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Using a rewards card as PIF can be very beneficial depending on what rewards you're getting. Obviously even 1% is better than 0%, but depending on what you have available you can get as high as 5-10% as well. The key here is discipline.
Without beating you up about it and assuming you learned your lesson when you took a personal loan to cover your CC debt, the key is to only use your CC when you know 100% that you can pay the balance. You're basically using it as a debit card, you just have to wait a day or two for it to transition from 'pending' to 'posted'. When I began using a CC I was ridiculously concerned with it becoming something negative in my life, so I literally would check my bank account before swiping to ensure that I could cover every single swipe.
It was a little exhausting initially, but once I learned that I could trust myself it became less of a burden. I only carry a balance on one 0% card right now to assist with my score (and only money that I could 100% pay this second if absolutely necessary), but every other card gets paid within a couple of days of posting and never comes even remotely close to getting an interest charge.
Remember, any time you pay interest it can completely negate any effort you've put in to earning rewards. If you can't be disciplined enough to only spend what you have in your bank account and immediately (or, at least before interest accrues) pay it off, then just save yourself the pain and pay with a debit card.
Glad to hear you are back on track and have a good plan set up.
It can be kind of complicated because there will usually be 4 options when you make a payment: minimum, statement balance, current/account balance, custom amount. The middle two are both kind of "Pay in Full".
Statement Balance is what you owe for the current billing cycle. If you pay the Statement Balance in full before the due date on the bill then you will never pay a penny of interest.
Current or Account Balance is everything you owe on the account, which would include the current Statement Balance that is due and also anything you have charged since then (during the grace period between when the statement/bill cuts and when it is actually due, ~ 25 days). That would make it so that you are paying charges before they post when that billing cycle ends, which makes it so that you report low util on your credit report.
Personally, I pay full Current/Account Balance on every card every 2 weeks, a bi-weekly payday is a good day to use. No surprises.
Would it be a plus to add him as a auth user so it reports to his credit line also? Then you have no more open lines or app for more credit but he gains the good credit they are building.
OK, we will do that. We just got accepted for the Amex Blue Cash Preferred with 6% on groceries and 3% on gas. We figure we'll do some grocery shopping and fill up the tanks then pay it off the next week then do that bi-monthly when he gets paid. Thanks for the help and showing us how to do it right!
As for making him an AU on one of my cards, we saw that suggestion just a bit late. I could have sworn that we looked into that awhile back and was not able to but I looked yesterday and was able to after all. So we went ahead and did that too.