after reading some comments in the ""One income family" extinct? " thread I wondered how many people use credit cards regularly or at all. I also wondered how people pay for their day to day items. I work retail and see most purchases are done with credit cards, followed by debit and then check. I think I process 2 sales a day involving cash. I was at the dentist office today and saw they have credit card machine. My Dr's and pedi office has one also.
We put everything on our credit card and pay it off monthly. We have a Upromise card so a percentage goes to our kids' college savings. So they basically pay us to use their credit card.
We use credit cards for just about everything. I purchase everything I can with my CC so I can get the rewards, and pay off the bill every month. Credit card companies hate me. :spiteful: The only place I use a debit card is at Costco, and that's only because they won't let me use my CC. I only pay cash for a few things, including when I eat lunch out (mainly fast food).
We have no credit card debt and I can't even remember the last time we used the credit card. We pay for everything with debit card.
We have credit card debt, but haven't used a credit card in about 4 yrs. We are still paying off the massive amount we stacked up after I had the twins. We used credit cards at that time for everything it seemed (very bad!!). Right now, we use our debit card for almost everything and rarely have cash on hand.
I pay everything on credit card which I have set up on-line linked to my Bank Account, I then pay it off as soon as I get home every time I use it, the only reason I use a credit card rather than a debit card is because when I go over seas I get a much better exchange rate using the credit card, also air miles are nice.
Same here. :spiteful: I write checks for a handful of bills a month (less than 5) and that's because they don't allow CC as a form of payment. I would say it's been over 10 years since I had a balance on my CC. Could not tell you the last time I used my debit card. There are many times I don't have even a dollar in my wallet. If I do use cash, it's to buy a cup of coffee or some other small item.
[quote name='Nate and Jack's Mom' date='22 June 2010 - 03:27 PM' timestamp='1277234832' post='1654337'] We use credit cards for just about everything. I purchase everything I can with my CC so I can get the rewards, and pay off the bill every month. Credit card companies hate me. :spiteful: The only place I use a debit card is at Costco, and that's only because they won't let me use my CC. I only pay cash for a few things, including when I eat lunch out (mainly fast food). [/quote] Exactly the same thing here, except for the Costco part we have an AmEx.
This is not a surprise since many people now have a "Benny card" which is a pretax account that can be used for medical expenses, and that is the only credit card that I use at the doctors and the dentist. We have just gotten to where we have all the credit cards paid off, but we do use them to pay most of the time. Actually, any financial person will tell you that it is to your benefit to use credit cards and pay them off every month. If you never use credit cards to build credit, you may have trouble buying a car or getting a mortgage, simply because you have no credit history.
I personally do not use a cc. I did a few years ago for Christmas and it bit me in the bum. After I paid it off I cancelled it. I'm thinking now that I should at least have a cc and just pay it off monthly. I thought you would still get charged for using it even if you pay it off every month. Interesting to know that is not true I use my debit card, checks or cash for everything. I just found out that Target will be giving 5% off each purchase when you use their cc or check card at Target starting in (I think) Sept so that will be a nice little extra benefit.
Some do and some don't. You have to read the fine print and make sure there are no annual fees. Some CC companies have started to charge fees after years of letting people use them gratis. I believe they are required to notify you of this, so you need to stay on top of it. As Trish said, with a no-annual-fee rewards card that you pay off in full each month, they're actually paying *you* to use their card! :good:
I have good credit, DH has good credit. We own our home and always pay on time, we paid off our vehicles when we had payments. I just decided to stop using it after my christmas cc use. Continuing to build good credit is something to think about
As long as you pay it off at the end of each month, you will not be charged. I set up an auto debit with my CC's and bank. This way I'm not dealing with writing checks and the mail. I just log into my CC account, click on "make payment", select how much I want to pay and it will get debited from my checking account. That's the great thing about CC rewards. Find a place that you like and get their card. I have the Hilton American Express card and Disney Reward's Visa. I have more than enough points to stay for a week free at the Hilton Hotel inside Disney World. The Disney points I can use for almost anything inside their parks. I plan on taking my boys to Disney World when they are closer to 5 so I still have another 2+ years of points to earn.
