Just wondering whether there are any credit cards my husband could apply for to do a balance transfer for a time at 0%? I am on the disability pension and my husband on the carers pension. We supplement that money with my husband's superannuation funds. I have just purchased airline tickets on the credit card for about $8000. Whilst we are able to withdraw half of this from our high interest ( what a joke) savings account and the rest from the super accountto pay the $8000, I was thinking that paying it off on a 0% interest over a period would be better for my budgeting. What are the chances of doing this when on the pensions do you think? Thank you and please no sarcastic comments as I get offended. Thanks again.
Applying for Credit Card
simplyme on 20/08/2019 - 13:59
Comments
well his/her username checkout
I would say the chance of you getting it would be zero. The way you have to look at it is that they need to approve a credit limit of an additional $8000 as you have 2 credit cards even if you are balance transferring. The only way to find out is apply and see what happens. It is much harder to get credit cards these days than it used to be.
Oh yeah, drawing from your super to pay for air tickets, and putting part of it on a credit card with skyhigh after-interest-free period rates (if you can even get one on fixed incomes) is a
greatterrible terrible idea.WhatA LOT could go wrong.Fixed to remove sarcasm.
Bought business class tickets too it seems if you go through their posting history, while on a pension …
I didn't want to get into an argument about the wisdom of buying 2x tickets for $8,000 on fixed incomes given they've already been bought on a credit card, but yes - that definitely crossed my mind. Trying (very hard, failing) to be nice(r).
Are serious????? (No sarcasm)
Can't wait for the "life is unfair, I'm being bankrupted for $8k", in T MINUS 5,4,3,2,1
This. Someone give HighAndDry funniest post of the day award.
This has to be satire.
Have you read the news lately? Oh no. No no no no no.
those are some expensive tickets, how will the rest of the trip be funded?
I work and was refused an amex card as I already had 2 cards (zero balances, but it's the total you can borrow, not what you actually borrow that counts, so I have 'poor' credit history!). I only wanted it for the amex offers! I'd say I have very good ability to service any debts I would expect to accrue.
Look at saving prior to major capital expenses as if you're living on your credit cards now, then it will only get worse once interest free period finishes and it is then an extortionate rate.
Appreciate people being honest when they get offended, but no offence is given, only taken, the internets pretty lawless, so prepare yourself! :)
Please be very cautions on a tight budget about your ability to service further potential debt. Consider surrendering one of the existing credit cards before applying for another. Realistically, how long would it take you to pay down the 8,000 on a credit card, without impinging on your everyday essentials?
She asked a question about Barefood Investor on 23/06/2019
Has anyone read it? Is it helpful for pensioners, disability and carers? We own our house, try to stick to a budget and have no debts but always looking for ways to save a bit or make some extra cash.
I don't want to spend $14 on a book that is going to tell me what I already know or doesn't apply to me. Thanks.I think you should've read the book before buying $8,000 worth of air tickets on credit, my unemployed friend.
yeh, but you can't FEEL a book. You can, however, feel the nice sized business class seat and the service! Oh lounge access, god damn
yeh, but you can't FEEL a book.
….
What is this? Dead-tree books still exist! Dead-tree, leather-bound books still exist!!!
Ah ok, sure, but we were talking about that specific book; which I'm sure is not leather-bound…
Geez everyone is critical in here. For all you know they are 60+ and this is their last chance at an overseas trip before they kick the bucket.
They already own their house, they have savings, and there's no point dying with your Super cash still sitting in an account that you can't take with you.
Some people think pensioners should just quickly live out their days in a little unit and never be heard of again.
I understand they have $4,000 in their savings. Thats why the rest is coming out of super.
Wish them the best, hopefully they're not financing their trip on the card.
Clearly not. It clearly says they receive structured Super payments from their fund balance, getting the credit card as a shortgap likely allows them to go now rather than later when the future is uncertain.
Did everyone miss "I am on the disability pension"? Cramped economy class doesn't go well with many types of disabilities.
Being broke doesn't go well with anything.
They own their own house. They've done the hard yards. They're likely richer than half the posters on here and 4 grand on a credit card won't alter that.
And may be the "house" is worth $20 million, land only.
Ask Gold Coast retired farmers otherwise.Business tickets 8 grand? Chicken feed.
The thing is my taxes are paying for their disability pension and carers pension. I never bought $8000 airplane tickets for 2 ever. Definetly not economy seats.Can i get my taxes back?
boohoo bro
Actually I didn't consider that - aren't those welfare payments available so people who can't afford living expenses themselves not left in the cold?
I've never bought $4,000 plane tickets for myself personally. Why am I paying for someone else's $4k plane tickets?
