foreign currency

[ducklite]

15 hours ago, Extra Kim said:

Yes there's a cost, not that big that it would make an difference for us. But it's still a cost and every credit you get will impact your credit score. That can have an impact if you want to take a loan for a house or something similar. 

Uh, I have an 850 credit score, and five credit cards.  I'm not sure if you really understand how it all works.  NOT having a credit card will impact your score as well.  Betcha didn't know that...  

[MicCanberra]

23 minutes ago, ducklite said:

Uh, I have an 850 credit score, and five credit cards.  I'm not sure if you really understand how it all works.  NOT having a credit card will impact your score as well.  Betcha didn't know that...  

I am thinking there are different ways of credit rating in differing countries. What may work in one country may not in another.

[clo]

15 hours ago, John Bull said:

Do talk to your bank about that, I feel sure it's the same in Sweden.

 

A lot of our credit score is based on "debt to worth ratio." Or at least that's what it used to be called.  So let's say I have three credit cards with a total of $80k available.  But I only charge $2k/mo on them.  The banks adore that.  And, right, if you don't have/use credit cards then that can definitely affect your score.  We have no debt other than credit cards that get paid in full every month and a credit score in the mid800s.

[clo]

11 hours ago, whogo said:

There are a number of good reasons to use a credit card:

 

Also one is only responsible for the first $50 of credit card fraud whereas debit is considered, I think this is true still, an unsecured loan and you can be on the hook for the full amount.  Depending on your bank.

[Extra Kim]

2 hours ago, ducklite said:

Uh, I have an 850 credit score, and five credit cards.  I'm not sure if you really understand how it all works.  NOT having a credit card will impact your score as well.  Betcha didn't know that...  

If you go to the bank for, let's say a loan for a house. They want to know if you have any other loans that can affect your possibility to pay the loan you are trying to get on the house. If you have several, even un-used, credits that will count as already taken loans. Since you're able to use these credits even after you get the loan for the house.

 

Let's say that the bank wants you to pay $1000 every month on the loan. They do the math and finds out that you're able to pay that without a problem, then they find out that you have several credit cards that you could use. When they add up the possible cost, that you would have if you would use all of your credit on the cards they may find that you wouldn't be able to pay the $1000.

 

Might be different in the U.S.

[clo]

38 minutes ago, Extra Kim said:

Might be different in the U.S.

And it might be.  But here's an article that talks about things like payment history, utilization ratio, etc.  We have a ton of credit available to us but we also have a long history of paying on time, etc.  Hard to believe that other countries don't have similar ways of making decisions.

http://money.com/money/collection-post/2791957/what-is-my-credit-score/

[John Bull]

30 minutes ago, Extra Kim said:

If you go to the bank for, let's say a loan for a house. They want to know if you have any other loans that can affect your possibility to pay the loan you are trying to get on the house. If you have several, even un-used, credits that will count as already taken loans. Since you're able to use these credits even after you get the loan for the house.

 

Let's say that the bank wants you to pay $1000 every month on the loan. They do the math and finds out that you're able to pay that without a problem, then they find out that you have several credit cards that you could use. When they add up the possible cost, that you would have if you would use all of your credit on the cards they may find that you wouldn't be able to pay the $1000.

 

Might be different in the U.S.

 

Sorry, Kim, but I  don't believe that's the case even in Sweden !!

 

https://www.thelocal.se/discuss/index.php?showtopic=12695&mode=linear

On that and several other Swedish websites I found no mention of taking into account repayments due if a person spent up to their credit limits, only references to debts and defaulting on payments - much the same as the rest of the western world.

And references to high credit card limits enhancing your chances of a loan being approved, same as US & UK..

 

Yes, the bank would want to know what debts you have - including what you owe on credit cards - in order to figure whether your income will cover servicing your debts, your living expenses, and that loan.

But no, I'm confident that they most certainly wouldn't' take into account how much more you can borrow on your credit cards.

In the same way, they can't take into account the credit limits of cards that you might apply for later, or that you might blow all your monthly income rather than re-pay the loan, or that you might buy a car tomorrow on finance.

 

Kim,  you don't have a credit card and with the greatest respect  in this thread you've shown that you really don't know about them.

Best not to dig yourself into a deeper hole 

 

JB 

[Extra Kim]

This is going to be a job for Google translate, but here you go:

http://www.låneguiden.se/ökar-kreditvärdighet-bästa-sätt/

 

https://www.lsb.se/5-knep-att-forbattra-din-kreditvardighet

 

Sure one or two cards might not affect, but if you have several cards it sure does.

[wowzz]

I have 3 credit cards, one for use in the UK (cash back), one for when I travel abroad (fee free) and an Am Ex, for BA Aviis points. I hardly ever use a debit card,  unless I want  cash abroad at an atm, and in the UK, £5 in cash will last me a month, as everything goes on my contactless credit card. Like JB, my credit cards are automatically paid off every month when payment is due.

Just to throw Kim's logic out if the window,  my credit score is 999 out of 1000 ! 

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, Extra Kim said:

This is going to be a job for Google translate, but here you go:

http://www.låneguiden.se/ökar-kreditvärdighet-bästa-sätt/

 

https://www.lsb.se/5-knep-att-forbattra-din-kreditvardighet

 

Sure one or two cards might not affect, but if you have several cards it sure does.

 

Document.docx

[MicCanberra]

the translation.

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, Extra Kim said:

This is going to be a job for Google translate, but here you go:

http://www.låneguiden.se/ökar-kreditvärdighet-bästa-sätt/

 

https://www.lsb.se/5-knep-att-forbattra-din-kreditvardighet

 

Sure one or two cards might not affect, but if you have several cards it sure does.

 

 

Hi Kim,

 

Google translate did a pretty good job. 