I pay for absolutely everything with my credit card & I pay it off every month. I'm sure credit card companies hate us too. I don't remember the last time we actually carried any credit card debt, but I do like the convenience of using one & not having to keep up with cash. And, for me, I find I spend less. Cash just seems to disappear for me & I'm never sure where it went. I'm much more accountable with my credit card.
We were a single income up until about a month ago when I resumed working part time from home. So I guess we have 1½ incomes. We have credit cards but don't use them. If we don't have the money in our account we don't buy it. Plain and simple. I use my bank ATM/"credit card" for pretty much everything, from bills to day to day stuff. I rarely carry any cash on me.
We also have 1 1/2 incomes. I work freelance/part-time so my income is sporadic. In the past, we used credit cards for everything and paid off the bill in full every month. But we realized that in doing so, we were spending a little more freely than we should and some months, we had to dip into savings to pay off the bill. So for the past year, we've been using the debit card for everything. I voted that we CC for big purchases because we use them to buy things when 6 or 12 months interest free financing is offered, like for my Macbook and our new fridge from Lowes. We have around $2000 on one credit card which is basically our latest vacation expenses. We could easily pay if off with money from our savings account, but we prefer to make payments on the low interest card and keep that money in our savings account just in case. I know that doesn't make financial sense, but having more than 5 figures in savings is a comfort thing for us.
Credit card companies hate us too. We put everything on our Discover and pay it off every month. There are no fees. We get 1% back all the time and then they have specials that rotate every couple of months that you get 5% back on. I know 5% back off of gas starts in July. We take the cash back and redeem it for gift cards, and they give us extra to get the gift cards. So, I can redeem $40 cashback as a credit to my account OR I can redeem the $40 cashback for a $50 giftcard. I've used that for xmas or for gifts or things like winter coats. Marissa
We have a credit card but never use it. The only time we do is if it's an absolute emergency and we just don't have the money. For instance, a couple of years ago I desperately needed new tires, it was a safety issue. We charged it and paid it off as quickly as possible. We have also used it to buy furniture. We had the money in savings (we had specifically been saving up X amount for new furniture)but hadn't moved it to checking yet. So we put it on the card, then paid it all off like the next week. So when we do use the card, we pay if off immediately and don't have interest to deal with. We use debit/check cards for everything. I rarely have cash on hand. We usually write checks for bills that have to be mailed. Most of them can be paid online. I also write checks for daycare. Like others have said, if we can't pay for it we usually don't get it (with the exception of a car, which we do owe on). We try to save up for larger items like furniture or electronics.
I always use my debit card and so does my husband. I never have cash. I get cash out each time he gets paid and I give that to him for eating out while he's working, and once it's gone he has to bring his lunch. That's the only time we use cash. We use the credit card for internet purchases, b/c we don't want to use our debit card on the internet. Then we just go transfer the money to cover it.
Cash: Very small things like a latte (if I have it -- sometimes I have to use the credit card for that too). Debit: At the grocery store when I need cash back, and that's the only time, ever. (Except once or twice when my Visa got suspended because the company was paranoid about something, and I had to use the debit card until it got straightened out.) Online: Most regular bills Credit card: Everything else, and we pay it off each month. (We have an AmEx card almost exclusively for Costco.) I pay medical bills by credit card if they're big (to get the miles) or if they're late (because I lost them on my desk), but generally I use checks. I also use checks for daycare, the housecleaner, and a few other random things (handyman, the company that services our furnace, etc.).
