Posted on 05/11/2024 9:21:52 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
I do exactly what you do. I got the highest percentage cash back credit cards I could find. Then I started charging everything I could on the cards and set my bank account to pay the cards off in full every month. I just reap the cash back at no cost to myself.
The rewards aren’t huge, but if I can save 2-3% on my expenses, why wouldn’t I do that?
At this point I've made hundreds of dollars from the CC companies and haven't paid them a dime in interest.
All that, and airline points too!
how do they differentiate between those who carry balances and those who pay it off at the end of the month in full?
Because my credit score implies I carry my balance when in actuality I pay it off in full and then charge a ton more the next month. So at any given moment, I appear to have a large credit card debit when in actuality I just use the card to get points and cash back.
I asked the same question, because if you do that (and I do it also) and run your credit report it appears like you have credit card debt, when you don’t really. Because at the moment they checked you did!
yep, saying you are forced to use credit cards to stay afloat is like saying you need to take on concrete blocks into your boat to stay afloat.
I was on a trip last week and used an airline rewards credit card for the hotel stay. It made me feel like I had invisible shackles on. Paid it off the day I got home.
21% was the figure two or three years ago. Take a look at the rates today—they are closer to 30% for balances that high.
It’s just nuts.
Having to start paying Student Loans didn’t stop people from spending as they did in the pandemic when you could skip your loans and your rent.
Yep. Same deal for me. I’ve had a policy of never paying an annual fee for a credit card but....Amex offers one that for a reasonable fee would offer me 6% cash back on groceries up to a certain amount rather than the 3% I’m currently getting for their no annual fee card. I ran the numbers and the additional 3% cash back on groceries would actually make the annual fee worth paying because it would be greater so I’m probably going to do it.
They can’t, so they don’t. That’s why these types of statistics are useless.
How do they factor in inflation? What about data smoothing? Was it done and how? Etc. etc. etc.
They count that. We put nearly everything on cards and pay it off every month. We surpass $6500 at times. They should be counting interest paying balances only.
It’s just a tool. No need to feel so stressed over using it.
Excel is your friend. Heck, you can probably even download the app on your Obama Phone.
If that’s the case I’m still below average and we use our cards for everything. I spend $2-3,000 a month on work travel plus our household expenses.
The US economy is based on debt….it is unraveling.
“ Mapping Credit Card Delinquency Rates in the U.S. by State”
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/credit-card-delinquency-rates-us-by-state/
“ Credit card delinquency is when a cardholder falls behind on required monthly payments. Credit agencies are often notified after two months of delinquent payments.”
The South leads in highest delinquency rates. Iowa has the lowest rate, but it’s at an eye-popping 13%, with many other states at 30+%.
*only 42 percent have a budget and keep track of spending*
I’m not one of them.
Buy now pay later. Anyone see a correlation between this and the obesity epidemic.
I don’t even wait for the statement to pay mine off. Most transactions post within 2 business days of a charge, so I’ll go on the app and pay the charges off as soon as they post. I’m still getting all the points/rewards, and the CC companies are reporting a zero balance to the credit bureaus. Win/win.
These are things that people will say should be taught by the parents. Fair enough. But there are three types of parents, those who can not teach because they do not have those skills themselves, those who do not teach because those skills are so much a part of their life that it would be like teaching breathing and those who do teach their kids usually because they learned quite painfully what happens when you do not have those skills.
So schools should have these classes and they should be required. But they mostly do not and in they do, they are not.
21%... where? I have zero debt and 830 credit score and the cards insist on 29.9%
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