Juat a rant, ignore me

[TLAM Strike]

This is what my banker told me:
Get a credit card and use it to buy gas once a week only. Use it for nothing else.

It build up your credit and doesn't put you in debt.

Credit cards if used wisely can be of financial assistance. If used unwisely they are a disaster for the user and society.

[GoldenRivet]

Couldn't agree with your rant more

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Get a credit card and use it to buy gas once a week only. Use it for nothing else.

That is exactly what i've been doing.

My truck is paid for, and I owe creditors zero dollars. Well, aside from the weekly trip to the gas pump. Doing this though, besides helping with credit, lets me see exactly what im spending on gas per week/month. I view my credit card as more of a "gasoline bill" then anything else.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

That is exactly what i've been doing.

My truck is paid for, and I owe creditors zero dollars. Well, aside from the weekly trip to the gas pump. Doing this though, besides helping with credit, lets me see exactly what im spending on gas per week/month. I view my credit card as more of a "gasoline bill" then anything else.

I can understand why people do that, and I applaud your restraint. Yes, it will boost your credit score. Personally, I would just rather not have them in the wallet at all.

[Skybird]

I have a Visa - for the occasional internet buy where other sales methods are not available or not trustworthy. I get any deficit straight within 4 weeks. I use it 1-3 times per year, at best.

The card is not in my wallet. Together with my driving license it is stored in a safe drawer in my desktop.

In every-day-life I hate plastic money. It is not convenient, becasue it takes longer time at the cashdesk to get through the payment procedure than if oyu hand over real cash and get back the change. Street robbery also is still some kin d of an exotic crime over here, so safety also is no real argument in most situations. I am more worried about electronic crime and my banking data ending up in dark channels where they do not belong, getting abused for fraud by somebody else. Stolen card info, phishing attacks on home PCs, and manipulated bank automats that steal the card info and PINs as well, according to the Gemran "FBI" (=BKA) now are a very serious crime problem since some time, with ever exploding rates of cases.

I share the sentiment of ducimus and Takeda that plastic money is a good opportunity to let you escape from a material, real expereince of that you actually have given away money, which makes it easier for people to dive deep into debts. It is a psychological problem. Banks support the idea of people going into debts, since they make profits by it. People like me offering them little or no opportunity to collect interests from me, are not what they want to see too often.

The shifting of debts from one credit card to the next, to the degree it is common habit in the US that is a relatively uncommon practice here in Germany. There are tighter rules and monitors in place.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

This is what my banker told me:
Get a credit card and use it to buy gas once a week only. Use it for nothing else.

It build up your credit and doesn't put you in debt.

We keep small bean bag cards just for this purpose. My wife has two clothing store cards and we have one major credit card. All paid on time and carry a minimal balance. Creditors want to see consistancy in payments. No late payments or going over the credit limit. This builds your credit. Need to be careful and show restraint with the cards. That hole is so easy to dig and clawing your way out is very difficult. Been there and done that a very long time ago. Learned our lesson and got it straight.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Creditors want to see consistancy in payments. No late payments or going over the credit limit. This builds your credit.

Consistency in everything is what a creditor wants to see. I have a friend who works in the loan department of a car dealership a few towns over, I was talking to him once and said I've been at the same job for 3 years now and he said that's good. People who come in to his office looking for finance for their new car get denied because they can't hold down a job for a long period of time.

[Jimbuna]

My position is identical to Tak regarding debt, mortgage and car.

I do however have a credit card which is seldom used but paid off at the end of each month if I do use it.

I'm not sure how they work in the US but here in the UK they come with automatic refunds if fraudulently used by anyone other than the cardholder and have a further use in insuring against holiday companies going bust (which is quite frequent here atm) when paid for by your card....at least that is what my Visa does

[Platapus]

There is one advantage of using a credit card - security

This happened to me one week ago. I have one credit card that I pay off every month. Last week, I opened up my credit card statement and found a bunch of charges made in PA (I don't do PA). Gosh, what a problem....for the credit card company, not me.

I hoped on the phone, all the fraudulent charges are taken off my account, the account was closed and a new credit card was issued to me. Had to send in a signed form (did not even have to pay the postage). Sure I went four days without a credit card and survived.

This is why I use my credit card for almost all my purchases. The risk is on the part of the credit card company. That's what I am not paying interest for when I pay off the account every month.

I was glad the credit card people found a solution to their problem of fraudulent charges.

[Takeda Shingen]

Jim and Platapus are indeed correct; you do get a decent amount of protection from fraud and identity theft, something that debit cards generally do not have.

[Tchocky]

I have 3 credit cards. Recently I had 4. I should probably explain that.

Right, card one is my standard Irish credit card, used for Steam, internet purchases and the like. It gets a fair amount of use and has never seen an interest charge.

Card #2 is my Dutch card. I didn't ask for one, it came with the account. Nice to have in an emergency I guess. It sits in my locker, gathering dust with licences and medical certs.

Card #3 is a MasterCard prepaid. I use this because it carries no €5 processing fee when booking Ryanair. With Dublin being a major hub I'm in and out a lot, and if the flight costs €12 then an extra €5 is something to be avoided.

Card #4 is a Visa Electron, which used to carry no processing fee with Ryanair. Needless to say, this card ain't used no more, cap'n

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Jim and Platapus are indeed correct; you do get a decent amount of protection from fraud and identity theft, something that debit cards generally do not have.

Yeah I found that out the other month when my bank locked down my debit card when a "mass compromise" occured and didn't bother to tell me about it. If it had been my credit card, i would have had an automated phone call within 10 minutes of the lock down.

[yubba]

Well if they are stupid enough to give me money

[jumpy]

^^
hehe

If only that was the whole story with banks though.

My credit debt was not caused by unfettered spending above my means... at least until my means were taken away lol, then it was use the credit card or live in the dark, or outdoors in a cardboard box.

I wonder how true this is for many people who are living with the cost of the recession when they were prudent and conservative in their spending and saving habits - ie what was traditionally defined as good banking customers?