need to use it, but its been a huge irritation to me over the years and I've wished many times that I'd never used it in the first place.

We buy everything on a John Lewis CC for the vouchers, which we then struggle to think of things to spend them on. Did manage to spend £25 on a reading lamp the other month.....

I use a posh Amex card for free travel insurance, rental car insurance, lounge access and upgrades with hotels/hire cars - with the amount I travel it makes financial sense. A bunch of their cards are charge cards (the green/gold/platinum) so have to be paid off in full anyway.

I don't see a problem with carrying a balance on cards over a couple of months, to buffer a gap (although I personally don't) - some people have money coming in in bursts (eg bonus coming in 2 months after xmas) so something to a sort the gap makes sense. Carrying a balance year-on-year is probably a sign you need to review things

always spend credit card online, easier to put a hold on a bad transaction than have the money out of your bank account and try to get it back

Point of note here for the "don't spend what you don't have" camp,

As others have mentioned, purchasing on credit card gives you additional protection. You can claim against the CC company if something goes wrong. But this also applies to partial purchases - so if you were buying say a £500 TV you could pay £499 in cash and £1 on the card and the card company will cover you for the full amount. It's worth having for that reason alone.

I have several cards acquired over the years, I've lost count now. All are zero balance and unused except one which has a couple of grand on it. I could pay that off tomorrow if I wanted, but it's on 0% interest for mumble years so the money is better off in my bank account earning what could laughably described as "interest." Aside from that card, all the others are set up on Direct Debit to pay in full at the start of every month (if I used them, which I don't).

There's a notion that all debt is bad. This isn't really true, but there is definitely good and bad debt. I've had both.

Like many, I learned the hard way. I got into trouble when I was younger and (more) foolish, a combination of an "ooh, free money" attitude and then losing by job meant that I maxed out a card with a limit of over ten grand (and also red-lined my overdraft). By the time I'd found employment again, the few days before my first pay cheque I was raiding the coppers jar to buy food. Over several years I managed to pay off the card - and it was a joyous day indeed when I did - and vowed never to be in that position again. Then I got married, mostly paid for on savings but a chunk across various cards. So I got a 0% balance transfer card and consolidated all the others onto it so that everything is in one place and not costing me anything, which is where the aforementioned balance came from. I'm happy with this.

Credit cards can be a very good thing used sensibly, but it's easy to lose control if you're not disciplined. Card providers don't exactly help, I got a letter last week from one telling me they'd upped my limit (unsolicited). Even though I already have several cards, I have no doubts that if I applied for another new one today it'd be approved without question. If I maxed them all out I could probably put myself in well over £20K's worth of debt, which is pretty scary.

I’m very disciplined with my cards but have been sooooo close to extravagant purchases for myself with them (E.g. new TV) it’s scary. I can totally see why people get carried away with them.

One good way of practising being disciplined with them it to get one on 0% for a single purchase and Cut up the card as soon as you’ve made the purchase

I did this with car insurance - total was £400 but paying monthly to the insurance co added a fair chunk of interest. Putting it on a 0% card and paying it off over 3-4 months meant I wasn’t paying it over a year and I had saved a decent amount in interest.

Pretty much every penny I spend goes through mine. Paid off every month (so far). If my car does spew its guts on the road or the boiler goes cold, I can fix it then and there - yes I'll pay a bit over the odds (cost of convenience and poor planning), but it beats walking to work and sitting in the cold until I can save.

As always those who truly need accessible credit - those far too poor to be on STW - are without it, leaving them to turn to Wonga or dodgy loansharks

This thread has brought a lot of people to the surface for paid off monthly type comments. But then the profile of the average MTBer is a middle-age guy in IT, so yeah likely they make a reasonable salary and therefore they can pay bills off.

Credit cards are generally a terrible way of borrowing unless managed well. For anyone who doesn't use it, moneysavingexpert will direct you to some decent cheap deals if you need to move, and also goes with the questions, Can I afford it? Do I need it? etc etc for guidance on actually using the things.

Personally, I've had one since I was about 18, did build up a bit of balance, but nothing a few months of paying it off didn't solve, lesson learnt, not really paid interest on one since.

have often had £20-30k worth of credit available to me at any point if I wanted to spend it. The temptation has been there at times just to buy something on the card and worry about it later.

I'm am certain I could get enough credit (cash transfers) and loans paid into my bank account almost instantly that I could just quit, pack up everything and set off bumming around like a hobo king the rest of my days and not pay any of it back. That's a big temptation.

But then the profile of the average MTBer is a middle-age guy in IT, so yeah likely they make a reasonable salary and therefore they can pay bills off.

Do you think this is the case or do you think middle-age IT guys just drive more expensive cars, have families, ride fancy bikes and live in slightly bigger houses so still spend most of what they earn?

Genuine question BTW, not having a dig. I earn double what I did in my first job (that's not a brag, more an indication of how poorly paid my first job was) and I still have very little left once I have paid for "essentials".

Are they actually the majority in the world though? Or am I just a complete failure?

its just people have different priorities.
i have been self employed all my life and seen recessions come and go and my income vary massively.
if there is another recession tomorrow or a no deal brexit i’ll be o.k. for a year if i pull the drawbridge up and cut any unnecessary spending.

you have fast motorbike toys and hire Ferraris to drive round the alps?
not something i would contemplate if i felt the future outlook was uncertain but everyone has different circumstances and outlooks.

i have a credit card, dont think i have ever not paid it off, have sometimes used a ‘flexiloan’ on my current account but thats because of cash flow or waiting for a tax year to end before paying myself or moving home and paying out for lots of things at once. the money is there to pay for things, it’s just not in my current account at the exact moment i need it.

never stuck anything unnecessary on a credit card though.

We were in the ‘pay it off each month’ camp until last year when our rental flat tenant stopped paying rent.
8 months later with no rent, court/legal fees for the eviction and a complete redecoration

Yep, we had that on the Wife's old flat, utter nightmare, probably cost £5k in all, if not more. Plus days off work for court, serving eviction notices, changing locks etc...

As others have mentioned, purchasing on credit card gives you additional protection. You can claim against the CC company if something goes wrong. But this also applies to partial purchases – so if you were buying say a £500 TV you could pay £499 in cash and £1 on the card and the card company will cover you for the full amount. It’s worth having for that reason alone.

Yep, if you're buying a used car, put the deposit on a CC then the rest pay however, that means the whole purchase is protected by the cc company so long as the deposit is over £100.

Oh? I didn't realise there was a minimum limit. How's that calculated?