Another benefit: many credit cards include rental car insurance if you charge the rental on the card, so you don’t have to take the expensive policies offered by the car rental agency.

I really enjoy earning interest on all of my purchases (1% – 3% currently). I originally got a card at 16 to establish credit but have found further uses. 0% interest offers are not bad either, as long as you are careful and read all the fine print.

In addition, I find it much easier to track than cash, though that debate always rages on in the forums. But downloading purchases to Quicken every month, from cards, makes it a snap to monitor spending. Even monthly statements can give you help tracking if you are not great at writing every little purchase down & don’t have budget software.

Another benefit: some car rental places will accept NO OTHER kinds of payment.

Fact: over 90% of the population buys more stuff when purchasing with a card as opposed to with cash.
Fact: Over 80% of Americans let the balance ride.
Fact: You can rent a car, pay for motels, shop online, etc, with a debit card.

I really enjoy that 24% interest too!!
You might think you can win at the credit card game, but just like vegas, in the end, it’s the House that sets the rules!

James,

Can you show sources for your facts? They seem a bit overstated to me.

It is important (even essential in this society) to learn how to be responsible with credit, how to use credit, and how to solve/ negotiate credit problems if things go wrong, and most people start learning this skill with a credit card. At one point in my life I had 5 credit cards with about 35K of debt ping-ponging between the cards in various amounts. Eventually through debt consolidation my wife and I payed off all our cards and got out of this revolving or rolling debt situation. The point we learned is, it is not necessarily bad to be in debt, what makes it good or bad is how you structure the debt — then how you are investing the funds.

You can’t reserve hotel rooms without one or a rental car.

I use my credit card for internet purchases, its very useful, when i have to buy a component from international store.

Davis -
Yes you can. I have done it many times. Just give them your debit card number…when asked visa or master card, tell them what which it is…they will run the card like they would if it was any other “credit card”

If they tell you they can’t take debit cards they are lying and you should avoid doing business with them. The one car rental company that used to say it had to be a credit card and not debit was also the most expensive.

In addition there are ways to rent with cash, although it is more difficult, but places like your car dealership or “Rent a Wreck,” have no problems taking cash.
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vsjhoc -
Most auto insurance policies cover rental cars. Using that as an excuse to put yourself in debit with credit cards is a lame excuse.

Credit cards can be a really useful tool for managing finances. But, unfortunately, not everybody read the fine print carefully and, thus, run into debt.

[...] http://www.savingadvice.com wins my dumb-ass post of the day award for this gem, “10 reasons you should have a credit card.”  Let’s go through his reasons, shall we? [...]