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For what in the hell does anyone use a credit card, like ever?
Cash back rewards cards work well, I end up with at least 2% - 5% cash back on all my shopping.
The key is to treat credit cards like cash e.g. pay your bill in full every month, never ever carry a balance. It doesn't work for everyone and that's okay, some people just can't help themselves and get too spendy and end up in debt.
Other nice thing is that fraud is handled better with credit cards, if my card is lost/stolen no one has a direct line to my bank account and can't try to drain my bank balance with debit purchases. Sure your bank may/may not void those transactions but in the time it takes for them to "investigate" you're going to be out real money in your bank account. With a credit card you just dispute those fraud charges and never actually pay for them.
To build credit 🙃
And building credit is useful to set yourself up for future purchases - a condo/house, car, whatever. The whatever here is bigger than it semese, as having a decent credit score can let you finance all kinds of things at a pretty low rate, if not 0% even today. If you're saving any extra money in an investment/retirement account, and can pay off your 0% financing offers in full by the time you would start to owe interest, financing at 0% is a great deal even if you have the cash on hand to pay outright.
Yeah, I don't necessarily agree with the game, but since we're in it, I play it. All of my purchases go on credit cards. But I never spend money I don't have, and I pay the statement balance in full every month so I'm never charged interest. The only time I don't pay the full statement balance is when I buy a new phone since I have the store card with 0% financing. But anything else, never ever ever carry a balance.
It sucks because it's basically a benefit for people who have good executive functioning and financial literacy, paid for by those who don't. It's a benefit I only get because big banks prey on poor people.
I have A+ credit and have never possessed a credit card.
What is A+ credit?
It’s what the guy at the bank told me each time I bought a car or a house.
Literally every purchase. Use it like a debit card and build a good credit report before you’re even 30. Shit my credit score was over 800 before I turned 21. My credit wasn’t very thick. But what I had was solid.
Plus every card I have gives me cash back so it’s like getting 1-5% off every single purchase. Plus since I buy things for work and get reimbursed for it I’m effectively making money off of it.
I’m 44yo with A+ credit and have never used a credit card in my life.
Define “A+”
Credit is about length and girth in addition to their scores. By 40 you’d better have an “A+” score. If you’ve had a mortgage for 20 years, paid your bills on time, and had a couple car loans then anything under 800 would be hard to get.
Sounds like you agree with me that a credit card is not remotely necessary for building good credit.
I never said it was necessary.
But it is one of the fastest and quickest ways to build credit.
Compared to a debit card, it adds an additional layer between my money and the rest of the world. If my card is wrongly charged, by malice or honest accident, I then have some weeks to sort that out before the money is actually going to be pulled from my bank account. That's why I prefer to pay by credit card instead of by debit card.
As long as you pay it off every month it should be the way you pay for everything. It builds your credit score and is more secure. With a credit card you're spending their money, so if your card gets stolen you won't be on the hook for everything. Vs a debit card you're spending your money, it is much harder to do fraud from the consumer side with a debit card. Plus perks .
I understand if you're bad with credit, but if you're not, why wouldn't you use one?
Debit cards have all the same functionality as far as I can tell, and you don't need to worry about building up debt at predatory interest rates.