Why do you have a credit card ( your opinion )

[Anonymous]

My main reason is that I travel so much and a credit card is essential for many things, especially car rentals where they often won't let you have the car without one. I PIF each month. Quite honestly, if My Zync ever moves to NPSL I will shut down three of the other four cards (all Cap1) and just keep the Zync and the Citi Platinum Select.

[p-]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My main reason is that I travel so much and a credit card is essential for many things, especially car rentals where they often won't let you have the car without one. I PIF each month. Quite honestly, if My Zync ever moves to NPSL I will shut down three of the other four cards (all Cap1) and just keep the Zync and the Citi Platinum Select.

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Your Zync isn't NPSL?  What is it?

[Strepthroat]

I have a credit card because at one point my credit was in such disarray and it was suggested to apply for a credit card to establish good payment history.  Well almost 10 years later, I have too many.  What started as a 'blessing' has turned out to be a 'curse'.  Just too many to juggle.

[daylove]

So I do not have to carry cash around..

[tinuviel]

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@p- wrote:

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@anybodii wrote:

After seeing so many people with so many different credit cards, just curious of each person's story as to why they have credit cards?

I know the most probable reason is the rewards or credit building, but some people have 10 or more credit cards with high limits... just curious of people's reasoning... and please nobody say because of the great interest rates lol

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1. To build and keep good credit scores - and having more than one and higher limits allows me to post a balance if I want without decimating my utilization.

2. Protect my bank account from fraud.  The better protections offered by credit cards means they are risking fraud, not me, and my number getting out will not result in an empty bank account.

3. Rewards.  Like someone else said, why not get a few bucks back from something I was going to spend anyway?

4. Travel.  I can book flights, hotel rooms, and have a pre-authorization higher than the room cost without having to freeze my own cash.

5. Debt repayment.  I keep a smaller emergency fund knowing that I can use the credit card if I have to.  This allows me to pay debt sooner and minimize interest charges.

6. Gas pumps.  When I put 3 gallons in my motorcycle and the pump authorizes my cc for $100.00, it's not my money that is frozen, just available credit I wasn't going to use anyway.

7. Work expenses.  My wife uses a card exclusively for work expenses, and gets all of the rewards.  By isolating these expenses it's easier to keep track of the items for her expense report and make sure she doesn't miss anything.

8.  Holiday Shopping.  We each used a different card at Christmas time for our shopping so the other didn't accidentally figure out the presents when looking at the bank accounts.

9.  Warranties, returns, and benefits.  My AMEX cards offer extended warranties, return protection, rental car insurance including deductible reimbursement, concierge service, and more.  And I make the AF back in rewards.

10. Psychology.  It feels good to be able to pull out a nice looking premium card and use it with confidence.  I know that doesn't mean much, but to a guy that once had to use a prepaid card it's pretty nifty.

11.  Because of the great rates.  Haha.  Seriously, though.  We have some cash headed out way in a few months earmarked for new furniture, and came across a really good deal on some high end nice stuff.  So, we put it on a 0% card, and will let it sit until the money arrives to pay for it.  Because we were able to buy earlier, we got a better deal, and the nice instant satisfaction.

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Really, really well said -- all of it.

Regarding #2, I had that happen to me once. Someone in a foreign country got a hold of my debit card number; I have no idea how. I check my bank account every morning, and one morning in particular I saw that my account had been drained!!! I called up immediately and they showed that the transactions were still pending but hadn't yet been completed. So, I filed a fraud complaint and got the money back quickly. But, it left me with an empty checking account for a day or two while I waited for them to reverse the pending charges. I was lucky that I didn't have any checks try to clear during this timeframe. Now, I use CCs for everything. If someone does get a hold of my CC number, then it's just a matter of available credit being frozen, not funds that I have checks written on.