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81 Comments
- swatward, on 06/04/2008, -0/+14Some good advice I learned in school. Don't buy more than you can pay off.
- kenplaysviola, on 06/04/2008, -0/+7I pay off my credit card bills 100% of the time and have never overspent. I use my credit card for everything and I have an excellent credit score. On top of it, I can get up to 3% cash back on purchases and a $50 cash back bonus for every $200 cash back I earn. I use the Chase Freedom Visa card, if anyone is interested. Of course this is only worth it if you can control your spending habits.
- Elliuotatar, on 06/04/2008, -0/+7You should use credit cards, or at least, have them, because if you don't, you may find your credit score is too low to do something like get a mortgage on a house.
Credit score is calculated based on how much credit you have, vs how much you've used, with something called a revolving balance playing some role in it which improves your score I think. Then if your score is good enough, you can get a mortgage if the amount you'd be paying monthly for it, when added to what you already pay monthly for any other debts you have, is less than 50% of your monthly income.
Car loans I think they do the same way, but they don't bother checking to see if the income you stated is your actual income, which they will do for a mortgage. - cha5e, on 06/04/2008, -0/+7Interest rates only matter if you carry a balance. The vast majority of people don't need to carry a balance, they just got that way because they wanted crap that they couldn't afford.
- jeremyduffy, on 06/04/2008, -0/+6Or here's some good advice: if you're not willing to take the time and effort to calculate exactly what benefit you'll receive from a rewards card based on the way you'll use it (assuming there's any benefit at all), don't bother. They've already done all the calculations to make sure that most people can't get their money's worth (which is what makes it beneficial to them to offer it). Therefore, your chance of making any good off the card is already small.
This is the same advice I give to people who want extended warranties. It doesn't matter how good the plan is if you don't use it right. - Jones105, on 06/04/2008, -2/+5Recent surveys have shown consumers using credit cards purchase on average 11% more than those using cash or debit. Are your rewards worth 11%?
- Eraser, on 06/04/2008, -0/+2Why would the credit card companies hate you? You are still making them money every time you use the card, of course you may not be making them as much money as someone else by not carrying a balance - but that is a common misconception. Credit Card companies charge merchants a portion of every sale in order to process the charge, thus they make money each time your card is used - its the merchants who have to pay for you to use your credit card, the credit card companies just sit back and collect all of the money.
- staplez, on 06/04/2008, -0/+2Here it's really easy. I have a book! http://consumerist.com/consumer/clips/snl-skit-don ...
- mousky, on 06/04/2008, -0/+2Or use credit cards as an interest-free loan.
- SgtBulldog, on 06/04/2008, -1/+3I'm getting 5% cash back on gas, groceries, pharmacies, and restaurants right now and don't carry a balance. Last year I probably netted $800 from the credit card companies. Yeah, it's worth it to me.
- juankovo, on 06/04/2008, -0/+2Points, rewards, and cashback programs cost the credit card companies money. They pass this along to the merchant in the form of higher transaction fees. The merchant passes this along to you in the form of higher product prices. It's really no different from paying a small tax to get an even smaller benefit back from the government.
- carlosos, on 06/04/2008, -1/+3Or it just means the people with credit cards have more money and are able to spend more...
- nilcam, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1If you like shmups, Castle of Shikigami 3 is awesome. I prefer Mario Kart over Brawl; the online is great. Blast Works comes out next week and that's looking really good.
- Algan, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1The only reward that is worth it is cashback. I've got a bunch of credit cards and ALL of them are set to provide various levels of cashback with no annual fee. I'm well on track for receiving about $500-600 from my Amex Blue come October. Yes, I do charge that much, and no, I don't carry any balances. Cost to me: $0
Credit card companies probably hate me... - MrsButtersworth, on 06/04/2008, -4/+5Tip 7: Avoid Temptation
Which solidifies tip 8: Don't use credit cards. - Elliuotatar, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1And if you do use credit cards, it's worth your while to shop around and try to find cards with better interest rates. I can't tell you how many offers I get in the mail for rates of up to 22%.
The best rates I get offered from mailings for Visa cards are around 12%, and my credit union gives me a rate of just 8.75% And American Express I think it is, offers rates which are consistently 1% lower than Visa. It doesn't matter what card your debt is on though, so why not move it over to whatever the lowest rate you can get is?
I feel bad for anyone who signed up to a card with one of those insane 15%-22% rates.
I'll also often get offers for cards which will offer three different rates. But they won't tell you what rate you get till after you apply, and they can probably change the rate on you at any time, so I wouldn't bother with those.