I've never bought $4,000 plane tickets for myself personally.
Sounds like you should have been more responsible with your finances. Exercise financial responsibility and maybe one day you can afford plane tickets.
Stop being poor and be rich instead. Simples.
I didn't say I can't afford them, just that I've never bought them for personal use.
I'm not complaining about not buying business class tickets, more that I'm (very minutely) funding someone else's.
Stop being poor and be rich instead.
For most people, this requires not always buying business class tickets.
Just to reiterate what I said before - OP isn't complaining about not getting enough free money, or welfare, etc and I've no issues with OP making the most of her entitlements that she can. In her situation I'd do the same (e.g. I claim all my tax deductions). My issue is with the system that gives taxpayer money to people who, as you so eloquently put it:
are likely richer than half the posters on here
I didn't say I can't afford them
Haha nice backpedal.
So they are financially responsible enough to save their pennies on a pension for a dream trip. What's your problem then? Do you think their pension should be less because they can afford this?
You're the advocate for financial responsibility this week. What is your issue with them here?
Haha nice backpedal.
Or reading comprehension…
Do you think their pension should be less because they can afford this?
Actually, yes. That's why most government benefits are means-tested. I'd be in favour of most, if not all, of them being similarly means-tested, at least the ones which involve actual payments not tax breaks.
This is tangential and more a macro-issue, and again, for the nth time no fault of OP's so I don't fault or begrudge OP at all, but a social safety net is exactly supposed to be that - a safety net.
@HighAndDry: No. No no no.
Youth allowance is a safety net.
Newstart is a safety net.A Disability Support Pension is NOT a safety net.
A Disability Support Pension is NOT a safety net.
That's news to me. Why isn't it and why shouldn't it be?
@HighAndDry: Wow. Second time I'll link this for you.
Should the permanently sick and disabled just off themselves then?
@HighAndDry: A pension, let alone a disability support pension, is not a safety net nor meets the definition of a safety net.
@Typical16-bitEnjoyer: I think the "support" part of "disability support pension" begs to differ, but you've obviously got some kind of axe to grind and I don't particularly feel like a whetstone, so good night.
My issue is with the system that gives taxpayer money to people who, as you so eloquently put it: are likely richer than half the posters on here
Nice edit.
Your problem is with the system then. Not them.
@Typical16-bitEnjoyer: I'll quote myself:
HighAndDry 1 hour 27 min ago
I don't think anyone's saying you're rorting the system. If at all, the only problem people have is with the system, not anything with yourself or your husband personally.@HighAndDry: Shall I quote your first 2 contributions to this thread?
They were certainly not aimed at the system.@Typical16-bitEnjoyer: Nor were they aimed at the fact they were on the Disability Pension, they were focused on the financial wisdom of buying $8,000 air tickets while on a fixed income without having the cash savings to pay for them outright.
Why are you trying to convince me that I'm attacking the OP when I'm not? Would you rather I attacked OP so that you get a sense of vindication or…? Beyond strange.
@HighAndDry: I'm amused at the fact you entered this thread with your "financial responsibility, poor people bad bad bad" hammer being swung around and have backpedalled so hard when it's now obvious OP is completely financially responsible.
"financial responsibility, poor people bad bad bad"
Only half right - I enter most threads with a "financial responsibility" hammer. I haven't once said "poor people bad" in this thread. I'm also not backpedalling, at least not to anyone who can read.
Oh yeah, drawing from your super to pay for air tickets, and putting part of it on a credit card with skyhigh after-interest-free period rates (if you can even get one on fixed incomes) is a great terrible terrible idea. What A LOT could go wrong. Fixed to remove sarcasm.
"has to be satire" Have you read the news lately? Oh no. No no no no no.
Nek minnit
Go enjoy your holiday, you deserve it, and hey if I could fly business, I would too. (thought you could afford it?)
;)
Some people may have genuine needs for certain things that cost more. I don't know much about the government welfare as I've never cared about it.
I don't know much about the government welfare as I've never cared about it.
If you pay tax, you should. It's your money. (And your elected representatives if you're a voter).
Definetly not economy seats.Can i get my taxes back?
If you can't afford economy seats then you're likely not giving much in the way of taxes pal. Relax.
Dunno what happened to that other on-point comment, there certainly was no personal attack, someone is insecure. Let me reiterate the gist of it:
Yes, your 0.005 cents may have helped pay for that. Get over it. How would you like to be paid back? An amount that low can't even change ownership lol!
I should clarify and here's my rant! I have a permanent disability and have been unable to work for 13years. My husband was made redundant in December 2017. We put most of our savings and his redundancy money into super. After a year I qualified for the pension and my husband was able to get the carers pension. He does everything, cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping, helps me dress etc. Takes me to all my therapy and drs appointments. He has done most of this stuff since my first back surgery in 2006.
