No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
@Anonymous wrote:Yes you can and should , that way you can get an accurate view of your spending. Most cards will break it down monthly and almost all will give you an expense report at the end of the year for your taxes. This is also a great way not just to guage and budget but to have all your deductibles expenses in 1 spot and easy to view and present t o your tax accoutant.
+1 this and it's just not safe the carry "everyday" cash around I feel.
having a digital list of most if not all of my expenses and even the random, sometimes impulsive, purchases is great. And despite the cards being "potential debt" it's actually made me more budget conscious. The only place that I don't use credit is my local discount grocery shop as they don't take credit, debit is okay though.
As far as having cash goes; if I'm running my normal circuit usually it's $0 but it's never more than $15-$20. And that only leaves my wallet if I'm leaving a tip.
I feel really bad sometimes when I leave a store and someone asks me for change. Even though I really don't have any, they probably don't believe me cause they've heard the same "sorry" all day.
Yes. My CC are not my bank other than two Chase cards. So if someone gets the number it is not a big deal versus some loser gettin acess to my bank account via debit card. Get the rewards. Get something for spending your money and paying bills (comcast, power, att, etc). I just pay the amount I would pay in cash on the cards.
Beware of the people asking for change. You give them a buck and they whip out their phone and text their comrades at the other entrance that they got a dollar "tip" like its a job! 2 arms and 2 legs? you're in better shape than me? no money, sorry. /rant
I go over a week without a buck in cash on me, I never use debit card either. All credit cards use. 1/2 or more of my card tranactions are from home or on the phone too.
Cashing out $1000 worth of accumulated rewards once a year around vacation time or Christmas pretty much makes it all worthwhile.
@Anonymous wrote:
^ you must spend a lot on your cards in a year
Gas, groceries and Amazon purchases are 5%. We make sure to swap cards around to take advantage of the 5% rotating categories as much as possible. Things like ShopDiscover help fill in the gaps, as well as using the Ebates card for 3% on top of whatever Ebates gives already for some of the online shopping. Throw everything else on the Double Cash for 2% (or for the next year, on Discover because of the double cash back promotion).
Might be even easier with other cards (Blue Cash Preferred springs to mind), but on principle I refuse to have any card with an annual fee. Or if we travelled more or something, that $1000 may be worth even more, but we don't.
It really helps that both of us have some cards that overlap to help mitigate some of the caps on cash back. Other than that, as long as you make sure you have the right cards to make it work, and pay attention to what you're doing, $1000 a year isn't an unreasonable number -- even for those of us without 6 digit incomes. I think we cashed out just shy of $500 for Christmas, and we're right back there again 6 months later.
Never pay a single cent of interest, so all the accumulated cash back is just free money. Thanks lenders!
This weekend I finally figured out how to pay my car insurance by credit card instead of ACH withdrawl. I had to switch them over to be paid every six months instead of monthly. I did this, paid with my AmEx (which helped me meet the spend bonus), and now I can focus on using my Discover for everything for the next year. Now I think the only things that are not paid with my CC are rent (because my brother in my landlord and he can't take a CC) and my life insurance premium (I might be able to pull this off next year when I pay again, we'll see).
@Anonymous wrote:This weekend I finally figured out how to pay my car insurance by credit card instead of ACH withdrawl. I had to switch them over to be paid every six months instead of monthly. I did this, paid with my AmEx (which helped me meet the spend bonus), and now I can focus on using my Discover for everything for the next year. Now I think the only things that are not paid with my CC are rent (because my brother in my landlord and he can't take a CC) and my life insurance premium (I might be able to pull this off next year when I pay again, we'll see).
Last month I figured out how to pay my home +2 autos insurance (American Family) by CC. I had to contact me agent to remove my auto ACH debit from my account, and then on their website I could pay by CC, it gives me the choice of paying monthly payment or remaing amount of 6 month premium, so now I get 1.5% rewards using Cap1 QS paying monthly. If I get another card w/spend bonus I might pay the 6 mo premium.