Credit cards - which one.

Howitzer

Hi there,

I recently got a Maestro (laser) debit card from AIB. I wanted it for internet transactions. Found out yesterday it doesn't work on Amazon.co.uk / .com or any other range of non .ie sites. So much for the WORLD wide web.

I now want a credit card from AIB, and will cancel my debit card and get back my ATM card.
I will pay all bills on time to avoid interest.

Do you think AIB's card is any good?
- Low Interest MasterCard
or
- Standard Visa/MasterCard

I wouldn't need the credit card if the debit product was as good as in other countries. I feel I am being forced into this sittuation - paying e40 instead of e20 govt. fee. and risking falling into credit / require better card management skills than with a debit card.

Your opinions welcome

BC

If you're worried about buying on credit, just set up your payment as a direct debit so you pay it in full every month. If you're not paying interest then it doesn't really matter what credit card you have.

CCOVICH

If you intend paying off the balance in full every month, then the interest rate on the card is pretty much irrelevant, but of course it makes sense to go for the lowest rate available just in case you are not in a position to clear your balance every month.

Be aware that the lower the interest rate on a card, the more stringent requirements that will have to be met in order to get the card (i.e. higher annual salary).

Some providers (such as Tesco and Pigsback) offer extra points when using the card etc., so these might be worth looking at.

I recently changed to a BoI cc to an AIB cc, as my current a/c is with AIB and it's uesful to be able to see your transactions balances online. It also allows you to make transfers on the same/next day, as opposed to a 3/5 day wait if your current a/c and cc are with different banks/providers.

One thing to consider is the fee for foreign currency purchases and ATM cash withdrawls. There can be small differences between banks/providers.

Check out this link which gives the results of cost surveys carried out by IFSRA on both standard and student credit cards.

D'Peoples Voice

Howitzer wrote:

Do you think AIB's card is any good?
- Low Interest MasterCard
or
- Standard Visa/MasterCard

Heard a news story recently that Mastercard have removed the cap on booking/service fee that retailers can charge.
Visa still have their cap on booking fees!
you should confirm that is the case first before you do anything!!!

for that reason I'd go for visa card with
https://wwwa.applyonlinenow.com/IRapp/Ctl/redirect?CV_sourceCode=pigsbkgd_cards&CV_banner=MBI-HP-34918-36254
but then i clear my balance each month, otherwise MBNA will scr*w you over with their rates of APR compared to Ptsb's ICE credit card.

LegacyUser

You could always look at the new "Top-Up" Credit card that PTSB are doing.

www.3v.ie

Personally I've no idea why the Visa debit card hasnt been introduced here. I had one when I lived in the US, Visa card with 16 digit number etc. except the purchase was debited immediately from my current account, just like a Laser card. They dont have a credit facility, so it was ideal for people who didnt want a credit card, and still wanted the convenience of Visa for online purchasing etc. Anyone know why they never made it here?

REDZ

ulster bank zinc is a good deal, 9mts 0% and low rate after, the only problem is they refused me one, the gits

DublinWriter

As long as they offer free interest on balance transfers, then every one! If you juggle between cards you can have an interest free loan.

For example, MBNA offer you free interest for 6 months on balance transfers from other cards

The €40 levy only applies to a single card. If you close one CC account and open another, then your orignal CC card issuer should credit you the €40.

Personally, I try and clear off the balance of the card on a monthly basis, as CC's are a rip off interest-wise.

I switched to MBNA from BOI in 2003 as BOI were still in the stone age and didn't have online access to my AC. As I travelled a lot on business at the time and used my CC, it was very important to me to check the transactions on my CC on a regular basis to see if I'd been cloned, etc.

A monthly printed statement from BOI really wasn't much of a safeguard, as if I'd been stung I wouldn't have realised it for weeks.

Slice

I'd recommend not getting a credit card with the same company as the one you bank with. If you fail to keep up with your credit card repayments it's harder to apply for a loan through your bank because they will assess you according to your payment history of your credit card account as well.

