Credit Cards - Linked directly to your current/debit account?

Hey all,
Now I think I may have dreamt this idea, but is there a card that ties directly to your current/debit account?

Now I shall try and explain:

Say I have £1000 in my current account and I have clocked up £1000 on my credit card. It's before the end of the month so I have not yet paid off that money.

Now when I go to a cash point and put in my current account card, I want it to show £0. I want to earn interest on that £1000 but for my account to show the money is being used to pay off the credit card.

The reason being is that I don't have a credit card because I would not be able to see exactly how much money I have at any one point in time (I realise I could go online and check both accounts and subtract one from the other).

So any ideas?

Thanks,
Leon

Not that'd show it at the cash-point, I don't believe many of them show it *that* well on the internet banking systems either.

Unfortunately i doubt any bank would implement this as it stops any bank from making money from the people who don't know how much they have.

Gah, I had a feeling that would be the answer :)

Time to take my idea to Dragon's Den then!

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

Credit cards never link to current accounts because they are different companies at the end of the day (thats the banks excuse)

I pay off my card every month like others, but i have to manually go and enter the details to pay off every month, because even tho my current account and credit card are with halifax. It doesn't automatically pay of my balance as the credit card company doesn't want paying off every month.

They want you to be charged their 15% interest.

I doubt they will make it any easier for you.

TiG

HSBC automatically take the money out of my current account at the end of the month. Or at least i think so....i've never actually used it

And the award for the quickest replies to a thread goes to......

Thanks all for the responses. I was ask on MoneySavingExpert to see whether they have any advice as well.

I just really don't like the idea of not knowing exactly (give or take a recent transaction) how much money I have in my current account.

The closest you can get is to have a Natwest credit card and a Natwest account, as then you can see both accounts at once.

Which, if i recall, you (lanky) have a natwest graduate account anyways.

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,,3_8150...w_1705,00.html

is this the kind of thing you mean?

http://www.diddly-di.fsnet.co.uk/EggAdvert3.gif

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tiggerai

Which, if i recall, you (lanky) have a Natwest graduate account anyways.

---

Yep I do indeed (and I resent the lanky implication :P) but I am now switching from Natwest as the current account interest is appalling!

Thanks though :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Big Leon

I just really don't like the idea of not knowing exactly (give or take a recent transaction) how much money I have in my current account.

---

Thats what financial planning is for :)

You *shouldn't* need a bank to tell you how much money you have, its common sense to keep track of what you spend - otherwise you can't check you bank statements each month :)

Many banks list credit cards next to current accounts online if you hold a card and account with them - RBS do this for me for example, makes it easy to see how much I have .

Ahhh... you may be confusing the One account (lots of other names, including Offset) whicxh ties your MORTGAGE with your current account.

Example: Mortgage is £130,000
Salary goes into your account (say £1300)
Every day you leave that salary there, the interest on your mortgage is calculated on the 130,000 - £1300.

This is where I think you've got it confused:
In those cases (ie me) you use your credit card for everything, so that the salary stays in the account for as long as possible, and pay it off (in full to save interest) when you have too.

Then, any money left in your account after all your bills stays in your current account, but is therefore saving you money on your mortgage.

You can have up to 3 seperate accounts, with all your savings in them, which you can access when you want, but which are ALL offset against the mortgage.

Reason to put it there and not in the mortgage? You can get it out again without begging the mortgage company. You are also effectively making overpayments without penalty.

But best of all: you aren;t paying income tax on your savings, cos they're not interest payments....they're interest reducttions from your mortgage. And as most mortgages are higher/similar rate to the best savings accounts, it's a clear winner.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MadduckUK

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,,3_8150...w_1705,00.html

is this the kind of thing you mean?

---

Thank you, that's a very interesting concept and I will have a read into that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spud1

Thats what financial planning is for :)

You *shouldn't* need a bank to tell you how much money you have, its common sense to keep track of what you spend - otherwise you can't check you bank statements each month :)

Many banks list credit cards next to current accounts online if you hold a card and account with them - RBS do this for me for example, makes it easy to see how much I have .

