Originally posted by: RyanPaulShaffer
???
I pay my entire balance every month. I never pay a cent of interest because I don't carry any debt on credit cards.
I'm confused...did you read my post?
Every time you buy something with your credit card there is a couple of % the merchant has increased is overall prices by to offset the middleman costs of dealing with a credit card merchant, so even if you pay no interest, those costs are given to either you or the merchant. You can guess which one. This is why a few merchants, like gas stations, do sometimes have different prices in cash or if paying in credit. The whole thing is a big joke.
I don't pay interest or annual fees, and I enjoy the perks, which have totaled into the thousands for me over the years
Again, how do you think your credit card company is able to give you these perks and trivial bonus points and awards? You are not making them as much as people who continually rack up fees, but you are making them something.
The problem is you need to keep a relatively high limit of credit cards because they are factored heavily into your FICO score, which is used to set rates on insurance, mortgages, etc.
Currently, yes. If credit cards were slashed way down in usefulness, they would end up having less of a meaningful impact on FICO.
Negative. Debit cards are a good way to find yourself penniless while you try to convince your bank that those charges aren't yours.
It can be a risk. It's really a damn shame there's no truly safe way to pay with actual cash I've earned.
You could be a multi-millionaire who pays cash for everything, and have an average FICO score. You could have several credit cards with tiny balances that you pay off monthly and have an average FICO score.
And if you were like this, what do you really need a good FICO score for anyway? Just hold a couple of credit cards and use them once in a blue moon. My wife quite quickly got to a high 700's score with a single car loan and a card or two that she barely used. The only thing you'd need a FICO for is a mortgage and having a mid/high 700s, tier a credit rating is extremely easy, to be honest with you: hold a couple of loans for several years, never, ever get late on one, and Bob's your uncle. That's how my wife and I got ours! You do not need a constant debt level. Paid off debt like a car will linger on your report, for the positive, for a few years. Use your CC every 6 months, let it cycle through, then pay it off, and it will prop your credit score up, too.