Whereas if you have your credit card with say MBNA your bank wont know your payment history with your credit card unless MBNA were to take action against you for the debt on your credit card such as legal proceedings or to publish your name in stubbs

CCOVICH

Slice wrote:

I'd recommend not getting a credit card with the same company as the one you bank with. If you fail to keep up with your credit card repayments it's harder to apply for a loan through your bank because they will assess you according to your payment history of your credit card account as well.

If you feel that you will not be able to meet your payments, you should not get a credit card anyway, as the interest rates are excessive, Regardless of who you get your cerdit card with, if you miss payments, this will be reflected on your Irish Credit Bureau (ICB) report, and all lenders have access to this, and will know of the fact you have missed payments.

eth0_

Would love to know why we don't have Visa Debit in this country yet when they've had it in the UK for YEARS.

Laser is total sh*te! It's your typical antiquated Irish system, you could be gone overdrawn and wouldn't know for a week because the system doesnt know if you're in credit or not. I stopped using it a few years ago.

byte

AFAIK, you can put your credit card in Credit, whereby the CC company owe you money instead of vice versa. That way, you'll not be in debt, and it'll sort of work the same way as a debit card... I think.

CCOVICH

Yes, that's true. This also allows you to withdraw cash from ATMs without having to pay a cash advance fee (i.e. when your cc account is in credit), which is also a useful way of accessing cash abroad.

BC

CCOVICH wrote:

Yes, that's true. This also allows you to withdraw cash from ATMs without having to pay a cash advance fee (i.e. when your cc account is in credit), which is also a useful way of accessing cash abroad.

This is dependent on the company. MBNA still charge the cash advance fee they just don't charge interest if you're in credit.

wurdley

Howitzer wrote:

I now want a credit card from AIB, and will cancel my debit card and get back my ATM card.

Isn't your debit card also an ATM card? And why cancel it? Not too many places accept it on the web, but it's almost as common as credit cards in meatspace now, and it saves you carrying around cash.

I'd be curious as to why you got a debit card in the first place too. If your financial advisor told you it would be the best option for the web, you have a very bad financial advisor. If you didn't ask someone, well, you know what the say about people that represent themselves...

blorg

If you bank with AIB and intend clearing your balance every month (and you would be mad not to) then get the AIB card. It is very handy to be able to look up your statement on the internet banking and transfer money quickly into the card when necessary.

I can also confirm AIB don't charge any money on cash withdrawals _in the Eurozone_ if your account is in credit (although I thought this was the case for all cards, including MBNA, surprised by that.) AIB do charge for the UK for example. This is less of an advantage than it used to be however, as you can make withdrawals anywhere in the Eurozone using your normal Banklink card with no charge any more.

blorg

And keep the Laser card. It's €20 against €10 for a simple bank card, so you are only saving €10 - which I doubt will be refundable anyway.

A Laser card gets you around €2-4 off Ryanair and Aer Lingus flights, among other things.

kaisersose77

I finished college a few months ago and am now working in a factory with a view to maybe doing a masters or something in a years time. And I want to get a credit card to buy stuff online instead of always asking me brother to do it for me. My bank a/c is a bank of ireland student one that i set up while in college but im not a student atm. I have never had a credit card before so im wondering if I apply for one, can I just have it so the money owed is taken out of my a/c each month through direct debit and so the only charge would be the stamp duty? ( I plan to always have enough money in my a/c to cover debts as i'll only be buying bits and pieces online).

ps: do bank of ireland have any thing like the AIB dummy number generator?


Thanks

RainyDay

kaisersose77 wrote:

Ican I just have it so the money owed is taken out of my a/c each month through direct debit and so the only charge would be the stamp duty? ( I plan to always have enough money in my a/c to cover debts as i'll only be buying bits and pieces online).

Yes, and it's a very sensible thing to do - makes sure you won't get hit for interest payments. Obviously, you just need to manage your spending so you don't exceed your available cash. Online access to your cc account might help this.

kaisersose77 wrote:

ps: do bank of ireland have any thing like the AIB dummy number generator?

