Student Credit Card - Will it ruin my life?

seamus

No sooner was I complaining on the boards here, that I couldn't buy cheap sh1t on the net, then BOI ring me on my mobile to offer me a student credit card. Hmmmmmmm...............

I'd love it to avail of the unbelievable cheapness of the net...but a mate of mine got one recently, and keeps bringing it out drinking :rolleyes: and spending silly amounts of money he doesn't have. Having been living on my own for the last two months, I've gotten really good at managing my money, and I'd only ever buy stuff, and then immediately deposit the same amount from my current a/c into the credit account. But I can see myself being too busy to do this a few times, and racking up a few costs, and with Christmas coming up, I'm liable to spend money I don't have, on the basis that I'll "earn it back in overtime over Christmas".

But, on the flipside, as my Dad said, I can only ever be in debt to a max of €350, which isn't too bad, and if I keep putting myself in debt, I can just get rid of it......

Anyone else have one and know what it's like?

hussey

They are dead handy in one way, you can organize it so you dont have to pay for 56days later
eg if bill ends on 9th, if you buy something on the 10th, you have 1month+2weeks ish to pay for it

the other way, is that you look at soemthing and say .. i'll have the cash by the bill .. then you dont and go doh!

Stephen

I have an AIB student mastercard, and its dead handy. Just don't be a muppet about paying it off and you'll be grand. I use their online banking system to pay it off, much handier than doing it over the phone or by post.

My credit limit is only €400, but i've used it to buy lots of stuff off the net since getting it last August

Its a pity the card itself is covered with pictures of absolute fvckwits. What's the BOI one look like?

eth0_

Yeah the limit is so low as to not be worth worrying about. It'll be easily cleared.

As for the manky cards, why don't you call up and say your card is damaged and ask for a new one to be sent, and request a plain regular card?

Lenny

I'm getting a credit card off the 'ol wan
14,500 credit limit.
I honestly don't know if I will accept the ****ing thing or not, I just will not stop spending it on komplett

hussey

Originally posted by Lenny
I'm getting a credit card off the 'ol wan
14,500 credit limit.
I honestly don't know if I will accept the ****ing thing or not, I just will not stop spending it on komplett

a credit limit that high could be a bad thing, if ya lose your credit card, someone could run up huge bills, before you even know its gone

John2002

I'd recommend getting one. I have mine a couple of years now and it's dead handy, not only for buying stuff on the net but also if you're travelling abroad too. And as long as you take out large amounts, the cash withdrawal costs are minimal.

BOI Visa recently upped my limit to €1300 cos generally I'd have it paid off in time.

Got a nice pic of UL on the front of it too :cool:

BuffyBot

Originally posted by seamus

But, on the flipside, as my Dad said, I can only ever be in debt to a max of €350, which isn't too bad, and if I keep putting myself in debt, I can just get rid of it......

Anyone else have one and know what it's like? [/B]

Get it. One with a limit that size is grand - very handy for buying stuff (net included) and hard to run up a bill you can't possibly pay (unlike mine, stupid feckin bank keeps raising the limit - but I don't think they do that with the student cards)

OSiriS

Credit cards are fine as long as you can excercise self restraint and not spend money you don't have. For years I refused to even consider getting one, until online purchasing became so cheap and handy. To make sure I don't spend money I don't have I get them to take everything owed on the card each month from my account.

sceptre

Just watch that limit. BOI recently knocked my limit up to 8 grand (for some reason I guess they don't realise that I'm now a student with no money and no source of income whatever):rolleyes:. Ideally keep lodging money to the thing (ideally before you spend it - they give you a rate of interest better than you'll be getting from a regular account and you can always withdraw money with no charge then)

Lump

I have an AIB credit card, TBH I think that AIB have to be the greatest bank on the earth. Its currently 200 Euro over the limit and all they do each month is charge 2.54 for it being over the limit. If you can manage to make the payments every month then you will be grand. I manage to make the payments so the bank has no problem with it.


John

tHE vAGGABOND

fergal : MBNA gave me a credit card with a 2 grand limit when I was in the SU after college..

I have just payed it last month, several years later..

Be careful

rob1891

Don't forget you'll have to pay stamp duty, 40 euro I think (used to be 19). Though I know for sure I've saved more than 19 euro this past year by purchasing off the internet (what I use it for) and will probably save the 40 euro next year too.

