Who uses credit cards?

[skives]

I admit I have three credit cards and there is actually really only one card I use. I use it to obtain points on the account. Whenever I reach a certain amount of points I can get a $50 check. Over the last two years I have got at least $500 in cash back in the form of checks. By the way I always pay the card off as soon as a charge shows on the card so I'm not paying interest. Who else here uses credit cards to their advantage?

[cooliemae]

My wife and I use our Discover cards for almost every day purchases, which provides us with somewhere around $400-$500 a year in cashback. We also use our other cards when they offer zero percent options to finance larger purchases, which allows us to keep the money in the back earning interest.

[disneysteve]

We do. We use our cards for everything we can. Of course, we pay the bill in full every month. We've earned as much as $900 in rewards in a year. Our main card is a Marriott Visa and we use that for free travel pretty regularly.

[mrpaseo]

I use them as well and pay in full each month. One day I decided to see what I could get for the points I had, I cashed in 400 points expecting to receive $40 dollars. I received a $475 dollar check (If memory serves me correct). I received $400 dollars for the 400 points and a bonus of $75 dollars for waiting to build up so many points before I cashed in It was a good day.

[tan fish]

I do the same thing. I use four cards: A 1) Discover card, 2) Fidelity Visa card, 3) Citibank dividends master card, and 3) Chase Freedom master card. Probably one too many than I should have, but it works well for me. I never carry a balance on any of my cards though I use them for everything I possibly can, and have made quite a bit off rewards from these companies. They hate that, and I love that fact.

[kork13]

I have a few different cards, but primarily only use one (plus another strictly for gas purchases). I charge anything and everything I can to the card, as I get a no-strings 2% cash back on everything. I average about $10/mo cash back every month, give or take a few bucks. And even at that, there's alot of stuff that normally I used to be able to charge (my apartment's rent, for one) that used to bump me above $25/mo.

Debt is a tool to use smartly. I use my credit cards to simplify all of my monthly purchases, being able to consolidate everything into a single payment each month. Plus, I get a small amount essentially "refunded" to me every month. Use them responsibly, and credit cards can be very advantageous.

[skruggie]

I'm not ashamed of using a credit card for my monthly expenses, and of course I pay that balance off every month - I save the points all year that I earn on my card to pay for food on my Disney World trips.

Credit is not evil. It's up to each person to use it responsibly, just like any other tool.

[BuckyBadger]

We have a Chase Bank BP card that we use for EVERYTHING that we can. Every single bill that it is possible to pay for with a credit card we put on that card. We pay it off in full every month and rack up reward points that we usually take out as a lump sum once a year around Christmas time. I think we usually have $700-$1000 by then.

We have two other cards that don't get used very much. Here or there to keep them active. And we used one of those when we went overseas because it was a card through a Credit Union and it had better rates for charging things in foreign currency.

[couchrobt]

I try to stay away from those evil plastic cards actually. Used one once and it is just evil! lol maybe I just had fun of spending without giving out cash. It's just me

[cypher1]

I still use my Chase card for eating out(older card and an eye opener for meals), and everything else for AMX Blue, pay in full each month of course. I monitor those accounts same as my checking account online, checking them almost daily.

[97guns]

i rarely use cash but pay them off every month, i do carry a balance if they give me 0%.

[JoshuaHeckathorn]

My wife and I use credit cards for all our expenses, both business and personal, so we rack up rewards pretty fast. In fact, just yesterday we booked 2 flights through the Citi Thank You Network for a summer vacation with the family. We used about 120,000 points ($1,200 worth) and the actual cost of the tickets was $1,200 each. I know that because we had to call United afterwards to figure out what we had to pay for our 5-month old daughter. They charge 10% of the actual ticket fare for international flights. So, we got $2,400 worth of tickets for basically half price using points (many of which were accumulated just by flying and not actually buying anything). That's why I love rewards credit cards!

[SFA]

I use my Discover Card for all of my purchases. Getting 1-5 % cashback is awesome. At first, I was a little too liberal when using it; however, I set up a budget and just pay it off in full every month. Free Vacation this summer due to Cashback Rewards = No Brainer to me =)

[Ima saver]

My dh charges a lot of building materials at Home Depot every month, using our chase master card. They give us 3% cash back. We receive a $50 check every month, last month is was $100. Of course, I pay it off in full each month.

[Mithrin]

Between my wife and I, we have 15-20 credit cards.

Some were gotten when they offered a better rewards program, then were replaced when the reward program was cut back. Like Citibank cards that were originally 5% back on Gas/Groc for first 12 months and are now 1% for everything.

Others were opened because they had a good sign-up offer, like Chase Freedom when they had $250 back for spending $250 in the first 90 days. Those also had good rewards 3% on Gas/Groc, but they later changed it to 5% back on rotating categories.

A few others were used to get 0% BT with no fee so I could put the money in high yield savings (those days are nearly gone with nearly all 0% BT offers coming with a 3-5% fee, along with lower returns on savings/CDs).

Between credit card cashback, opening bonuses, and bank account opening bonuses, we've made an extra 2-3K per year. We pay all our cards off in full each month (unless it's a 0% BT card).

Currently in my wallet Schwab Visa (2% everywhere), Citi Forward (5% restaurants), and Discover/Chase Freedom when their rotating categories are useful. Also have recurring bills paid to my oldest card to keep them active for credit report age. Only 1% back so I don't use it for anything else.

[zim]

My wife and I unfortunately made several bad decisions with credit cards before we were married. We have them, and we use them to travel which is often since we live in different states for work. We have currently decided to freeze our use of them and if we can't pay for something in cash, we don't buy it.

I would love to get to a point where we can use them and pay the balance every month and gain rewards, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

[James Pollock]

I use debit cards because i personally not in favor of any debt from person or business.Personally i am not in favor of taking debt.It makes your life limited so always depend on your own resources.Specially when you do borrow in business then it becomes a bit difficult and irritated as well.So i suggest you all to do business in your resources and try maximum to avoid from debt.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by zim

if we can't pay for something in cash, we don't buy it.

I would love to get to a point where we can use them and pay the balance every month and gain rewards, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

This is what I don't quite understand. I totally agree with you that if you can't pay for something in cash, you shouldn't buy it. But if you can pay in cash, what's the difference if you actually hand over the paper money or swipe your card and then write a check (or do an electronic transfer) to the credit card company? Either way, you are spending the same money.

Originally Posted by James Pollock

I use debit cards because i personally not in favor of any debt

If you only use your credit card for things you already have the cash for and you pay the bill in full every month, there isn't any debt involved. Some people pay their credit card as soon as they get home from making the purchase which is essentially the same as using a debit card.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I use credit cards always. Paid in full. Boring and easy. Anyway though I was wondering, why not use them for gas for car and auto-bill pay. Stuff you'd budget to pay anyway. Sure you can overspend if you lack self-control on eating out and groceries.

But couple of categories how can you overspend? Cell phone bill, cable, etc?

[zim]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

This is what I don't quite understand. I totally agree with you that if you can't pay for something in cash, you shouldn't buy it. But if you can pay in cash, what's the difference if you actually hand over the paper money or swipe your card and then write a check (or do an electronic transfer) to the credit card company? Either way, you are spending the same money.

I agree with what you are saying, but in the past we have used the credit card and spent more than we could afford in cash, therefore we now have a lot of CC debt. If a person is disciplined with the cards, I agree, there is no difference. But because my wife and I were undisciplined in our early 20's, we had rather stick to not using the cards until we get balances paid down.