Chief executive Barclays

[nosey]

I read in todays papers that Matthew Barrett the CE of Barclays says he would never use a Barclaycard to borrow money because it is too expensive. Surely on his salary he would never need to borrow. I however believe that if he did borrow he would get his borrowing at zero percent interest. If as he says credit cards are too expensive why cannot he get the rates charged reduced or would this have all the shareholders up in arms because their dividends would also be reduced?.

[Guilbert]

I will be blunt here, but anyone who uses a credit card to 'borrow' money
is just plain stupid.

There is NO excuse to have a large credit card bill that you cannot pay off.

Remember, the first month you do not pay it all off you pay interest, the
next month you pay interest again, AND interest on the interest from last
month and so it goes on.

By the end of a year you have built up 11 lots of interest on the interest
from the first month, so you pay interest on the interest on the interest.

The only reason the banks are not to keen to reduce credit card fraud is
that they make so much money from the people who are heavily in debt
on credit cards.

If you canot afford to pay it off in one or two months, do not buy on credit
card.

Guilbert

[Deuce Bigolo]

I rather stupid comment if true

Another executive out of touch with the public at large
Like you say he can probably get a sweet deal from his employer
which would be incorporated into his package.

I was once in the finance industry and got my Home Loan at half the public rate for the life of the loan(25 years) and I was just a teller at the time

Credit Card rates might be high by his standards but to the common man who the banks/credit unions etc reject for personal loans/home equity loans/overdrafts its the next best option

When you consider the only other real alternative-Finance Companies(20%-30% rates) you start to see why Credit Cards aren't such a bad option epsecially if you can pay them off within the low interest(5-10% less)honey moon period which usually lasts for 6-9 months.

Of course all my examples were in Australia so its bound to be a bit different in the UK

cheers
B....OZ

[mart]

Unfortunately Deuce your experience in Australia and mine here in NZ where most of the banks are Australian owned, doesn't compare favourably with the UK.
Uk banks aren't nearly as greedy as ours out here. I still havn't got used to the iniquityof having to pay a fee each time I take money out of my own Bank's ATM.

Mart

[Deuce Bigolo]

Sounds like your suffering from a lack of competition or you've got a different mix of fees and interest rates

Do account keeping fees exist in New Zealand

My last bank used to charge $AUS6-00 a month if your account dropped under $AUS1000-00-even if only for a day

Its one thing for Banks to be screwing you but when the Credit Unions join in you know the system is rotten

I'm a member of a small local credit union that gives me 30-58 free transactions per month plus allows me to use all other financial institutions ATMs for free.They're still in business so it proves the other financial institutions mainly the Big Banks are just greedy corporate scum looking to make their set targets by what ever means so they'll get their christmas bonus

cheers
B....OZ

[Ace]

Never mind his gaffe, did you see the pic of his 2nd wife at their wedding? He must have a cock like a horse to keep her happy, or maybe he's VERY rich. Probably the latter!!
She looked like a REAL model type bird too!

[The Last Word]

Didn't see her, but no doubt whichever wife he's with now is having a few 'quiet words' about this particular (and particularly amusing) admission.

--
"Let's do it..."