My advice to anyone is look into joining a credit union. They offer much better credit card rates and auto loan rates and such than the big banks do. I refinanced my auto loan and my interest rate is half of what it was, and my monthly payment has been reduced by over $100. - Gregsaw, on 06/04/2008, -1/+2Brawl, Mario Kart.
Hopefully you already have those though - ronmexico, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1Or get a mortgage from a lender that will actually look at your financial situation and manually underwrite your loan rather than obey the magical FICO score. No, you don't NEED a credit card to survive in this world.
- marciot, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1The Dividend Rewards card used to be my favorite too, but it is true they lowered their reward rates, making the card much less attractive. I believe it is at 2% for gas and groceries, not 3%, now. So I switched over to a NationalCity Everyday Rewards, which offers 4% on gas, 3% on movies, 2% on restaurants and groceries. Overall good rewards, but the minimum redemption is at $100, and the rewards expire in a two or three years, so you have to make sure your spending patterns are such that you do not loose your rewards. I also recently picked up a CaptialOne with 2% cash back on travel purchases, 1% on everything else. This is great travel card and they also are the only card, except Discover, without the 3% foreign currency transaction fees.
Anyhow, I've been earning money from my credit cards for several years, and I've never paid a cent in finance charges. Doing this is a lot of work and you need to examine the fine print, but it's like a game and you can make some money by playing it right. YMMV. - cha5e, on 06/04/2008, -1/+2Cashback is nice, but I like the miles. I just redeemed a free trip for 2 to Hawaii, for 70,000 miles. At a point per dollar, that means that was $70,000 worth of my purchases (several years' worth). Now, if I had taken cash back, I would have gotten $700, which wouldn't have bought me those tickets.
And, like you, cost to me = $0. I never carry a balance, and I've noticed that if you call to cancel the card about a month before the annual fee is due, they just waive the annual fee. - davdev, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1My wife and I recently put an addition on our house, and of course we took out an equity line to pay for it. However, just about everything we purchased was first put on a Marriott Rewards card, and then paid off with the equity line.
We built up about 200K points, and just cashed them in for a free week in Aruba. Of course if you don't have a huge project like this, the chances of building up enough points to earn something like this are slim - bruin8uclap, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1My CitiBank Dividend Rewards card used to give me 5 percent on Gas, Groceries, and Pharmaceuticals before those irresponsible people started acting responsible and actually started paying off their bills every month. Or maybe they declared bankruptcy. Now the card only gives me 3 percent. *****.
- sensical, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1That sounds like a huge waste of time to me.
- adammcg137, on 09/17/2009, -0/+1Free iPhone http://www.freeo2iphone.co.uk
- juankovo, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1If you don't like the constant barrage of credit card and loan offers in your mailbox, go to https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ to opt out. It is a free service of the four major credit bureaus; if you don't believe me you should be able to find links to it on their sites.
It will save you lots of time and save a lot of wasted paper as well. - ronmexico, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1If they had more money they wouldn't need to use credit cards. Don't confuse money with credit.
- WELLDOITLIVE, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1I have a Citi Dividend card that gives 1% cash back on all purchases, and 5% for gas and grocery purchases. The key is paying off the bill in full each month. I don't spend more than what I can afford, and within the past ~7 years I've made over $500 off of them and they haven't made a cent off me.
- control10, on 02/18/2009, -0/+1great information,thanks for sharing that with us
http://www.flowreviews.com - pon4v, on 12/04/2008, -0/+1best reward-- Banging the hot credit card rep.
http://www.flixya.com/blog/pango - Pandalume, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1I use the Chase Amazon card and I love it. I pay my bill in full every month and earn anywhere between $50 and $150 a month in Amazon.com gift certs (yes, I have large credit card bills some months). It would probably make more sense to just get cash back but it's fun to have free money to spend on Amazon.
- mousky, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1Then you shouldn't be using a credit card in the first place. Besides, if you time your purchases right, you can get a 20 to 45 day interest-free loan. Some people may be able to save some money during that time.
But, if you have the money and a credit card with a good reward program, why not use the credit card to earn you some money and some rewards? Why not reward yourself if you happen to be fiscally responsible? - Elliuotatar, on 06/05/2008, -0/+1And how do you propose one find such a lender? Presumably if one is having trouble getting a loan, one is a first time homebuyer and would have no idea where to go to get a loan.
I recently got turned down for a home loan because I'm self employed but I don't have two years of financial history to prove my income. That's how I learned all this crap. The hard way. - carlosos, on 06/04/2008, -0/+1Check http://bankrate.com/ to see what the cards are offering. There are many cards like that.
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