Yep, it’s true. I’ve gone ahead and done it. I have opened myself to debt and a life of monetary despair. I’ll now be poor forever paying back whatever credit I’ve borrowed from the bank using my delicious credit card.
On the other hand, I’ve also opened up a Cash ISA and have chucked half of my savings into it. There’s also a special feature on the Lloyds Bank internet banking website that allows you to rename your Cash ISA account. I’ve appropriately renamed it to:
But ouch. A 0.75% gross interest rate — that’s pretty weak-sauce. I suppose it is 0.05% better than the 0.75% gross interest rate on my eSavings account, and plus you’re aren’t being charged tax on that interest. It works out in the end I suppose. However, if you compare the gross interest rate with say, NatWest then it seems that they have a much higher interest rate at 1% gross (on a similar instant Cash ISA package). I don’t really care anyway, as I’m not going to get much out of this and there isn’t really a real benefit at the moment. I’m hoping there will be an increase sometime this year. I’m thinking of shopping around or perhaps even upgrading to a Two Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA, which is going at 1.55% gross interest. I’m sure there are however other providers providing better deals.
Either way, it’s something that I opened because I was at the bank opening a credit card account. Why? Well, I do care about the future and I’m sort of future-proofing myself by building up a credit history. Not sure what my first purchase will be when I start using the account, but I’m thinking I’ll be using my credit card to pay for my monthly £136.60 London Oyster fee from zone 1 to 3. I’ll of course be paying it back immediately — don’t won’t to get into that debt business. 😉