 

It's much the same as in the UK, where too many credit cards (more than two or three), especially cards you don't use, can adversely affect your credit rating.

 

But this is not because of the total credit limit.

It's because a lot of unused cards is regarded as suspicious behaviour.

One card with £16,000 available credit is excellent for your credit-rating, it shows that you are trusted. But eight cards each with a £2,000 available credit and most of them with no repayment history (because they're unused) is bad for your credit rating, it's seen as disorderly.

In the UK, just like Sweden, advice is to consolidate all debts into one - and in order to get your business credit card issuers in the UK used to advertise 0% interest on debts that you switched from other credit card s & store cards. 

 

So yes, too many cards is bad.

But you don't even have one.

If you get - and use - one card, especially in Sweden where cards are used more than in the UK and much more than in the USA, it will improve your credit rating. As I found out when I eventually joined the 20th Century (see my earlier post).

 

JB 

 

 

.

[ducklite]

12 hours ago, clo said:

A lot of our credit score is based on "debt to worth ratio." Or at least that's what it used to be called.  So let's say I have three credit cards with a total of $80k available.  But I only charge $2k/mo on them.  The banks adore that.  And, right, if you don't have/use credit cards then that can definitely affect your score.  We have no debt other than credit cards that get paid in full every month and a credit score in the mid800s.

Debt to income, not worth.  🙂  Your net worth has no bearing on your credit.  While it affects the ability to buy a home, that is a separate bucket in the decision making process, as is your income, and your credit.

[ducklite]

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

I have 3 credit cards, one for use in the UK (cash back), one for when I travel abroad (fee free) and an Am Ex, for BA Aviis points. I hardly ever use a debit card,  unless I want  cash abroad at an atm, and in the UK, £5 in cash will last me a month, as everything goes on my contactless credit card. Like JB, my credit cards are automatically paid off every month when payment is due.

Just to throw Kim's logic out if the window,  my credit score is 999 out of 1000 ! 

The US credit scoring system only goes to 850.  We will be making some changes (slowly and over the next couple of years) so that we'll only have one MC, two Visa, and an AmEx.  The cards we've carried for years no longer serve our needs as well as they should.  We'll keep two Visas only because one will be a card we've carried for over 25 years, and cancelling it will affect our score negatively.

[Michalina]

The contents of this topic getting out of hand.

[MicCanberra]

The stall holders and shop keepers in port prefer cash in hand.

[Extra Kim]

Still a Visa Debit card will give you the travel protection, just like the Visa Credit card.

[ducklite]

44 minutes ago, Extra Kim said:

Still a Visa Debit card will give you the travel protection, just like the Visa Credit card.

 

The difference is that with a debit you need to wait o get your ash available again in the case of fraud or dispute.  With a credit card it's instantaneous.

 

Also very few people keep enough money in their checking account to pay for airfare and hotels in the case of an emergency.

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, Michalina said:

The contents of this topic getting out of hand.

 

Way off-topic certainly,  Michalina. 

 

But not out-of-hand, & definitely informative.

OK, mebbe not for those who click on each time there's a post, in the forlorn hope that it's about "foreign currency" 

 

JB 

[Harley52]

2 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

Way off-topic certainly,  Michalina. 

 

But not out-of-hand, & definitely informative.

OK, mebbe not for those who click on each time there's a post, in the forlorn hope that it's about "foreign currency" 

 

JB 

Hey John Bull, I use to do lots of drinking, smoking and running around with loose women when I was in Gosport, Lee on the Solent when I was in the Royal Canadian Navy, didn't have to worry about "foreign currency."

[John Bull]

Just now, Harley52 said:

Hey John Bull, I use to do lots of drinking, smoking and running around with loose women when I was in Gosport, Lee on the Solent when I was in the Royal Canadian Navy, didn't have to worry about "foreign currency."

 

 

Sadly the RCN won't be visiting Lee-on-the-Solent in future - the former FAA base & airfield at HMS Daedalus is now "Solent Airport", a civil airport for private aircraft. (includes a Spitfire, which frequently patrols the skies over my home )

 

But I believe there are still loose women in Gosport   

 

JB 

[Extra Kim]

1 hour ago, ducklite said:

Also very few people keep enough money in their checking account to pay for airfare and hotels in the case of an emergency.

That's not a problem since all I need is access to the Internet to be able to transfer money from my savings account to my Visa card. I can do that on my phone if I need to. It takes just a couple of min to do. I can even transfer up to ~ $2000 (20 000 Swedish Crowns) by using an App on my phone and anyone with the same App can do the same to my account. It takes 30 sec.

 

With other words, I'm not that worried about being able to book flights home.

[clo]

5 hours ago, ducklite said:

Debt to income, not worth.  🙂  Your net worth has no bearing on your credit.  While it affects the ability to buy a home, that is a separate bucket in the decision making process, as is your income, and your credit.

Thanks.  It's still not the phrase that alludes me.  Like the total of amount of credit you have on cards vs. the amount you actually use.  But I think we all get the point.

 

And I understand that Sweden along with many Scandanavian countries is going increasingly cashless.

[ducklite]

25 minutes ago, clo said:

Thanks.  It's still not the phrase that alludes me.  Like the total of amount of credit you have on cards vs. the amount you actually use.  But I think we all get the point.

 

And I understand that Sweden along with many Scandanavian countries is going increasingly cashless.

 

Ratio of available credit to the current balance?

[SRF]

On 7/29/2019 at 1:10 PM, ducklite said:

I would figure out roughly what I needed for each port and get it as part of a foreign currency order from my bank in advance, hitting an ATM if I need a bit more and paying for large purchases with a no fee credit card..

 

Why do you want to have a poor exchange rate for your currency exchange????