Because CC's are a tool, just like anything else. OK, so long as they're used responsibly.
They're a lot more convenient for me than walking around with a stack of 100's in my pocket, every time I go shopping. For instance, this past weekend, Mrs WBill and I caught dinner and a movie. I also bought a new lawnmower (my 12-year-old one met a large hidden rock and suffered a sudden and inglorous demise), some other stuff at the hardware store, groceries, and a fillup at the pump. I'd have needed a pile of cash to take of everything ... or I swipe my card a few times and pay it all off on the 15th. Easy Peasy.
We have one credit card, an amex that HAS to be paid off every month. Makes me very careful with it.
Yes, he is. Now, the preponderance of replies from FReepers about using a credit card (on a Dave Ramsey thread) will be from posters saying they pay off the balances every month. The posters mired in revolving credit don't really post that they're happy with 5-digit unsecured debt.
Dave helps (ok, advises) people break their dependancy on credit with the only exception being mortgage balances. If everyone took Dave's advice, our economy would look vastly different (for the better0. Of course, that's just my opinion.
Dave has a method that is targeted primarily to people who have had financial difficulties in the past.
Most of the people he is trying to help have not used credit responsibly. Probably the number one thing he sees is that credit cards tempt people to do/buy things that they shouldn’t and couldn’t if they had to pay cash for it.
I agree credit cards are a tool if used properly. But most of the people that try to follow Dave have not used them responsibly. I am one.
In my 20’s I had more than enough money to cover my bills and credit cards. I deployed a lot and didn’t pay my credit cards on time and in short order got in over my head. No one’s fault but George W. Bush’s, just kidding. It was all my fault and I am still trying to get it back on track, again after a recent divorce.
I use secured credit cards now to do the things like buy gas for my car.