I have found in the past that dredit cards are really not about buy now and pay later; more about buy now and pay forever!!! Whoever came up with the idea of the credit card was a genius. The basic theory is you lend someone say £10,000.00 and charge them £200.00 per month. Ten years later they still end up owing you £10,000.00! It's juat a licence to print money.

If there are any still any deluded fools out there that think credit card companies are benevolent; wake up and smell the coffee! Bottomline profit (and a very nice one too!) is the name of the highly lucrative game.

Free balance transfers catch all but the most sagacious and financially astute completely on the hop. If you have for example £2,500.00 on credit card A and wish to transfer to credit card B to benefit from free interest, B will normally increase the available limit.

Most people fall foul of this and start using the increased facility, which IS NOT interest free as it wasn't included in the balance transfer deal. Six months or so later when the interest kicks in it is then charged on the FULL OUTSTANDING BALANCE!

APR is another favourite way of baffling the public and enticing them with the small print as you need a radio telescope to read it and a Masters Degree in advanced gobledegook to interpret it! It acn often be the case that a card with an APR of say 12% can cost more than one with an APR of maybe 13.5%!

How can this be? Well it all depends on how the interest is calculated. If it's calculated daily and you only borrow the money for a few days in the month, your interest charge will be relatively low. However if the interest is charged monthly, you can fall foul of this nice little earner for the credit card companies and end up with a much larger interest payment.

The best advice for credit card user is; BURN THEM! Not particularly environmentally friendly I'm afraid, but the best fate for these nasty devices. Debit cards are the only way to go. They generally have all the same facilities, but if you ain't got it, you can't spend it!

It really is totally free to use and has everything you need to manage your finances and control unsecured debts.

Best of luck to all of you out there.

MickC

Credit cards are a great tool and I always recommend people get one and use it responsibly.

With a credit card you have a massive increase in consumer protection - if you pay for something and a dispute arises, the credit card company is your friend. Not often a billion dollar multinational will side with you.

I advised my girlfriend the same - within a week of getting it she used it to buy a large pet cage. The seller never sent the goods, and didn't answer the phone or respond to emails. She contacted the credit card company, who then issued a chargeback against the seller and she got her money back.

You could never do that with a debit card - instead, you'd have to mess about with Trading Standards and have the hassles of taking out legal action yourself if required.

Hassle saved by having a credit card - but as with all tools, use it responsibly.

I pay mine off in full at the end of every month, as it should be.