---

I'm very good a keeping track of my money and my accounts are always in the black.

I like the idea of having a credit so that I receive interest on that money until the end of the month when I pay it off.

The idea I don't like is: say I have had an expensive month and bought a £1000 TV and then I go to a cash point and withdraw some money. This takes my balance below £1000. I now don't have enough money to pay off my credit card at the end of the month.

I would like to see when I go to the cash point that taking that money out will mean that I don't have enough money to pay my credit card.

I now realise I was dreaming this! Thanks though!

Its true it would be nice :) but if you keep your credit card slips and keep a running total (I use my cheque book, but could be anything) then you can do this yourself quite easily.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spud1

Its true it would be nice :) but if you keep your credit card slips and keep a running total (I use my cheque book, but could be anything) then you can do this yourself quite easily.

---

I'd like to avoid having to keep credit card slips if possible, I like to be able to view my transactions online when I need to but would like to simply see a balance when I go to a cash point. Thank you though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zak33

Ahhh... you may be confusing the One account (lots of other names, including Offset) whicxh ties your MORTGAGE with your current account.

---

Now I am aware of this One Account but I have always been wary of joining this scheme.

Zak, are you on this scheme and can you recommend it? Can anyone else recommend this?

Many thanks to everyone for the substantial information given by your informative posts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Big Leon

Yep I do indeed (and I resent the lanky implication :P) but I am now switching from Natwest as the current account interest is appalling!

Thanks though :)

---

E-savings account

Same page - keep all your money in there. Instant transfer.

It's what I've been doing for years. Keep your current account at a "spendable" level and keep all surplus in the e-savings.


Leon, Lots of places do a similar thing as the one account but call it an offset mortgage. Lloyds do one. Intelligent finanace (halifax) also do.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tiggerai

Leon, Lots of places do a similar thing as the one account but call it an offset mortgage. Lloyds do one. Intelligent finanace (halifax) also do.

---

Yep ta, I've read a little about these kind of things. Don't think it's really my cup of tea but I will read some more into it before I re-mortgage.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tiggerai

E-savings account

Same page - keep all your money in there. Instant transfer.

It's what I've been doing for years. Keep your current account at a "spendable" level and keep all surplus in the e-savings.

---

I have also been doing exactly the same for years. However the fact remains that the money in your current account being maintained at a "spendable level" is earning very little interest.

Check out the Halifax current account

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Halifax

An incredible 6.17% AER (6% gross) for balances up to £2,500 and 0.1% AER/gross p.a. for anything over this amount*

---

This means you can continue to put your savings into a high interest account (where it earns good interest no matter how much is in there) and the spending money in your current account also earns good interest.

I spend too much time thinking about these kind of things.....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Big Leon

Yep ta, I've read a little about these kind of things. Don't think it's really my cup of tea but I will read some more into it before I re-mortgage.



I have also been doing exactly the same for years. However the fact remains that the money in your current account being maintained at a "spendable level" is earning very little interest.

Check out the Halifax current account

This means you can continue to put your savings into a high interest account (where it earns good interest no matter how much is in there) and the spending money in your current account also earns good interest.

I spend too much time thinking about these kind of things.....

---

You're not the only one, believe me. We've gotta spend so much time these days getting the best deal out of everything. I spent 4 evenings before i moved my job to london working out how to get the best deal out of my travel! (it saves me £120 a month compared to the easy "take the first option" route!)

I know what you feel like on the offsets, i didn't fancy them either, just don't have that amount of savings for it to make a difference!

I will switch to halifax when my natwest overdraft runs out, can't afford to switch it at the mo. I never have spending money anyway... :D I have looked at that current account a couple of times, as my mortgage is with Halifax it's easy to get everything in the same place.