I’ve always been against credit cards and the mass over usage thereof, but the time has come where I need a credit card for a purpose other than not having cash on hand.
Building up a good credit rating is essential when it comes to so many things, including loans, bonds and the likes. I am currently designing a studio for myself, which I am hoping to start building by Feb 2008. Firstly I have a student loan of R40,000, which I will pay off all at once cash at the end of this month and I’m hoping that will be step one in winning over the bank. Step two will be using my Virgin credit card to pay for things and then pay the card off immediately at the end of every month to keep my ratings good.
Now, even though the bank has no problem with giving me a bond to go ahead with the building of the studio, I think it’s essential to show good faith in repayments and credit ratings so if something comes up, they will at least now that financially I’m a safe person to loan money too.
I signed up for my Virgin credit card online, which took about 15 minutes or so. They gave me a great limit, which I actually decided to reduce and so far I am really impressed by the service they have offered me. I was referred to Virgin by most of my colleages, whom swear by Virgin. Interest rates are fantastic and benefits look great two. One thing, which isn’t the best is that Virgin does not offer the system where you can payoff over x number of months, but that wasn’t enough reason to not apply. Virgin also offers a petrol card, which I signed up for too. Pay for all your petrol on your card, repay via EFT end of month – great repayment ratings :)
The whole credit card system is one which can work very much in your favour if you just understand it! All-in-all I am very happy with Virgin, so if you are interested in signing up for a card with them, go on and do it!
Credit Cards are about as dangerous as you allow them to be. Congrats on your first then Chris – happy swiping ;-)
I’ve also heard good things about Virgin and their credit cards, and who can resist one with such an enthusiastic message like “Use me” on the front?
Ye, I just know too many people who never grasped the whole idea of a credit card and have found themselves in bad situations. Fortunately, I am pretty good with financial stuff, so I see not problems from my side.
‘Use Me’ – haha, ya, that’s brilliant! Right, back to eating my hotdogs :)