What's the smallest CC purchase you've made, and where?

[pdxuser]

I would never by something small from a small business on a credit card, because I do know there are fees involved. But I think a major grocery chain could take it. That's probably what I'll do, just go to the corner store (a major chain), buy a snack on a card, then go home and put the card away. But don't I want to wait until after the statement cuts to PIF so it shows up on my credit report?

I'm still concerned that this won't be seen as regular-enough purchasing and might either get my account closed or prevent me from graduating to an unsecured card. 

[Anonymous]

O h ok.  I hear ya.  I guess I was thinking more along the lines of the small coffee shop near me that does business hand over foot with the minimum CC charge being $5.00.  The coffee (+tip) that I get totals around $3.00.   So I have to buy a muffin or what have you and the cheapest bakery item is $2.75.  The hard times affect everyone, customers included.  

One good rule of thumb...keep around $20.00 in cash in your purse, wallet or car for the small stuff. 

[Anonymous]

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@pdxuser wrote:

I would never by something small from a small business on a credit card, because I do know there are fees involved. But I think a major grocery chain could take it. That's probably what I'll do, just go to the corner store (a major chain), buy a snack on a card, then go home and put the card away. But don't I want to wait until after the statement cuts to PIF so it shows up on my credit report?

I'm still concerned that this won't be seen as regular-enough purchasing and might either get my account closed or prevent me from graduating to an unsecured card. 

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What card is it you are talking about?  BofA?  I wouldn't be worried about your purchasing power.

 

also, keep in mind, not all cards report  when the new statement cuts.  HSBC cards report the last day of the month, etc.  but it sound to me like you already know when your card reports.  

 

Don't worry about the purchasing power.  That is for the big boys (no offense) that have $5000 + limit cards and only have a newspaper subscribtion charged on it once a month...and that's it.  You're fine.  

[Anonymous]

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pdxuser wrote:
I'm looking for tips on keeping several cards active on a budget.

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The easiest thing, rather than trying to find something small to spend money on, is to simply use the card for a small purchase you would have made anyway - gas, grocery, snack, drugstore, coffeeshop, bookstore, etc etc.

Or to make things even easier, set up the card to pay a monthly bill, so it'll automatically have usage every month.  My Capital One card has no rewards, so I don't want to use it for normal purchases, but I set up my Netflix subscription ~$9/month for that card, so it painlessly gets monthly activity

No need to spend EXTRA money to keep the card active - just use it for an occasional purchase you would have made anyway to keep things simple.

[Creditaddict]

since checking scores is SO important, order 1 score per card. that gives you 3 seperate charges right there! lol

[Anonymous]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

i have a retail store and I don't think people realize how much I have to pay to run your <$1.00 charge.

I pay .20 + % of transaction.

sometimes makes me want to give it to them, had 1 person charge 2 stamps!!

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What about debit card purchases (run as a debit card, not a credit card)? I'm generally a card-only person, and have been using my debit card at local stores that will take it, hoping it will save them money.  However, I've never been able to get a straight answer from the owners as to whether it does make a difference.

As for minimum purchase, I've bought an item off of McDonald's dollar menu before.   Since they really seem to encourage cc use (imo), I doubt it bothers them.  McDonald's (and other large chains) probably carry enough weight to get a better deal with the credit card companies than local businesses can.

If your bills can be put on credit card, I would suggest just puting a different bill on each credit card.  Read the fine print, though.  My electic&gas company charges an additional fee if you use most credit cards, but not if you use Visa and set up the recuring payment through a special, hard-to-find page on the website.  

[Creditaddict]

What about debit card purchases (run as a debit card, not a credit card)? I'm generally a card-only person, and have been using my debit card at local stores that will take it, hoping it will save them money.  However, I've never been able to get a straight answer from the owners as to whether it does make a difference.

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Debit card is much cheaper to run, I however don't have a pin pad so I can't run them and pin pads are like $150 so would defeat the purpose of saving the .20 + 1% or so.

but now a days with banks offering rewards even on your debit card, you should be using it as a charge card, you don't get the rewards if you run it as a debit and you also don't get the visa protection benefits from running debit vs credit.

[Anonymous]

Most times when I use my debit card, I do run it as a cc (I actually get a better reward with my debit card than I do with any of my credit cards).  The exception is when I am buying less than $10 of stuff at two small, local specality stores (the occasional large purchase still goes on a credit card).  Since the alternative to these stores is buying online (and that isn't practical for less than $10), I want to keep them in business.  Plus, one of the stores gives me chocolate at Chirstmas.

[laz98]

considering that most of the small businesses here where i live offer pretty crappy service, & sometimes not-so-great quality items, i really could care less what they are paying for my transaction.  i tend to mostly buy from bigger places, but i use my chase debit card as a credit card everywhere, so that i can get the points.  sorry, but i have to think of myself first.

[pdxuser]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The easiest thing, rather than trying to find something small to spend money on, is to simply use the card for a small purchase you would have made anyway - gas, grocery, snack, drugstore, coffeeshop, bookstore, etc etc.

Or to make things even easier, set up the card to pay a monthly bill, so it'll automatically have usage every month.  My Capital One card has no rewards, so I don't want to use it for normal purchases, but I set up my Netflix subscription ~$9/month for that card, so it painlessly gets monthly activity

No need to spend EXTRA money to keep the card active - just use it for an occasional purchase you would have made anyway to keep things simple.

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That makes sense, of course, but I rent a room at a house, so I pay the landlord for the bills, rather than pay the bills directly. I don't drive, so there's no gas to buy, and I only buy a transit pass once a year. I make all my calls from home for free using VoIP, and I use a cell phone so infrequently that I just prepay $100 for 1000 minutes and that lasts me all year. Other than that, it's food, clothing, and other things that I know I would buy more of if I used a credit card.