Credit Cards

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

The credit card gets paid off every month. No fees, no interest.

That is what I do. I get cash back on purchases. For every single purchase. And I always pay the full balance.

[Seahawk]

Interesting topic.

I carry a debit card, a personal credit card i never use (back-up only), business credit card and a gas card (Shell).

That's it...my wife racks and stacks everything for tax purposes every few days (farm and business) and zero's balances on all credit cards.

I use the debit card pretty much everything - including getting cash (I always carry a few hundred, especially on travel since I have been through a couple circumstances that required cash only to get home).

Navy Federal DC with great fraud protection.

Like epbrown wrote, it is about the management of credit.

[astrochex]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

That is what I do. I get cash back on purchases. For every single purchase. And I always pay the full balance.

Zact same thing we do.

We just had a few fraudulent purchases on our Chase Freedom card. We were notified by email. I called Chase and confirmed the bad purchases. We got new cards the next day. I pretty happy with that turnaround time.

[javadog]

Hard to say, without reading the fine print. Debit cards are VISA and Mastercard, too. Might contact them, or the issuing bank, and see what they have to say.

If you have no money in a debit card account, It's impossible to steal it. It's easy to move money from one bank account to the next, in real time. Keep .01 in an account, until you want to use it. Move the money, used the card, move the remainder back out. Can be done on any smartphone in seconds.

[javadog]

One of my kids travels constantly for work and uses a Chase credit card that gives him money back. He makes quite a bit of cash from that. Thousands...

One point in favor of a credit card, if that's your life.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by javadog

Hard to say, without reading the fine print. Debit cards are VISA and Mastercard, too. Might contact them, or the issuing bank, and see what they have to say.

If you have no money in a debit card account, It's impossible to steal it. It's easy to move money from one bank account to the next, in real time. Keep .01 in an account, until you want to use it. Move the money, used the card, move the remainder back out. Can be done on any smartphone in seconds.

What a pain in the ass.
Just use a credit card.
Pay the bill in full when it comes.

[javadog]

I don't do that for every purchase, obviously. It's just a tool that's available. I make few purchases and even fewer of those are on the 'net or in small businesses.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Alan A

What a pain in the ass.
Just use a credit card.
Pay the bill in full when it comes.

Does Scott need to come teach you (again) that you are debating with folks who are quite adept at this stuff ....

They are both "tools".... we might be probably more experienced than you...and yes I know your field .....dayum ....

A debit is the ONLY one that works for me....I'm done here....

There is WAY more overhead on CC vs debit still...the industry is a cash cow I knew quite well....unfortunately

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

. Is it true that credit is safer than debit when it comes to fraud protection?

As I understand it, fraud protection is a federal requirement for credit cards.
Debit cards usually match the federal guidelines so people aren't afraid to use them.

Me? Credit card only, paid off every month.

If there's a mistake with a debit, the money is already gone from my account. Sure, I can get it back, but with credit I can dispute a false charge and keep the money in my account while it gets sorted out.

[cstreit]

Credit card is the same as cash when you pay it off every month. Its just easier...

Haven't carried a credit card debt since I was 25....

[Danimal16]

Until about 20 years ago, I was CASH, CASH, CASH. Had Credit Cards but used them only for travel. I have two cards that I have had for over 42 years. When the cards started with the cash bonus, well everything goes on the credit cards. Pay them off every month. No muss, no fuss.

But hey, 99.99% of the folks on this board already know the pitfalls and advantages of all of this stuff. So is there really an issue??

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by OldSpool87

Amex. Paid off everyone month. Works great.

+1
More secure than a debit card. Cash back on a good card. I have an Amex Blue. 6% back on food, 3% on almost everything else. I’ve had it for several years. Never paid Amy interest.