No, don't think so. Note that there is no reason why you can't get the AIB card and direct debit the payments from your BOI current account

kaisersose77

Do you think Bank of Ireland would investigate if I was still in college if I applied for their student credit card - as I said in the last post, I have a student bank a/c in the uni I went to.

edit: I see they have some sort of graduate credit card but there site seems to be gone to ****e the only time i want to see it

BrianD

I recently got a Maestro (laser) debit card from AIB. I wanted it for internet transactions. Found out yesterday it doesn't work on Amazon.co.uk / .com or any other range of non .ie sites. So much for the WORLD wide web. ... I wouldn't need the credit card if the debit product was as good as in other countries.

You are factually incorrect here. You have a Laser card and not a Maestro card. The Maestro symbol indicates that you can withdraw cash at ATM's abroad that bear that symbol.

Debit cards tend to be only accepted in the country that they are issued in. You can only use Laser in RoI retail outlets and similarly nobody will accept Switch cards here. Maestro and Visa Debit are new kids on the block (and an international franchise like their credit cards) and I would say it will be a while before the Irish banks start providing them as a product here. Debit cards are still a relatively young product here. The big advantage of the Maestro/Visa franchise is that they offer international dimension that domestic systems such as Laser or Switch don't.

In terms of online commerce, Ireland has a population of 4 million and only a percentage of these would hold Laser cards. Therefore it would not really worthwhile for Internet retailers to set up to accept Laser cards. Some international sites such as CD Wow accept Laser. I suppose it would make sense for an Irish e-tailer who does a lot of business with the UK to accept certain debit cards.

BuffyBot

You are factually incorrect here. You have a Laser card and not a Maestro card. The Maestro symbol indicates that you can withdraw cash at ATM's abroad that bear that symbol.

AIB are offering Maestro branded debit cards now. Cirrus is the symbol (also operated by Mastercard) allows you to use ATM's abroad. Maestro is designed to be used as a debit card at home and abroad.

Maestro and Visa Debit are new kids on the block (and an international franchise like their credit cards) and I would say it will be a while before the Irish banks start providing them as a product here.

Well Visa debit cards have been around for quite some time, Maestro is newer. I wouldn't called them new kids on the block - and a branded Maestro card is now being offered by AIB. Some of the other banks have added Maestro functionality on their Laser cards.

ken90

blorg wrote:

If you bank with AIB and intend clearing your balance every month (and you would be mad not to) then get the AIB card. It is very handy to be able to look up your statement on the internet banking and transfer money quickly into the card when necessary.

I can also confirm AIB don't charge any money on cash withdrawals _in the Eurozone_ if your account is in credit (although I thought this was the case for all cards, including MBNA, surprised by that.) AIB do charge for the UK for example. This is less of an advantage than it used to be however, as you can make withdrawals anywhere in the Eurozone using your normal Banklink card with no charge any more.

AIB do charge a cash advance fee for cash withdrawals within Ireland.

About 6-60

I've seen it on my statement, twice lately.

BC

BrianD wrote:

You are factually incorrect here. You have a Laser card and not a Maestro card. The Maestro symbol indicates that you can withdraw cash at ATM's abroad that bear that symbol.

Not true. At the end of last year AIB introduced a new laser card that is co-branded as a Maestro card. It can be used as a debit card abroad as opposed to the standard laser which can only be used in Ireland.

luckat

And as you're new to credit cards, remember this: the "Due by" date shown on your credit card bill is not the date you must pay by, but (weirdly) the date that *the money must be in the card company's account by*.

MBNA offered me a "cheap" deal of 1.9% interest if I transferred debts over to them, and then cancelled the cheapness and put me back on their full 13.9% rate - and also charged me a hefty "late fee" when I paid only by the due date listed on the bill.

So if you're going to get a credit card for the first time, I'd suggest that you get one with a company you know, and that you use it only for internet purchases and big things like washing machines, where you want a record of what you've spent.

And if you really want to annoy the companies, put the money in the card *before* you make the purchase - in other words, if you want to buy something costing €500, put the money in the card, *then* make the purchase. This way you'll pay them no interest at all, and they'll be working for you.