OP, congrats on being debt free. Debt is dumb. Cash is king. 
I've never seen that question before. Unfortunately I suppose a file will always be out there. Even if you pay cash for certain items, and even if you omit to the company you are dealing with your SSN, they can still find your info somehow and report an inquiry, account review, promotional inquiry, etc. Even some creditors, like the rare utility or apartment management have been known to report. I dunno. If you call and they say they'll close it out, be sure to post back.
@llecs wrote:OP, congrats on being debt free. Debt is dumb. Cash is king.
I've never seen that question before. Unfortunately I suppose a file will always be out there. Even if you pay cash for certain items, and even if you omit to the company you are dealing with your SSN, they can still find your info somehow and report an inquiry, account review, promotional inquiry, etc. Even some creditors, like the rare utility or apartment management have been known to report. I dunno. If you call and they say they'll close it out, be sure to post back.
Cash is king only when one cannot afford to pay credit cards in full. For someone who can PIF their CCs, credit is king. Expecially if the card offers cashback.
@DI wrote:
@llecs wrote:OP, congrats on being debt free. Debt is dumb. Cash is king.
I've never seen that question before. Unfortunately I suppose a file will always be out there. Even if you pay cash for certain items, and even if you omit to the company you are dealing with your SSN, they can still find your info somehow and report an inquiry, account review, promotional inquiry, etc. Even some creditors, like the rare utility or apartment management have been known to report. I dunno. If you call and they say they'll close it out, be sure to post back.
Cash is king only when one cannot afford to pay credit cards in full. For someone who can PIF their CCs, credit is king. Expecially if the card offers cashback.
That's a playoff of what DR always says. I'm probably a hippocrate by posting this because I don't always PIF monthly as I should and I do put about $8k-$10k per month on CCs (Amex charge mainly), but given a choice between cash or a CC, I'd pay with cash for sure. IMO, it is easier to use cash and not have to worry about paying for it again come statement time. Plus you never know what might happen around the corner in terms of financial clouds. A job situation hit at the start of last month out of the blue and DW and I have been without income for a month now. It was a "aaaahhh" moment since we just signed a new mortgage. Now we will be OK since we have a chunk in savings to cover us for almost a year and we are owed money on top of that and this is temporary, but since we saw this coming we switched entirely to cash and we don't have to worry about hitting that brick wall that so many hit when they rely on CCs as an emergency fund. or worry about CC payments.
