I know how to use credit cards!

[MonkeyMama]

I've had credit cards since I was 16 and never carried a balance. I utilize ccs for rewards and 0% arbitrage and discounts. I've never paid a cent in fees or interest to the cc companies - don't see what's so hard about playing the game. I was properly educated about credit cards from a very young age.

Certainly not everyone agrees, but plenty on this forum feel the same way.

I also do not understand "spending more" just because it is a card. I personally think that may be a difficulty for people who switch from cash to electronic versions of payments. Some people, anyway. I mostly grew up dealing with my money in electronic form (checks and credit cards). I have never much dealt in cash. I don't personally distinguish cash, checks, debits, or credit payments. Money is money and I only buy that which I have the cash to pay. I truly think the younger generation (I am 35) will have a better grasp on electronic payments because that is probably all they will really know. I personally find it much easier to keep track of my financial transactions in an electronic form. No remembering to write anything down.

[Hector]

Of course people get married, and never expect a divorce... but it happens. 50% of marriages end in divorce in the U.S., so no matter how strong your love is my suggestion is to NOT add that person as co owner of the account. I love my SO to death... he has been fulfilling to me in so many ways... but I told him up front my cards are mine, and his are his. I learned that lesson by watching the train wreck happen to so many other people.

So you didnt add your SO to your cards, how about other accounts like checking and savings?

[Hector]

I use credit cards all the time and idea of using them is to pay in full every month. There was time that I was not able to pay them in full every month, thankfully to 0% APR, I never paid interest on them. So they were useful in that way during that time. Right now when I am able to pay in full every month, they are good in getting cash reward.

You seem annoyed by people telling you not to use them. Why do you care so much about what people have to tell you how to manage your finance when you are not in debt and paying your credit cards in full all the time? Its interesting that no one ever told me to stop using credit cards (or may be I never listened) and you are finding everyone in the world to tell you not to use credit cards!

[MonkeyMama]

@ Hector - actually, there are some pretty "holier than thou/obnoxious" anti-credit-card folks out there. I expect if you are participating in a forum that leans that way it can get way obnoxious. In day-to-day living, the topic doesn't come up much, for me. But if I am participating in a forum and told several times I am doing things "wrong," when clearly I am not, it gets old. Not somewhere I would hang around.

[Hector]

@ Hector - actually, there are some pretty "holier than thou/obnoxious" anti-credit-card folks out there. I expect if you are participating in a forum that leans that way it can get way obnoxious. In day-to-day living, the topic doesn't come up much, for me. But if I am participating in a forum and told several times I am doing things "wrong," when clearly I am not, it gets old. Not somewhere I would hang around.

I see. Thanks for the info

[Pansori]

So you didnt add your SO to your cards, how about other accounts like checking and savings?

As of right now we keep our finances separate, that includes checking and savings. As a whole, we're pretty lax about money with each other. Neither of us are big spenders, and we're on the same page about debt, purchasing big ticket items, etc. He is moving in with me next month so things will probably change, but we still have no plans to mix our finances.

[Hector]

As of right now we keep our finances separate, that includes checking and savings. As a whole, we're pretty lax about money with each other. Neither of us are big spenders, and we're on the same page about debt, purchasing big ticket items, etc. He is moving in with me next month so things will probably change, but we still have no plans to mix our finances.

You guys are not married yet. Never mind.

[snafu]

Pansori: I've witnessed so many 'train wreck' relationships resulting from unmet expectations, I'm going out on a limb and suggesting you and DBF write up a small, informal agreement as to how conjoined bills will be paid, both sum and responsible person. It also helps to write commitment to household tasks [who does what]. One successful system seems to designate sums by percentage of income so that the person with the highest income contributes more. Example, each contributes 5% of income to Emergency Fund, 25% to rent/mortgage, 17% of income to food budget etc.

[marvholly]

I don't personally distinguish cash, checks, debits, or credit payments. Money is money and I only buy that which I have the cash to pay.

I think this is the REAL crux of the matter here and I am an Oldster (almost 65) who VERY well remembers dealing w/ONLY cash, checks and individual store credit cards.

[disneysteve]

I don't personally distinguish cash, checks, debits, or credit payments. Money is money and I only buy that which I have the cash to pay.

I'm the same way. I truly can't comprehend how someone could spend more with credit than with cash. Either you have the money or you don't. it doesn't matter how you pay.

Sometimes I don't decide how I'm paying until I get to the register. If I happen to have some extra cash on me, I may use it. Otherwise, I may use my credit card. Or I might remember that I have a prepaid debit card in my wallet that I got for doing a survey and I'll use that for all or part of the payment. None of that has anything to do with what I bought while shopping, though. I bought what I needed and wanted to buy, and could afford to buy.

The fact that so many people carry balances on their credit cards is baffling to me. I've said many times that I simply can't understand what goes through one's mind when making the decision to buy something that you know full well you can't afford. My mind just doesn't work that way.

[trirunner]

I think this might be the crux of the problem, Steve. I'm with you and just don't understand how I would spend more with a credit card then without one. I think in a very similar way those people who have credit card debt can't understand how someone with a credit card cannot get into debt. I can understand how they can think this way and and that's what causes my great frustration when they continually tell me that I'm going to regret having a credit card. Anyway, it's good to finally have found a place where credit cards are considered evil by everybody.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Card User, know thyself. If you can't handle it, don't. If you can, do so if you wish. No big deal.

My spouse and I have 62 years of credit card use between us and we've never paid any interest or fees for credit cards. (Ooh, I just made a typo that could be amusing: "dredit cards," I wrote.)

Actually there is a very large percentage of card users who pay off their charges every month. So the responses you've had here should not really be surprising. By far, not everyone gets into trouble with credit cards. Despite questions we often get here along the lines of "when did you first begin to pay off your CC debt?" racking up CC debt is not a rite of passage or anything like that.

[disneysteve]

I think this might be the crux of the problem, Steve. I'm with you and just don't understand how I would spend more with a credit card then without one. I think in a very similar way those people who have credit card debt can't understand how someone with a credit card cannot get into debt.

Exactly. Many people consider using a credit card for any reason to be "going into debt." Dave Ramsey does this. If you buy a gumball with a credit card, he would say you took on debt for that gumball.

I don't think that way. I realize that technically using a credit card is a form of debt as it is a short term loan, but as long as I have the cash on hand to pay that bill and do pay it in full at the end of the month, I don't think of that as debt. To me, it doesn't become debt until you don't pay the bill.

[howslife]

Not all of us are lucky enough to know how to use credit cards without getting into debt. I think they are evil!

[disneysteve]

Not all of us are lucky enough to know how to use credit cards without getting into debt. I think they are evil!

I don't think there is any luck involved. Follow one very basic rule and you won't ever have a problem with a credit card. Never use it to buy anything that you don't already have the money for in your account. That way, when the bill comes, you can pay it in full. You won't ever have to pay interest. You won't ever go into debt.

Blaming the credit card for a problem caused by the user doesn't make any sense.