I long ago ceased using credit cards for any reason, but for those of you who do HERE is a cautionary tale regarding your contract with your cc company. After reading it you may want to pay your balances down right now and do what I have done: use a debit card only. Once you actually get the habit of not buying anything you can't pay for, you will be surprised at the serentiy you feel. I have "missed" a thousand sales and discounts and when I had the money I found that I could buy what I want cheaper anyway.
4 comments:
nothing parts faster than a fool and their money. adults are supposed to behave like adults. don't spend what you can't afford. I use credit cards for mileage points. I only spend what I can afford to pay in full every month. I treat the credit cards like a debit card. the trap most people fall into is having cards with limits far higher that they can payoff in full and charge accordingly. if you have cards that have no or small balances call or go online to credit card site and reduce your limit to an amount you can clearly afford to payoff in full every month. for the cards that have to large a balance to be paid off in full, one will have to pay for their folly. usually the simplest way is get a home equity loan for tha amount of the debt and no more than that. payoff those cards and cancel them and sin no more.
All true, Bob.
My comments about credit cards are: (1) the common people need protection from usorous interest rates, and (2) very high credit card interest rates are an example of capitalism gone wrong.
Sorry Instapundit, but Libertarianism don't work so good for the masses.
-- david.davenport.1@netzero.com
Credit cards have comsumer protections. If you buy something and discover you don;t like it and try to return it to the seller (assume he does not take it back and credit your card) you can order your bank to reverse the charge. Now you have your money back and the merchant has to go to court to get it.
Debt cards give your money to the merchant when you buy. If you are unhappy with the purchase you have to beg the merchant for money back ot sue him. He is the stakeholder from the moment you leave the store and he holds your purchase price and there are no chargebacks.
If you pay your credit card in full every month it costs less than a debt card - in fact I can easily find credit cards that refund 1% of yor purchases to you in cash or credit to your account.
True enough but for those of us who find that they simply cannot discipline themselves the cc is a no no. It is a rationalization to say that the only protection from fraud is a cc because I have gone after many and received money back.
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