Credit Cards

[jarland]

women are much better at the saving part

 

Amen to that! I got me a good one, but I know I'm a hand full

 

[nunim]

Amen to that! I got me a good one, but I know I'm a hand full

We all are  I feel lucky to have found someone who can tolerate me

 

[mitgib]

I have an Amazon Chase card, just because I figure if I can get free stuff for doing what I'm already doing, why not?

But this...

Is a wise statement that is much greater than my justification for what is now a maxed out credit card because I am never to be trusted with money. Limit is low, not exactly a problem, but a lesson learned

This is why Ryan handles billing and I've opted not to touch it.

Stop using the card period, free stuff isn't free when you are paying interest on what you charged, it's only free stuff when you pay the balance in full every month.  Maybe look at http://lendingclub.com to refinance the balance at a lower fixed rate and get out of the credit habit.  Once you get out of debt you can save for old age, cat food sucks

I am also in the camp of if I cannot pay cash for something, I don't need it, well I use my PayPal debit card whenever possible as it gives me 1% cash back each month, and I can usually get about $75-100 back each month just paying bills.

 

[earl]

I use to own a lot of credit cards but now I just have two.. one with a really low credit limit that I use for online purchases and another that i use daily cause I get points! which is great cause every month I redeem it to get free groceries.. I even use this card to pay for my morning coffee cause it has paypass better than having to look for spare change every morning .. but I never carry a balance everything is always paid in full each month..

 

[rds100]

 I even use this card to pay for my morning coffee

You are a good citizen then ;-) The FBI might consider you a terrorist if you pay your morning coffee with cash.

 

[Coastercraze]

I have a credit card and I pay it off each month. Typically I will just charge gas and food.

 

[matt[scrdspd]]

If you can be a disciplined spender (most people cannot) then a credit card can be great. I use one and pay it off each month.

The convenience (example: pay at the pump instead of going into a gas station to pay for gas), the buyer protection (if someone scams you you can always get your money back), and the rewards (cash back for monthly expenses makes them cheaper).

If you are a young person just starting out with credit cards, check out the Chase Freedom or the CitiBank Forward card. 

 

[RootNerds]

Credit Cards ain't that common here in Germany. We usually just use a bank card to pay stuff (and PayPal allows us to use our bank cards in most cases, except subscriptions). However, as there are some companies where you can only pay with a credit card, we got one recently. Was a pain in the ass though, getting a credit card as limited here.

 

[jhadley]

1 credit and a handful of debit cards. I try to use the credit card just to work my credit score, but sometimes go over by accident, so all in all it's probably more harm that good.

Will echo what other people said about women - my missus is much better with money that I am and does a lot more with less.

 

[jarland]

Maybe look at http://lendingclub.com

 

Thanks for the tip! I won't pretend for a second that I haven't made some bad choices, I'm just extremely thankful that the end result is manageable.

 

[Ruchirablog]

I use a debit visa card. Internationally activated so I can make payments online until my bank balance runs out

 

[WelltodoInformalCattle]

I use a debit visa card. Internationally activated so I can make payments online until my bank balance runs out

 

As do I as well. One thing I fear about that, however, is if someone jacked my debit visa card's information. I would rather have them steal my credit card info which has a limit [$1000] then wipe my bank account clean.

 

[EarthVPN]

Some providers only accept credit cards.

 

[notFound]

Some providers only accept credit cards.

Credit only or debit too? If it's credit only that's a bit dumb.. Mostly everyone has a debit but not everyone has a credit, especially if you're not in the USA/UK/Aussieland/etc.

 

[JDiggity]

@nunim if you have a wife you will always be broke, yet she will have money!

I have had 2 credit cards in my life and screwed it up both times.  I am finally getting all my old debts paid off slowly but surley.

the part that is killing me now is the 2 student loans that defaulted before I met my wife.  If I could go back and do it again, I would have never gone to college.  Then I wouldn't have any real debt.

 

[Chronic]

As do I as well. One thing I fear about that, however, is if someone jacked my debit visa card's information. I would rather have them steal my credit card info which has a limit [$1000] then wipe my bank account clean.

 You should look into setting a daily limit on your bank account and since the card is linked, to the Visa. It only takes a minute or two to change that limit if you ever find yourself in need of making a larger purchase and it might offer you some peace of mind. That and SMS notifications of larger transactions, if your bank offers it.

 

[nunim]

@nunim if you have a wife you will always be broke, yet she will have money!

She gives me some spending money every now and then..  I wanted to buy this awesome star destroyer LEGO with some of our wedding money but she was all save it blah blah blah... needless to say it all ended up in her bank account

 

[Sonwebhost]

Visa debit card is better no payments to the bank for overdrafts or fees plus it is good for your budget you can only spend what you have...