yup.. Every time i go into the bank now i am given the hard sell and offered tens of thousands of pounds of debt. You would think they would have learned.
Good rant, I had a call recently from Lloyds TSB asking me about some payments on my debit card. She started asking for security information. I was like "WTF? How do I know you're from Lloyds TSB?" so told her I'd call the official number and take it up there. Took ages to get through THEN they said they'd failed to identify me and terminated the call ggrrrrrggg!!!
And yeah - credit cards. They obviously just want everyone to spend their money through them and chuck Lloyds TSB 20% a year or whatever so they can keep the coffers spilling over :(
I identify. I have never owned a credit card because, like you, I only want to spend the money I have and not be in debt when I don't need to be. I got refused an account with a company once because I didn't have a credit card. I think companies assume no credit card means bad credit history, rather than the opposite.
And yeah - credit cards. They obviously just want everyone to spend their money through them and chuck Lloyds TSB 20% a year or whatever so they can keep the coffers spilling over :(