So, the idea was to make the super last as long as we can, living the same lifestyle we had before he was made redundant. I only bought one business class fare that I have saved half of through selling on eBay. My husband would rather go economy because of the cost. I don't normally buy airline tickets on credit card but there was a special with Qatar airways 12.5% off if you paid with PayPal. Since I did not have all the money in one account my only option was credit card. I always pay my credit card on time and never pay interest. By the way a pensioner can have up to about $350,000 cash assets not including ones home and super if you are under pension age. I only put the savings we had into super because when I applied for the pension I was advised by Centrelink to apply for Newstart (I would be exempt from looking for work) but with Newstart you can't have any savings and no available credit on your credit card. As it turned out by the time Newstart was approved, after all the barriers I came across, I was given the disability support pension. What I am doing is completely legitimate. Plus I worked all my working life as a Registered Nurse and my husband as a Project manager, we are now in our 60's and I think after paying taxes all our working life and I being forced to resign from my job with no income for the past 13 years, I should be entitled to the disability support pension. It's been good having my husband home full time, he never ever took sick leave or carers leave, if he took time out for me he always made up the time during evenings and weekends as he had deadlines to meet. His working week was 60 hours a week on average. So we are not bludgers or rorting the system. So, to cut a very long story short, my original savings were for overseas trips, that's sitting in a super account now, my credit card is $9000 and I just thought I might be able to take advantage of 0% interest over so many months. I have done this before, where I divided the balance by the number of months and paid it off monthly before the interest free expired and this is what I had in mind if possible. So that is why I asked your opinions.I don't think anyone's saying you're rorting the system. If at all, the only problem people have is with the system, not anything with yourself or your husband personally.
Go enjoy your holiday, you deserve it, and hey if I could fly business, I would too.
Thank you HighAndDry. I know no one actually said I am rorting the system and I can totally appreciate comments regarding where their taxes are going. My brother chooses to work only 29 hours a week on the minimum wage and so used to get social benefits before his wife started working. He used to ask me what we spent all our money on? To which I replied, supporting you! I would rather pay for economy class as paying for business class is a lot just because I need my legs elevated. I think it's a waste but I have tried doing 2 night stopovers and 3 x 8 hour flights with stopovers in economy but I still suffered plus it takes time out of my holiday getting there and back. I upgraded last year Hong Kong to Dubai and for our 40th wedding anniversary in January went to the USA business and what a difference for me. No swelling or pain or cramps in my legs for days or even the rest of my trip like when I went economy. So although I think it's a waste of money and could be spent elsewhere it does give me the opportunity to travel and enjoy myself.
Hi simplyme. Enjoy your trip. Don't worry about half the fools on here. You've earned it. Enjoy it.
Just to add, I will be funding my holiday with the money in the super account as I said I don't pay interest on credit cards.
Most CC now charge a percentual fee for those 0% balance transfer.
So a 2% balance fee it will be a cost of $160 for those $8000
Not sure if it is worth it.
Funny (funny hilarious) how so many posters complain about a pensioner on a disability getting ??? $1,800 a month and our PM gets about that per day … every day … holidays or not … Sundays or Mondays … at church or office … every day … ching ching money coming in every day.
Now, include all other cretins in government and that is a lot of money per day.
And they fly Business Class too … because they don't pay for the tickets.
You can complain about different things /people at the same time…
I'm sure if you open a politician thread, you'll find those on topic complaints.
I'll leave that one up to you.
After all the topic here was "how to apply for 0% balance transfers" rather than judgment of OP.
My 2c. Surely it is not worth the effort? You don't have a mortgage, so no interest there to save, and you said yourself that your money is in a "high interest" saving account that isn't very high at all.
Let's say you get a cc with 0% interest for 12 months. You will need to pay at least 2% back each month, so maybe your average balance for the year is $7k. So for all this effort you will earn an extra $150 or so.
I've done this before with a $20k balance but I have an offset account so it was worth more for me. Even so, I've abandoned that idea as it is way more lucrative to just smash through as many cc's as possible each year.
It might "cost" $160 (or 2% of $8000) in once only balance transfer fee.
I think is NOT worth it.Once upon a time there was no fees so it was worth it.
Well by default I am assuming that no one is silly enough to take up any BT offer which has a fee. There are still some deals around without the usual 2% BT fee.
Well, now they are as rare as hen's teeth.
In particular when BT is on an pre-existing CC not a new application.
"Please no sarcastic comments as I get offended"
At least OP is honest