I know this was directed more at Americans but I want to point out that: 1) The concept of a credit history (and the related credit rating) for individuals does not exist in every country 2) Credit histories very rarely transfer from one country to another so there is little point in doing something to build a credit history when you expect to be living somewhere else in a few years 3) Financially, it is a bad idea to borrow money to buy a depreciating asset (a car would be a good example)
We use the Credit Card now for "Medical/Dental Bills" and "Big Purchases". We use the Debit Card for everything else. I rarely use cash...but I did select "Eating Out" b/c I will occasionally use it for fast food instead of the Debit Card. We currently have about $22K in Credit Card debt and hope to have that paid off in 2 years **CROSSING OUR FINGERS!!**
We just transferred all of our CC debt to a new card a few months ago b/c our other card jacked up the rate from 14.99% to 18.99%. We have been with them for a LONG time with a GREAT history (ALWAYS on time, we carry a balance with them, been with them for 15 years, etc) and tried to get them to work with us and lower the rate, but they wouldn't. budge on it! So we moved it to our bank's CC that has a 9.99% rate...this will help us pay it down alot faster anyways! When we got our tax return $$ and went to book our summer vaca we used the old card though, b/c we can get the Thank You Rewards points and we like to use those mostly for gift certificates to eat out. I have also used the points to get Megan's Exersaucer, high chair, high chair booster seat, DH's electric razor, and other stuff!! :banana: But like I said...we mostly like food! MMM!! We just paid the airfare $$ immediately to the CC to cover the Tix. We also used it for our house-hunting trip a couple weeks ago to keep all the expenses together and we could just transfer the $$ over once we got home...plus we got more points! I have never heard them called that but we have one of those too for our HCAP! I LOVE IT!! We ust started getting the card this year...before it was all reimbursement. It is so nice that the $$ coumes right out of our HCAP account and we don't have to WAIT for it to come back to us! Same here! Even if I do use the CC to pay for something (like if I buy it online) I still subtract it out of the checkbook as if it was already gone...that way we don't spend that $$. I just note on the side "CC" so I know it's on the CC. Same here. We have Virtual Account Numbers that we can use when we buy things online. It's alot safer than using your actual #...and as I was saying above...if we use the CC we subtract it out as if the $$ is already gone.
I also put everything on our cc to earn points and pay it off monthly. No credit card debt. Keep in mind, credit card companies do charge retailers to allow them to accept their cards - usually 3%. So, they are not techinically making nothing off of those that pay their card off monthly. I know that a lot of times when we buy bigger ticket items, we will actually pay with check or cash, because we can often negotiate an additional 3% for not using our credit card. Ends up the same to the retailer, and saves us.
Right now I'm using cash for everything (day to day purchases/groceries) because I found I spend less if I use actual cash. ardon: I was using a cc for everything and paying it off monthly but the bill was outrageous! So now that I use cash I can limit myself much easier then when with a cc. :good: Bills are paid online through the bank and CC are used online and for big purchases. My husband only uses a cc because he's in construction and spends alot, so cash would not be practical for him.
Well in that case you have an argument for borrowing the money even though you don't need to. That assumes however that you have the funds available to buy the car without the loan and you are making a choice to borrow the money due to the interest rate difference. The comment I was responding to however was saying that it made it difficult to buy a car without the loan which implies that you don't have the money available to make the choice.
What is this thing you call "cash?" :laughing: No, really, we almost never use cash. Once in a long while when I know we are going someplace that doesn't take cards (like last weekend DH & I went to an outdoor festival/concert thing), we'll get some cash out. Otherwise it's debit, debit, debit. I do use CCs for online purchases. I know most people say you should use only cash if you are trying to budget, but I've found for me it's the opposite - cash flies out of my pockets so fast, while at least with debit I can look at my acct online and know exactly where I stand and where our money is going.
Actually, financial people will tell you that on average people spend 12-18% when using a credit or debit card, even if they pay the credit card in full each month.
I agree with this, if you use your card and pay it off it looks on your credit report as though you are just carrying a zero balance and not actually using the card since it only reports once a month. People frown on useing credit cards and carrying a balance but if you use your credit cards wisely there is nothing wrong with them.
I was at a bank yesterday trying for a loan for a new car, and the bank manager said there is nothing called a good credit rating only a bad one. I do not have a credit card, I have a normal card and a debit card which I only use, I hate using cash so only keep around $10 in it as I don't like the idea of losing/ someone stealing my bag and losing a whole lot of money. I have no debt but if my loan is approved I will be.
We use our CC to pay as many bills as we can, gas, and larger purchases. I don't use it for other normal day-to-day stuff like groceries. For that, I use cash or my debit card. I like to carry cash for smaller purchases or going out to eat. We just went through a kitchen remodel and my cash back is over $300 right now on the CC only 2 months into the the new rewards year. That's without the contractor's charges or the countertop.
I will have to disagree with this as well. I have done everything from mortgages to boat loans. You have your excellent borrowers that get the great rates. You have your average mid range people that get the standard rate, then you have your bad ratings that get an extremly high rate to denial. Those are the people with collections, late pays or too many revolving lines. So much goes into making a decision on approving a loan, Does the person have too many open accounts with 0 balances, are they carrying balances too close to the limits... way too many factors.