Charge card vs. Credit Card

[HailtotheVictors79]

Is the only point of a charge card to get rewards? Why would you not get a credit card? Can someone enlighten me on the benefits?

[Membersince2013]

I'd like to know too...You can still pay the full amount with a credit card. I guess it forces you to have self control....Apart from the Amex Platinum, i don't understand why you'd want to get any other charge card.

[SevenNEW]

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@HailtotheVictors79 wrote:
Is the only point of a charge card to get rewards? Why would you not get a credit card? Can someone enlighten me on the benefits?

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Some charge cards have no pre-set spending limit and very good rewards system (Amex). They give certain kinds of customers more spending flexibility, I suppose.

[jd352]

From what I have read, charge cards also don't factor into utilization due to their NPSL. 

Charge cards are really beneficial to the wealthy. They can charge tens of thousands of dollars at a time with no need to worry about credit limits.

[eagle2013]

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@jd352 wrote:

From what I have read, charge cards also don't factor into utilization due to their NPSL. 

Charge cards are really beneficial to the wealthy. They can charge tens of thousands of dollars at a time with no need to worry about credit limits.

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+1. I think I will eventually get a charge card for this very reason. 

[myjourney]

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@eagle2013 wrote:

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@jd352 wrote:

From what I have read, charge cards also don't factor into utilization due to their NPSL. 

Charge cards are really beneficial to the wealthy. They can charge tens of thousands of dollars at a time with no need to worry about credit limits.

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+1. I think I will eventually get a charge card for this very reason. 

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Cant remember which one but one of the Fico scoring algorithms factors NPSL cards and a lot of NPSL cards are now reporting a limit which also factors in UTL

[longtimelurker]

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@jd352 wrote:

From what I have read, charge cards also don't factor into utilization due to their NPSL. 

Charge cards are really beneficial to the wealthy. They can charge tens of thousands of dollars at a time with no need to worry about credit limits.

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To the wealthy but also those with reinbursed expenses for example.   If your employer suddenly requires you to fly to Asia and spend 2 weeks there (and will reimburse you once you provide receipts) you can put this on all on your NPSL charge card and between reporting and getting reimbursed, the high charge doesn't impact your utilization, decreasing your credit score.

The other major reasons:

1) Amex charge cards easier to get than many credit cards

2) As mentioned by someone, some people like the discipline of having to pay off each month.  Yes, they should be able to do this with a credit card, but the extra pressure helps.

[E150GT]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@jd352 wrote:

From what I have read, charge cards also don't factor into utilization due to their NPSL. 

Charge cards are really beneficial to the wealthy. They can charge tens of thousands of dollars at a time with no need to worry about credit limits.

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To the wealthy but also those with reinbursed expenses for example.   If your employer suddenly requires you to fly to Asia and spend 2 weeks there (and will reimburse you once you provide receipts) you can put this on all on your NPSL charge card and between reporting and getting reimbursed, the high charge doesn't impact your utilization, decreasing your credit score.

The other major reasons:

1) Amex charge cards easier to get than many credit cards

2) As mentioned by someone, some people like the discipline of having to pay off each month.  Yes, they should be able to do this with a credit card, but the extra pressure helps.

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Yeah I never understood why people were willing to pay for  a charge card just because it was a PIF every month. I can have discipline for free, 

[takeshi74]

You can't rely on your own preferences to understand the preferences of others.  If those people could rely on free self discipline then they wouldn't see the benefit from the external pressure.

In any case, not everyone pays the AF for a charge card simply for discipline.  There are the reasons cited above plus specific benefits provided by given charge cards.

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@Membersince2013 wrote:

Apart from the Amex Platinum, i don't understand why you'd want to get any other charge card.

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Why do you think only the Platinum makes sense?  Even the Platinum isn't one size fits all.  One who values UR points more than MR points and needs a business cahrge card could find the Ink Bold to be beneficial, just as one example.  Again, don't assume that your situation an preferences are universal.  People select different charge cards for similar reasons to why people select different credit cards.

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@myjourney wrote:

Cant remember which one but one of the Fico scoring algorithms factors NPSL cards and a lot of NPSL cards are now reporting a limit which also factors in UTL

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IIRC it's the older FICO models that factor charge cards into utilization.  NPSL credit cards reporting limits isn't really relevant to charge cards in this context.

[lg8302ch]

The only difference I could see between charge cards and revolver NPSL (Siggy/WMC) is the reported util for the NPSL Siggy and WMCs ...but IMO a price to pay is the rather high AF for the charge cards just to avoid to report util.  That is why I decided against a charge card and use my revolving cards in the same way as a charge card and can avoid the high AF for most of my cards. I am not at all interested in charge cards as long as they have the AF but to each and everyone his/her own preference