No Credit Credit Cards

[jon]

I started my IVA in November and have constantly been looking for a way to make things easier as far as managing my personal money is concerned.
I have found that Mastercard do a "no credit credit card" with quaranteed acceptance through another company. The idea is that you pay a £4.95 monthly charge and you can load your card up to £15000.
You can then use the card in exactly the same way as you use an ordinary credit/mastercard, up to the amount you actually have on the card.
Has anybody got one of these and if so do you have any problems with it?
Do the rest of you think it is a good idea?
Do the experts know of any drawbacks or disadvantages to having one of these cards or is it as good as it sounds?

[MelanieGiles]

Hi jon and welcome to the forum

Do you mean that you have to pay over £15,000 and then can draw against that money? You could do that yourself with careful budgeting and a separate savings account? Maybe I have misunderstood the nature of such card, I am sure others will reply far better!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[Skippy]

Hi Jon and welcome to the forum. I am waiting for my card to arrive, but I know a lot of people on here use them and I have heard good things about them. There are various different cards out there at various prices, so it's worth doing a comparison. My one is from Unique, but I know a lot of people have the Myvesta one.

Onwards and upwards!!!

[jon]

Melanie
As far as I understand, you are allowed a MAXIMUM of £15000 on your card but are able to spend up to the amount you have on your card.
You mention a savings account. I was under the impression I was not allowed to have a savings account as such. Is this so?
Skippy13 i was looking at a CashPlus card.

[MelanieGiles]

Jon

I still don't understand this card. Does it mean you have to make a deposit of monies, which you are then able to spend up to the maximum?

You may have a savings account - indeed this is a very good idea within an IVA. You should put all of the contingency money - miscellaneous, car maintenance, medical, house maintenance etc into this account each month, so that it is there when needed.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[jon]

Melanie
You now understand the principal of the card!
Will this have complications with my IVA?

Thanks for the info on the savings account, I was under the impression I could not open one.
If I save alot in it will the IPs want some of it back though?

[MelanieGiles]

Jon

If you are able to save a lot of money, then you are not paying the right level of contributions and your IP will smell a rat!

I still can't see the benefit of these cards - and where will you get the money from to put down as the deposit in the first place?

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[shelbert]

Hi Melanie,
At last, a question that I can answer to help out!!

The idea of the card is to top the card up with your available cash - for example, food shopping money. The maximum and minimum amount they let you pay onto the card varies for each company.

You can then use the card like you would a credit card but you can never go over the amount that you have on the card, and as the money is your own, you are not getting into debt.

When the card is empty, it can be topped up with cash ready to use again.

It seems useful for online purchases, as alot of people don't like using debit cards online. And also, some places do not accept Electron and Solo which seem to be the debit cards available for basic bank accounts.

There is usually a montly charge of around £4.95, but always read the small print before applying, because some pre paid credit cards charge you for withdrawing from cash machines and some may even charge a small transaction fee.

There are no credit checks for this, because there is no credit involved, it's all your own money. However, ID needs to be provided when applying.
Hope this helps [:)]

[MelanieGiles]

Well thanks for that Shelbert - I genuinely did not know these things existed. Still don't see why anyone would want to give away £5 per month for the benefit though, when a budget/bills account would do the same trick!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[shelbert]

I agree, I looked into it, but I don't buy online and I think a debit card for food shopping is ok for me and a seperate account for car and house maintenance.[:)]

[Skippy]

You can also have your salary and possibly benefits paid onto them, so they are useful if you have problems getting a bank account. I am getting mine as it would be useful for me to be able shop online, and also to pay my bills if I can't get a bank account that allows me direct debits when I am BR. I would rather pay £5 per month for that than £12.50 for a managed bank account, but that's just me!

Onwards and upwards!!!

[aguise]

Hi Melanie
I think the card they are takling about is a pre paid debit card it just works like a top up card you pay the money on and then if you need to pay by card eg internet you can do it and saves carrying cash around you can top them up at the post office or even have wages paid onto them they have no credit just what you put on and that can be between 5 and 15 thousand depending on the card, but basically if you put 10 pounds on thats what you can spend on the card. They carry different charges some have amonthly charge some charge a £1 each time you use them, it depends how many times you are going to use it. If you google pre paid debit cards the which site shows all the different ones avaliable. Very popular in america if children can have them.

Hope that explains.


All the very best Ang

[aguise]

Sorry for the repeat everyone replied whil I was writing.

Ang

[gimmewine]

Skippy, before you get into the prepaid credit card scenario beware of the small print. Quite often they charge you for cash withdrawals per transaction £1.50 to £2.50 and if not, you will find there is a charge for point of sale transactions ie you get charged 2.5 or 3% when you shop on line or in a supermarket. You may find it works out more expensive than paying the £12.50

[scaredkez]

skippy i opened up the greg penn one today, after weighing up all the pros and cons as we need a drebit card with Jack working away, they don't freeze the account in BR either, i must admit i was quite impressed i know how i felt about the fees but they are actually managing your money for you so you can't run the risk of ever going overdrawn or missing a direct debit,
kerri

Please view my blog at: http://scaredkez.blogs.iva.co.uk/