Anonymous wrote:I’ve never had a credit card

My parents never had one either.

I got my first credit card when I was about 27, and it was a secured card with a $300 limit.

I could live without a credit card, but the cash back rewards that I get now make it worth my while to have one.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never had a credit card

You must have awful credit. Otherwise why would you not have a credit card?

I pay for *everything* by credit, down to the $1 bottle of water at the gas station because I get points as well as protection. I use those points to travel, or get cash back. It's called being smart with money.

Anonymous wrote:Credit cards only.

15 years ago I went through a Dave Ramsey phase and started only using my debit cards.

Woke up one morning to see $1200 missing from my checking account. Turns out it was skimmed at a Newark airport restaurant. Only made one purchase while I was passing through and the money was taken out from an Elizabeth NJ gas station.

I ended up getting the money back but it took some moving money from savings to make sure nothing bounced.

That happens. I’ve never heard of anyone having trouble getting their money back. The big banks are usually on top of signs of fraud.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never had a credit card

What do you do when you make a hotel reservation or at check-in? They always ask for a credit card.

They now accept debit cards and hold some money back. Fewer and fewer places require credit cards anymore. There are so many other options available now.

Credit cards only.

15 years ago I went through a Dave Ramsey phase and started only using my debit cards.

Woke up one morning to see $1200 missing from my checking account. Turns out it was skimmed at a Newark airport restaurant. Only made one purchase while I was passing through and the money was taken out from an Elizabeth NJ gas station.

I ended up getting the money back but it took some moving money from savings to make sure nothing bounced.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean ... I have a budget. Whether or not I'm using a credit or debit card is irrelevant. The credit card gets paid off each month.

+1.

+1000

And with CC I get my rewards. Reroofed our home last year, to tune of $40K+. Company let me put it all on CC, so I split between my top 2 rewards cards. I got over $1000 in cash rewards. Roofing company was not going to give me a discount for cash, so I used CC

+1. We took a family of six on a vacation to Hawaii using just AMEX points for the plane, rental car and hotel. We had saved these points over many years just to do this.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never had a credit card

What do you do when you make a hotel reservation or at check-in? They always ask for a credit card.

I only use credit cards. I never have cash on hand. I like the perks I get from the cc use (cash back, miles, points, etc.).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean ... I have a budget. Whether or not I'm using a credit or debit card is irrelevant. The credit card gets paid off each month.

+1.

+1000

And with CC I get my rewards. Reroofed our home last year, to tune of $40K+. Company let me put it all on CC, so I split between my top 2 rewards cards. I got over $1000 in cash rewards. Roofing company was not going to give me a discount for cash, so I used CC

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Autopay is the best. There are so many annoying little monthly accounts it’s nice not to have to worry about them.

I use cash primarily because I like to and I don’t care about risks vs benefits. I have a credit card and a debit card. My dh gives me $3,000 in cash every month because I’m not working and he likes to even though I don’t need so much money. I do deposit cash into my account when I have an excess in my draw.

Why doesn't he just transfer your allowance into the account automatically?

Moreover why does she not have access to THEIR accounts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP we only use debit cards. We overspend on credit cards so we just don’t use them.

One of us is in sales with 50% of income coming in from commissions. We just don’t count on it and try to live off of our base salaries, which can be challenging but is doable.

Really confused how a credit card vs debit card changes this; do you really go to make purchase and the account is empty so it stops you??

Yes. You can opt out of overdraft protection which means you can only spend what’s in your account.

No I understand the debit card DOES stop you, but is that really the only mechanism that controls their impulses?? They spend until something stops them?

I’ve never had a credit card

Use a credit card everywhere. When I was younger and only had a debit card I had my info stolen from a merchant who had a security breach because I used it for every purchase. The more places you use it the higher the chance it’ll get skimmed, it only takes ONE store to get hacked and now your info is in the hands of criminals.

It’s much worse to have actual money taken from your bank account than fraudulent charges made on your CC. Always use CC, it’s a great layer of protection against fraud.

I only use my credit card. Everything is on autopay but I manually pay my credit card at the beginning of each month. I haven’t carried cash in a decade probably

Anonymous wrote:Autopay is the best. There are so many annoying little monthly accounts it’s nice not to have to worry about them.

I use cash primarily because I like to and I don’t care about risks vs benefits. I have a credit card and a debit card. My dh gives me $3,000 in cash every month because I’m not working and he likes to even though I don’t need so much money. I do deposit cash into my account when I have an excess in my draw.

That's just weird and creepy.