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Like others said, all depends on how big the emergency it is...but mine is Cap1 SonyCard, which happens to be the sock drawer card. I'm putting like 40bucks per month just to keep it going, but hopefully I can get a decent CLI in the future so that I can rely on it a lot more in case of bigger emergencies.
The credit card that has the lowest APR if I ever needed time to pay off a credit card. But I usually pay everything off in full every month.
I'd really give the nod to my Discover atm, I believe they have the lowest APR...but I gotta double check.
I do have few credit cards with 0% APR atm...Of course if those were to run out, I'd have to re-evaluate things at that specific time.
I don't have an emergency card, I've got an emergency fund instead. Everybody should have 6 months minimum in theirs, it'll save your credit going down when something "unexpected hits". Live within your means!
My emergency card is my Compass Clearpoints card. It has a $15k CL and 11.24% APR. The rewards suck, but whaetever I don't get in rewards, I will save interest charges should an emergency arise.
My debit card
Most of my cards are for emergencies. FBNO Amex, Barclays, Marathon Visa, Chase Freedom, Capital One, the other Capital One, the old Household (now Capital One), Compass, and PayPal MC. I just have way too much credit and enough money in the bank for my spending needs. I'm not uber rich or anything, I use my cards when I can and don't pay cash if I can avoid doing so, I just don't have much opportunity to actually use them. Oh wait, I live in China........ So I don't really use them here because it is a hassle to do so. I really should though for the cards that don't have a foreign transaction fee, but then I would have send money to the US. That costs money to do so.
When I return I will still keep the same cards as emergency cards and probably only really use the Discover, PNC card, Chase card, and the Delta Amex. The rest will be used a little to keep them open and for emergencies.
Yes, I pay in full every month. I don't want to ever have to pay interest again!
@doctorofcredit wrote:I don't have an emergency card, I've got an emergency fund instead. Everybody should have 6 months minimum in theirs, it'll save your credit going down when something "unexpected hits". Live within your means!
That is a wonderful point. I think I could live for the next year if needed on what I have saved! I do know what ramen noodles taste like!
Framing is the concept that we make decisons based on what what we are currently used to. So we spend based on our status quo and we live our lives based on it. In order to be prepared for an emergency I have not really changed much so that I get to save more. Some people might call this miserly, I call it sensible. We don't know yet what will happen with the economic future of the country. Someone recently posted a thread about the US government and if it had a credit report. In some ways it does has a credit report and that is why China has been heavily cricizing the US and how they manage money and the debt. There is a big call for the US dollar not to be the International currency. If that happens it will certainly have a huge impact on our economy! It might change our lives for a bit.
Save people, save. If you have to buy, then buy things with long term usefulness. I plan on buying a nice cheap house in the next year or two so that no matter what I will have a place that is my own! Even if it is not the best shape I can fix it up. I just don't want to live in the worst ghetto, which is were I was born; Detroit. (Although, if you buy the right house in the right area of Detroit it could end up being a great opportunity if the city does get reborn.)