[Rick Lee]

If you're not getting a discount for paying cash, then you might as well use a cc and get the points. You are paying the vendor's merchant fees to the cc company, because they are built into all prices. I would never use a debit card for anything but an ATM. Even then, I get my cash when paying at the grocery store, since it doesn't count as an ATM, so there are never fees. If your number gets swiped, your checking account can be cleaned out before you know it, and good luck getting that fixed. Fraud on a credit card is the cc company's problem. Cleaning out my immediate living expense cash from my checking account is my problem.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by javadog

I haven't used a credit card in 10 years. I've never had an issue with a debit card but I don't make large purchases over the 'net, nor have I traveled much in those years. I have multiple accounts and can move money around as needed, and I don't keep doodly squat in the one I use for PayPal and internet purchases. Still, no issues...

Cindy used to prefer a debit card over a credit card. No more. Remember when Target's data was hacked, putting millions of people at risk? Well, we were among those millions. If a debit card is hacked, your entire checking account is at risk. Not so with a credit card. The credit card we have limits our liability to fraud...

I'm also one who pays the full card bill every month...simply because I figure paying interest is throwing money away.

Also, I've started using cash for lots of stuff. Limiting my card use. Never a hacking worry with cash.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

If you're not getting a discount for paying cash, then you might as well use a cc and get the points. You are paying the vendor's merchant fees to the cc company, because they are built into all prices. I would never use a debit card for anything but an ATM. Even then, I get my cash when paying at the grocery store, since it doesn't count as an ATM, so there are never fees. If your number gets swiped, your checking account can be cleaned out before you know it, and good luck getting that fixed. Fraud on a credit card is the cc company's problem. Cleaning out my immediate living expense cash from my checking account is my problem.

Yep.
I have a debit card linked to a checking account that I keep a few hundred dollars in. This is also the account linked to my PayPal account. If I need some cash I can use it as an ATM card. If someone swipes the number or hacks my PayPal account I'm only out a few hundred dollars.
I had over $300 in it a few months ago and someone got the number. They spent all of the money and it took a couple of weeks and a personal visit to the bank to sign an affidavit that it wasn't me that ispent the money, but I did get my money back.
I would never link a debit card to my primary checking account, from which I pay all my bills and which has thousands in it from time to time. If they had hacked my primary checking account I would be paying late fees on all my bills at a minimum, and I 'm not confident I would get my money back.

[wdfifteen]

I use a lot more cash since we moved out here to the sticks. The farmers that we buy our beef, pork, and chicken from aren't set up for credit cards. I hire off-duty local farmers to help with odd jobs and they need to be paid in cash. I can have $300 to $500 on me at any given time. I never used to carry that much cash.

[Bill Douglas]

I pay with cred1t card whenever I can. The banks take quite a percentage off the retailer, something like 1% or 2%.

Then the bank gives me $20 to $50 cash-back every month. I've never bothered to do the numbers but it's something like 0.01% of their take.

It suits me, coffee + bacon and eggs, on the bank once a month.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Cindy used to prefer a debit card over a credit card. No more. Remember when Target's data was hacked, putting millions of people at risk? Well, we were among those millions. If a debit card is hacked, your entire checking account is at risk. Not so with a credit card. The credit card we have limits our liability to fraud...

I've seen that happen. My bank killed one of my debit cards and sent me a new one, long before I had even heard the story on the news. I never knew if my number was at risk but the bank didn't wait, they made sure it wasn't going to be an issue.

I think the protections of the better providers are probably pretty good these days.

[Por_sha911]

This has been discussed before.

My cc is paid in full each month so there are zero interest charges and no annual fee. They pay me 2% rebate and I have leverage with the seller if they are not honest. WHY not use a cc?

[javadog]

Once upon a time, I had about a half a dozen credit cards. Some like American Express came with a fee that you had to pay annually. Most did not. Over time, as banks bought up other banks and changed the rules, many of these credit cards began demanding annual fees. Initially you could tell them to go pound sand and they waived the fees but sooner or later they all wanted money.

I got tired of that crap.