Paying English Credit Cards

[Quillan]

Just in case anyone was interested.

Having now closed my UK bank account (two months back) I have been paying my UK credit cards by French bank cheque in Euro's. I seem to be getting more time to pay taking in to account postage and I get a commercial exchange rate and no charge that I can see. This is working OK for Amex, Barclaycard, Abbey, Goldfish and Mint. None of my cards have stopped working and they (the card people) seem happy enough. I always pay my cards off every month so it's nothing to do with the fact I owe them loads of money. The only issue I can see is when the cards run out and getting replacements sent (like will they send to an address in France) but as it's not for a year or two it's not a current problem. I wonder how you would get on applying for a card from scratch to any of these companies from France?

[Cassis]

Our replacement Co-op Bank Gold cards were sent here without any problem earlier this year.  If they already send your statements to a French address I guess it shouldn't be a problem.  Nice card collection, by the way!

Phil

[Miki]

Agree with Cassis, any cards currently in use, should not give any

problems, regardless of address. Very hard to start a new UK credit

card account with a French address though.  Can anyone tell me why

anyone requires more than one card, two at most ? Especially anyone who

pays up the account every month.

We have Oney in France and one banks Visa/Mastercard in the UK for use

there and elsewhere. Slung Amex many years ago, not saying is isn't any

good , just no point, after any benefits they offered (at a price) were

no longer any use to us.

I find it quite despairing, when you see someone showing a whole wadge

of cards in a purpose built wallet.  My eyes water at the thought

of what debt hides behind those very cards. My wife's Uncle, (worked

long time Worldwide with B.P) uses a different card for different

countries, so I see why he has so many but they are for the most part,

all company cards.

[suein56]

Quillan

Forgive me if my question seems nosey, but I am intrigued as to what you are buying with your UK credit cards if you here in France most of the time. Maybe I am missing something, but we only use our credit cards when we are in the UK , also to pay for a ferry crossing or flight if it is with a UK company.

Do you know something I don't about UK credit cards?[:)]

Sue

[Jc]

One advantage of UK cards is that they are credit cards not charge cards like most of the French ones and they also come free(without an annual charge)-I still pay monthly in full.

[Quillan]

We never had a problem changing to a French address for the statements because we had a UK account and always paid via that with a standing order. It was how to actually pay the bills without a UK bank account and the fact that many card compainies won't let you pay by elctronic banking from another country. I never knew you could pay with a French bank cheque written out in Euro's.

Why so many cards somebody said. Well it was for when we were in the UK, Barclaycard gave 3 years extended warranty on electrical goods when you used it to purchase, pretty handy for washing machines etc and included TV and video camera etc. Abbey because it came with the bank account, Goldfish for the points that went towards paying our gas bill, Mint (formally RBS) to buy petrol with and Amex (mines a charge card) because you get free travelers cheques and insurance when you book holidays and pay with it. It costs me nothing to keep them (even some colours of Amex don't charge) and I use them for 'projects' like all my bathooms went on one card down to a packet of screws, kitchen on another etc. so it was easy to see how much it actually cost in total. Actually I agree they probably aren't worth keeping for day to day stuff in France if you pay them off as you go you might just as well use Carte Blue with the pay at the end of the month option.

Heres a good example, my wife was ill abroad last year and had to go to hospital for several days in Tailand. We had bought the flights and hotel rooms etc via Amex, the hospital bills were paid using the Amex card and the Amex insurance paid the Amex bill which was around £7k so it's well worth keeping that card for holiday insurance.

[booboo]

[quote user="Jc"]

One advantage of UK cards is that they are credit cards not charge cards like most of the French ones and they also come free(without an annual charge)-I still pay monthly in full.

[/quote]

surely its worth paying the minor card annual fee for a french credit card than having to suffer the exchange rate  + possibly a commission (often hid in the exchange rate) every time you use the UK card in France ? Some french banks do offer their credit cards free for life if you apply when opening the account (CA in paris does anyway)

I've also got the french barclaycard and pay in full each month by direct debit.

[Jc]

I missed out that paying your bill with a UK sterling cheque is a good way of transferring money out of a UK account.

[Cerise]

Be careful with so called card advantages - often the small print says they are only available to UK residents.  We had gold card with Lloyds which although it cost  gave us excellent all round travel insurance.  When we moved to France I asked them to confirm this was still available and in the branch they said yes.  Being a suspicious kind of person, I asked for it in writing and when the letter came it said they regretted that travel insurance was only for UK residents.  If I had believed the branch it could have cost me dearly as I would not, in fact,  have had travel insurance.  Goodbye gold card after that.

