What do you prefer?

SmrBrd2012 · March 2015

Credit cards for points and ease of accountability. Cash makes it harder to track who spends what whereas on CC/debit statements it's all there! I do make sure to use the debit card every once and awhile because I need to have a certain amount of transactions a month to qualify for my bank's higher interest rate.

short+sassy · March 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

short+sassy said:
I'm a very cash person. I even pay my mortgage, HELOC, and car payments in cash. However, what can be charged, I put on a credit card to get the points.
And then pay my credit cards off (or at least try to) every month with...you guessed it...cash.
I keep very little money in my checking accounts. I don't trust it there. I won't go into the long stories, but I've twice had an issue where my account was wiped out without notice or authorization, my husband had it happen once, and I had a coworker have it happen once.
As an aside, I strongly recommend that everyone keep at least some cash handy and hidden somewhere in your house. Enough to buy food and gas for a few days if something crazy happens like your bank account is wiped out by identity theft or your area is without power for a few days. Because nobody takes credit cards if there is no power and/or phone/cable lines are down!
I'm especially talking to my fellow peeps who live in Hurricane Alley .
I'm fairly certain that most these debts wouldn't let you pay with anything other then cash (if direct debit and checks are considered the same as cash as they draw directly from your bank account). I wish I chould charge my mortgage payment and earn points on that!

True, true! I just meant I literally use cash, not even checks.

I was at Costco the other day and was chit chatting with the cashier about the goodness of credit card points. She told me one of their regular customers charges his childrens' private school tuition to his credit card and then pays it off. He told her he earns a couple grand a year in points, just doing that.

AprilZ81 · March 2015

As long as it doesn't cost extra to put something on a credit card I will. Sometimes you get charged a surcharge to put something on a credit card and I refuse to pay that surcharge to get points.

formerlyGDaisy09 · March 2015

AprilZ81 said:
As long as it doesn't cost extra to put something on a credit card I will. Sometimes you get charged a surcharge to put something on a credit card and I refuse to pay that surcharge to get points.

Yes! we would have been charged a surcharge greater than any rewards points we would have earned paying for H's tuition via credit card...we paid for it with an auto-debit from the checking account and saved $20.

abrewer5 · March 2015

I do a combo of all 3... I like cash for the sheer fact that it's easy, but unlike most people I think I actually spend less when using my debit card. I get absolutely terrified of having my card declined and even though I know my balance at all times it keeps me from buying stuff I don't really need. Credit cards are nice for points, but if I'm honest with myself I'm not great with credit cards. I spend money on stuff I don't really need without thinking about it, so I'm moving towards only using my credit card for big purchases for the protection aspect or for house purchases that will come out of our joint account immediately.

I used our joint card once and it happened to get hacked, they took out $500 the day before our mortgage posted. We had money in savings to cover it and we got it refunded within a few days, but after that point I refused to ever use that card again.

short+sassy · March 2015

abrewer5 said:
I do a combo of all 3... I like cash for the sheer fact that it's easy, but unlike most people I think I actually spend less when using my debit card. I get absolutely terrified of having my card declined and even though I know my balance at all times it keeps me from buying stuff I don't really need. Credit cards are nice for points, but if I'm honest with myself I'm not great with credit cards. I spend money on stuff I don't really need without thinking about it, so I'm moving towards only using my credit card for big purchases for the protection aspect or for house purchases that will come out of our joint account immediately.
I used our joint card once and it happened to get hacked, they took out $500 the day before our mortgage posted. We had money in savings to cover it and we got it refunded within a few days, but after that point I refused to ever use that card again.

@abrewer5, I just wanted to give you a quick shout out. A lot of PP on these boards talk about using credit cards to get the points and then paying off the cards at the end of the month. And, while that is a great strategy for many, it's not a great strategy for everyone.

We all have different money styles and it's wise for people to realize this isn't a good strategy for them personally, if they tend to overspend with credit cards and/or don't pay them off every month.

abrewer5 · March 2015

short+sassy said:

abrewer5 said:
I do a combo of all 3... I like cash for the sheer fact that it's easy, but unlike most people I think I actually spend less when using my debit card. I get absolutely terrified of having my card declined and even though I know my balance at all times it keeps me from buying stuff I don't really need. Credit cards are nice for points, but if I'm honest with myself I'm not great with credit cards. I spend money on stuff I don't really need without thinking about it, so I'm moving towards only using my credit card for big purchases for the protection aspect or for house purchases that will come out of our joint account immediately.
I used our joint card once and it happened to get hacked, they took out $500 the day before our mortgage posted. We had money in savings to cover it and we got it refunded within a few days, but after that point I refused to ever use that card again.

@abrewer5, I just wanted to give you a quick shout out. A lot of PP on these boards talk about using credit cards to get the points and then paying off the cards at the end of the month. And, while that is a great strategy for many, it's not a great strategy for everyone.
We all have different money styles and it's wise for people to realize this isn't a good strategy for them personally, if they tend to overspend with credit cards and/or don't pay them off every month.

Thank you @short+sassy.. It's taken me a while to learn (and I'm still learning). I will say I do cash flow to pay off my cards without paying interest, but really I'm just spending money I don't need to spend and interferring with other goals. So I'm probably going to stop using them all together aside from the few things I mentioned in my previous post.

Xstatic3333 · March 2015

abrewer5 said:

short+sassy said:

abrewer5 said:
I do a combo of all 3... I like cash for the sheer fact that it's easy, but unlike most people I think I actually spend less when using my debit card. I get absolutely terrified of having my card declined and even though I know my balance at all times it keeps me from buying stuff I don't really need. Credit cards are nice for points, but if I'm honest with myself I'm not great with credit cards. I spend money on stuff I don't really need without thinking about it, so I'm moving towards only using my credit card for big purchases for the protection aspect or for house purchases that will come out of our joint account immediately.
I used our joint card once and it happened to get hacked, they took out $500 the day before our mortgage posted. We had money in savings to cover it and we got it refunded within a few days, but after that point I refused to ever use that card again.

@abrewer5, I just wanted to give you a quick shout out. A lot of PP on these boards talk about using credit cards to get the points and then paying off the cards at the end of the month. And, while that is a great strategy for many, it's not a great strategy for everyone.
We all have different money styles and it's wise for people to realize this isn't a good strategy for them personally, if they tend to overspend with credit cards and/or don't pay them off every month.
Thank you @short+sassy.. It's taken me a while to learn (and I'm still learning). I will say I do cash flow to pay off my cards without paying interest, but really I'm just spending money I don't need to spend and interferring with other goals. So I'm probably going to stop using them all together aside from the few things I mentioned in my previous post.

I'm leaning towards considering this, too. Like you I never pay interest, but I do think Im more prone to overspending.

takmjs · March 2015

We have to use our debit card for 15 purchases every month to get the higher interest rate on our checking acct it's linked to (was 4% initially--6 years ago--but is around 1.5-2% now). We have to use it as credit, not debit, but it still comes immediately out of our checking acct. I rarely use cash. I try to use my credit cards to get the highest cashback/rewards, and definitely pay them off each month.

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