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I really don't understand the mentality of not having at least 1 credit card for the sake of emergencies or to establish and build credit.
Very few people in this world are able to buy a car with cash or buy a house with cash. Chances are you're going to have to finance that, and if you have established credit, it's going to make your life a whole lot easier.
Well, I already bought my car in cash so the odds of me needing credit for that are roughly 0%. That being said, employers check credit more and more, and insurance rates can be impacted as well.
I really don't understand the mentality of not having at least 1 credit card for the sake of emergencies or to establish and build credit.
Very few people in this world are able to buy a car with cash or buy a house with cash. Chances are you're going to have to finance that, and if you have established credit, it's going to make your life a whole lot easier.
Well I am in my house and I pay cash for cars. My mortgage provides me with a good credit history.
Other than job hopping which right now doesn't happen very often, credit for me and my wife doesn't mean much of anything.
If I was younger and going to purchase a house I would probably get a gas card, good job history and solid down payment, and buy a house well with in our income.
Let me clarify: I don't mean physical cash, I mean "cash" as opposed to loans or debt. "Cash" could include checks and debit cards.
You might want to look at replacing your debit cards with credit cards. A credit card has mandatory and no cost fraud protection. Debt cards vary and are often very risky. You may be on the hook for fraudulent use.
Years ago I had a check book stolen. I closed the account but the bank still charged my new account for each fraudulent check on the old account. I was going to change banks but they told me I would still owe the charges and it would impact my credit if I tried to avoid paying.
Capitol1 - gives 1.5% cash back no foreign transaction fee - oldest one so this is not going anywhere.
Citibank - gives 2% cash back on everything - use it mostly
Costco American Express - for obvious reasons
American Express Blue- 3% Grocery
Penfed cash rewards - 5% on gas (will be very useful when costco gets rid of AmEx)
Chase - 5% cashback but don't use it often as I hate to remember when to use this. I might get rid of this.
Bank of America - I am not sure why I have this as I don't use and see no reason to ever use it.
You might want to look at replacing your debit cards with credit cards. A credit card has mandatory and no cost fraud protection. Debt cards vary and are often very risky. You may be on the hook for fraudulent use.
Years ago I had a check book stolen. I closed the account but the bank still charged my new account for each fraudulent check on the old account. I was going to change banks but they told me I would still owe the charges and it would impact my credit if I tried to avoid paying.
I use both my credit card and debit card, mostly for utilization reasons as I have a low limit and find it inconvenient to pay so many times each month. My bank offers full protection for both even though the law does not require it.
ETA: Before I got persuaded to get the credit card, I was not worried about using my debit card/checks because I simply limited how much money was in that account, and at any rate I have to write checks for rent every month regardless....
Right or wrong, I've never wanted, or had, more than one credit card.
My reasoning is as follows. I have a VISA card which is pretty much accepted anywhere you could possibly with to purchase anything. I've used it prudently over the years and my credit limit is to the point where I could purchase a nearly new car with it. If I need to run up charges in the $20,000 dollar area....I'm in serious trouble and should stop charging anyway.
I've been tempted to open accounts when you enter stores and they tell you to sign up and save 25% on your first purchase. Then I remember why I only have one card, and why I only want one card. Why have 4, 5 or 10 credit card statements coming in every month that you have to pay off....or at least the minimum ? You can lose control of your spending very easy if you have a fist full of CC.....makes you feel rich :-)
Easy to miss a payment when you're paying on so many cards each month....and that of course will cost you $30.00 or something like that.
Anyway, it's worked for me, and one card is more than sufficient for me ! More cards is just asking for trouble. If you look at people who are having financial troubles....so often, they have huge credit card debt on several or more cards. I will not tempt myself into that fate.
Anyway, it's worked for me, and one card is more than sufficient for me ! More cards is just asking for trouble.
For people who travel a lot, a second card (which they can keep in the sock drawer except when they are actually traveling) is a good idea. Credit card companies generally won't mail a replacement card to any address other than the billing address for the account, so if you're a long way from home and your one and only credit card is lost or has to be shut down due to fraud, you're now cardless until you can get back home. (Which may be a bit tricky if you were counting on using your credit card to pay for that...)
Most people don't need more than 2 or 3 cards, though. I have more than that, but that's just because I'm playing the points and miles game; when the day comes that I don't want to play that game any more, I'll close most of my cards and just keep 3 (one VISA, one Mastercard, and one American Express).
We have 2. Hubby and I have always had a unique setup. We both have bank accounts, we both work full time jobs making about the same take home. So I use one card and my husband uses the other, and we both pay them off in full every month. Since we are both pretty frugal people, it works for us, and then there is absolutely no argument over who spent how much on what (not that we would do that anyway).
I wouldn't want to have only 1 card, though, because I wouldn't want to be traveling and find out suddenly that one wasn't working, and be stuck somewhere without a working credit card.
Both cards are Visa, from large companies, and both have fairly high credit limits.
Oh, I forgot, we also have a Best Buy card, but we just use it to get double points, and then immediately pay it off when we get home. So I guess 3, but I don't count store cards.
For people who travel a lot, a second card (which they can keep in the sock drawer except when they are actually traveling) is a good idea. Credit card companies generally won't mail a replacement card to any address other than the billing address for the account, so if you're a long way from home and your one and only credit card is lost or has to be shut down due to fraud, you're now cardless until you can get back home. (Which may be a bit tricky if you were counting on using your credit card to pay for that...)
Most people don't need more than 2 or 3 cards, though. I have more than that, but that's just because I'm playing the points and miles game; when the day comes that I don't want to play that game any more, I'll close most of my cards and just keep 3 (one VISA, one Mastercard, and one American Express).
You bring up an excellent point, and one which I think I have covered. I have a debit card as well as a credit card. When we go on vacation, I always bring both. I carry my debit card with me, and keep the credit card back at our rental home or hotel...well hidden (hopefully anyway).
My debit card has a "Redi-Reserve" feature which allows me to go many many thousands of dollars over my checking account balance....so in effect, it's a way to "charge" amounts well over the balance in my checking account if need be.
When we travel for a week or two I always carry a 3 or 4 hundred dollars along. My wife carries some of that, I carry some of that, and we "hide" some at the rental. We don't generally use cash much so that we have that for emergency use if we were to lose our debit and/or credit card.
Probably not a perfect system, but it seems to have worked for us so far :-)
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