[val douest]

We now use our Nationwide credit card to pay most day to day purchases

in preference to our Carte Bleu or cheque book.  This is because

we actually get a better exchange rate (the rate of the day with no

commission or charges for the transaction) than we were getting through

currency exchange companies to move money across in sizeable amounts.

Val

[Quillan]

[quote user="Cerise"]Be careful with so called card advantages - often the small print says they are only available to UK residents.  We had gold card with Lloyds which although it cost  gave us excellent all round travel insurance.  When we moved to France I asked them to confirm this was still available and in the branch they said yes.  Being a suspicious kind of person, I asked for it in writing and when the letter came it said they regretted that travel insurance was only for UK residents.  If I had believed the branch it could have cost me dearly as I would not, in fact,  have had travel insurance.  Goodbye gold card after that.[/quote]

The Amex insurance is only available (well on my type of card) if you book via their travel agency anywhere in the world. However I was offered the oppertunity to move my card to France but because of Frenh law (so I am told) some of the benifits either don't exist or are capped.

The Banque Populair Platinum card now does much the same function as Amex and gives free card insurance (if your wallet is lost or stollen) for their own cards and any others you hold. You also get free breakdown insurance for the car you are in at the time be you the driver or passenger which could be handy.

The other cards I just keep now because I have them and it helps keep your credit rating in the UK should you ever need it and will help if I ever want to open a UK bank account in the future although at this point I can't ever imagine going back to the UK.

Barclaycard lost a lot of money with their free 3 year warranty service and I believe they have now stopped it. Goldfish (points) can't be used to pay French gas and electricity bills even though most of the UK electricity system is owned by EDF. I only mention this because I have a few thousand points which I can't use for anything and it grieves me a bit getting something for nothing then not being able to use it.

Get a Ryan Air credit card if you use them a lot. When I got one (at Stanstead Airport waiting in a queue for a flight that had been canceled whould you believe) my third flight was free and I think there is something about you get one free flight (to anywhere) for every ten you book with them using their card or something like that I can't honestly remember now.

I do agree with you, don't assume your credit card 'rights' stay the same when you move your address to another country.

[Jc]

Saga also offers exchange rate advantages;Tesco offers points which give you a very small discount.

[suein56]

***I only mention this because I have a few thousand points which I can't use for anything and it grieves me a bit getting something for nothing then not being able to use it.***

Quillan

Re the Goldfish points: I ordered Asda vouchers and gave them to my daughter - result: free shopping for her and brownie points for mum. Of course if Asda is not your cup of tea ... Actually, I think most of the value of the vouchers was spent on 'George' clothes for daughter and granddaughter - and that brand has a nifty rating.

Re the paying off of UK credit cards with a French euro cheque: I am stunned that that is possible and even more stunned that there are no charges made for doing so. Perhaps I have just got used to the French [Bank's] way of charging for everything, even if they should not.

Sue

 

 

[Jc]

It's not just GEORGE;Asda spare ribs in sauce are far superior to Tesco or Sainsbury!!

[Andyphilpott]

Reasons as follows

1. In case one card is lost stolen - back up until the replacement arrives

2. Separating business and personal expenses.

3.  Taking advantage of special terms. In the UK we have had many zero per cent balance transfer offers on sometimes crazy (for the credit card companies) terms even with the balance transferred going into your bank account (although that has now stopped) At one point I had more than a dozen cards generating over £3000 p.a. in interest on the money they lent me and I deposited in a high interest account! As the terms have now become less advantageous I have dumped most of the cards once the borrowing was repaid. However be warned you have to be very well organised to take advantage of this as one slip and the card companies skin you alive. See the Money Saving Expert web site.

Other than this, I tend to agree wih Miki. I have just a couple of credit cards for general use and a debit card on French and Englis Bank accounts for the few times that I need cash.

Andy

[leo]

IF YOU REGULARLY TOP- UP YOUR UK MOBILE ,WITH YOUR UK BASED CREDIT CARD 

(WHICH I HAVE FOUND VERY CONVIENENT FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS )

AND,

 THEN DECIDE TO CHANGE YOUR UK CREDIT CARD BILLING ADDRESS, TO YOUR  YOUR FRENCH ADDRESS .

YOU CANNOT THEN USE THAT CREDIT CARD ,TO TOP-UP YOUR UK BASED MOBILE PHONE

LEO,

ST SEVER 14

[Graham & Brenda]

Quillan. If you want to pay your UK card in full with a cheque in euros, how do you know the exact euro balance so as not to underpay by a bit and thus incur charges?

[Quillan]

[quote user="Graham"]Quillan. If you want to pay your UK card in full with a cheque in euros, how do you know the exact euro balance so as not to underpay by a bit and thus incur charges?[/quote]

Over pay then spend it. You can usually get to within a couple of quid, usually less, then buy something with the balance on the card.