Also the limit of 400 euro is not as dibilitating as it seems, you can load the card with as much money as you have (via internet/telephone/local branch), give it 3 days to clear and then buy your flights/pay insurance/whatever. (Ofcourse it no longer becomes a credit card when you start loading it, but then again you cannot run up a 2000euro bill either and things are so much easier to pay for with the card).

rob

Winning Hand

No need to worry here, applied for mine three weeks ago from bank of Ireland in time for christmas and still no sign of it. Am very close to closing my account and moving to AIB

Nietzschean

i dunno took about a week and a half or so for me to get mine from boi, tis quite handy, of late i seem to use it mostly for booking cinema tickets (LOTR:2 case in point, all booked out by people like myself ). Laser cards are also dead handy, combined stamp duty of 60 euro though i'm not sure if the stamp duty will be applied to the laser card as i've never had stamp duty on my atm card and its a combined card..............

leeroybrown

Banks can be quite eager to give out credit cards.

I've got €3000 limit recently, which is massive considering I am unemployed right now


Student credit cards are a good idea (so long as you aren'a an absolute idiot ). They're really handy for online purchases and pre-booking stuff.

pugwall

Dot get one unless you have some sort of a regular income!!
Otherwise when you use it, you wont be able to afford to pay it back in full. This is a very bad habit to get into as when your limit increases, you may be in the situation where u are paying large amounts of interest to the company.

This works in their favour!!!!!!!

Get them in young while they have no regular income and need the extra cash.

My advice is to get an overdraft if needs be.

WAIT until you are on a regular income.........................

The_Conductor

Was with AIB and have switched to BOI.
Got my first credit card from BOI- arranged an over draft facility with BOI and volunteered to pay off the Credit card bills on due date by direct debit (the interest due on the over draft is far lower than that on the credit card). Once you don't horse around with the credit card you're laughing- I mean like- you're hardly going to use it in the bar? If you're not capable of using minimal self restraint, get a sissors and chop your flexible friend in two (and tell the bank so you don't get charged the stamp duty....)
Current APR on a BOI credit card is 14.9% (according to my last bill), but the APR on the overdraft is 10.4%- I know 4.5% isn't a lot, but hell it all adds up.
Reason I left AIB- I got fed up being treated with utter disdain- they refused to let students use the main branch- they were insistent on you going to the student branch (whether it suited or not). BOI on the other hand opened a new branch at the Montrose (opposite UCD), with extended evening opening hours, and seem to have recruited abnormally nice staff who genuinely seem to want to help people. Thats how I found it anyway. Before you ask- no I don't work for BOI...... :-)

carrotcake

did you set up your aib account in a student branch or a regular one?

The_Conductor

Opened a student account with my local branch at home, and then put up with being treated like a criminal trying to use it in the college branch...... BOI never gave me any trouble (nor did Ulster Bank). I just really took exception to being treated like dirt by the AIB people......

Panda

so seamus, has it ruined your life yet?

i've just filled out the forms the other day, cant wait to start buyin interweb stuff with it.

Stark

they're handy things alright. I got one with a €1000 credit limit (me being a student) and it hasn't ruined my life yet. Sometimes I feel the need alright to browse the web and buy any old crap, but luckily the multi-step purchasing process puts you off buying stuff you don't want
Although what's dangerous is places like amazon which make it so easy by allowing you to login once and then storing all your credit card details allowing you to buy with a click.
My strategy is generally to pay off my credit card as I buy stuff on it, that way I always know how much money I have, I do that using the online banking.

Stark

What's annoying though is TSB, they don't let you check your credit card balance online Anytime I ask them about it they say "oh it's in the pipeline, give it another month or two"

scojones

Am i wrong, but is the highest limit you can get something like €450. It's definately not near €1000 anyway..

The_Conductor

Depends on tonnes of factors- least of which seems to be the fact that you're a student without a steady income.
I got an IR£1250 credit limit on my second credit card while still a first year student in college, with no income apart from the pittance my part time job in a local bookshop paid.

scojones

Interesting.. I looked at BoI and AIB, they said 450. What bank was yours from?

seamus

Originally posted by Panda
so seamus, has it ruined your life yet?

i've just filled out the forms the other day, cant wait to start buyin interweb stuff with it.

Yes, yes it has

Nah, it's grand, I've bought tonnes of interweb **** with it, and combined with banking365, it's easy to pay back what you use it for and whatever.

Only bad thing is waiting for the things to arrive

Stark

I looked at BoI and AIB, they said 450. What bank was yours from?

TSB

The_Conductor

Mine was BOI- and it definitively was a student account (so I didn't have to pay the fees!)

Stark

sure? I think all credit cards give you free fees the idea being that they make their money on the interest when you get trapped in spiralling debt.
The stamp duty on the other hand is inescapable(is for atm cards anyway), you have to pay it student or not.

Stephen

The credit card company also gets about 2-2.5% of each card transaction from the merchant.