A Credit Card Question

This, plus the convenience of it. It would drive me nuts to have to carry a wad of cash and have coins jingling in my pockets when out and about.
I would resort to rounding up and telling them to keep the change. I go to the bank every few years now, I can’t imagine having to deal with change on a regular basis again.

(still have a change jar though, I really need to get rid of that….)
 
This, plus the convenience of it. It would drive me nuts to have to carry a wad of cash and have coins jingling in my pockets when out and about.
Yeah, me too. the cash I carry in my wallet sits there for literally months now.

Get this, Im fully into this with my iPhone and Watch using Apple Pay..
Sometimes, not often, I dont even bring my credit cards with me, its getting to the point Im not using the cards as much either, at times, Some big merchants arent on board just yet like Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart, go figure I feel like I am taking a step backwards in time anyway but most are set up for it.

I use Apple Wallet now whenever possible ... and lets fast forward to last Christmas. I got an Apple Watch 7, sometimes I leave my phone in my car and just pay with my watch *LOL* Not all merchants are set up for Apple Pay yet but I have to say many, many are.
Its so convenient and best part is, fast, you hold your watch (or phone) up to the reader, you hear a "ding" and literally not a second goes by and your receipt is printing out. No inserting your card, no waiting ect.

and back to the cash back part, Discover is paying me up to $75 for Oct. Nov Dec = 5% cash back for all purchases made with my Apple Wallet up to a max of $1500 worth of purchases. Once I hit that I simply switch you using my Apple wallet with Citicard or Wells Fargo for 2%

Its becoming so common I also use Apple Pay when I buy things online I use a Mac Desktop, MacBook and my Phone and its seamless across all three.
 
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Yeah, me too. the csh I carry in my wallet sits there for literally months now.

Get this, Im fully into this with my iPhone and Watch using Apple Pay..
Sometimes, not often, I dont even bring my credit cards with me.
I use Apple Wallet ... and lets fast forward to last Christmas. I got an Apple Watch 7, sometimes I leave my phone in my car and just pay with my watch *LOL* Not all merchants are set up for Apple Pay yet but I have to say A lot are. Its so convenient and best part is, fast, you hold your watch (or phone) up to the reader, you hear a "ding" and literally not a second goes by and your receipt is printing out. No inserting your card, no waiting ect.

and back to the cash back part, Discover is paying me up to $75 for Oct. Nov Dec = 5% cash back for all purchases made with my Apple Wallet up to a max of $1500 worth of purchases. Once I hit that I simply switch you using my Apple wallet with Citicard or Wells Fargo for 2%

Its becoming so common I also use Apple Pay when I buy things online I use a Mac Desktop, MacBook and my Phone and its seamless across all three.
AG,

Are you really getting any cash back? What is your time worth???? I suspect the time you put in getting cash back, you could be consulting and make $10,000 more for your time......

We all are different. I prefer not to have a hobby on trying to beat the credit card companies at their own game. Kudos to you being able to master it, but you are the rare exception. You are a loss leader for the credit card companies.
 
AG,

Are you really getting any cash back? What is your time worth???? I suspect the time you put in getting cash back, you could be consulting and make $10,000 more for your time......

We all are different. I prefer not to have a hobby on trying to beat the credit card companies at their own game. Kudos to you being able to master it, but you are the rare exception. You are a loss leader for the credit card companies.
Tiime? Huh? Have no idea what you are saying or maybe you are not familiar with cash back cards?
Yes, I am a loss leader for them, Ill agree there because I never carry a balance..

But as far as me spending time I have no idea what you are talking about. I use my credit cards like anyone else and spend zero time getting cash back. I only accept cards that give me cash back and the cash back is applied monthly to my statements.

Hey we all have our thing but I dont understand your "hobby" statement. I just use the cards as a financial tool. For no effort at all, as an example of the impact, in equal dollars, just as an example the credit cards pay the insurance on my two cars, boat and motorcycle every year.

But we all invest for what interests us. I dont want everyone to do what I do or they would do away with it. ;)

Yeah, my wife says that all the time, Im pretty good with websites, at one time I ran about a dozen of them and she says I am giving out free advice on BITOG *LOL*
 
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Tiime? Huh? Have no idea what you are saying or maybe you are not familiar with cash back cards?
Yes, I am a loss leader for them, Ill agree there because I never carry a balance..

But as far as me spending time I have no idea what you are talking about. I use my credit cards like anyone else and spend zero time getting cash back. I only accept cards that give me cash back and the cash back is applied monthly to my statements.

Hey we all have our thing but I dont understand your "hobby" statement. I just use the cards as a financial tool. For no effort at all, as an example of the impact, in equal dollars, just as an example the credit cards pay the insurance on my two cars, boat and motorcycle every year.

But we all invest for what interests us. I dont want everyone to do what I do or they would do away with it. ;)
AG,

It is like the Costco executive membership rebate program. I had it in the past, Costco sends a check at the end of the year for the rebate. Wife thinks the envelope with the check is junk mail and throws it away. So, I paid $50 to Costco to get a check for $82 a year later, and the $82 check is missing in action.

As you said, we are all different. I want to keep things as simple as possible.
 
I enjoy using Apple Pay. It’s much more secure, faster and instead of carrying a thick wallet I switched to a minimalist style wallet with a couple of fives for tips.

Traveling overseas, cash becomes a nuisance especially in certain countries. For those I have a card that refunds my overseas ATM charges each month. It does the same for domestic ATMs but I don’t use them. International ATM charges are quite high.
 
Tiime? Huh? Have no idea what you are saying or maybe you are not familiar with cash back cards?
Yes, I am a loss leader for them, Ill agree there because I never carry a balance..

But as far as me spending time I have no idea what you are talking about. I use my credit cards like anyone else and spend zero time getting cash back. I only accept cards that give me cash back and the cash back is applied monthly to my statements.

Hey we all have our thing but I dont understand your "hobby" statement. I just use the cards as a financial tool. For no effort at all, as an example of the impact, in equal dollars, just as an example the credit cards pay the insurance on my two cars, boat and motorcycle every year.

But we all invest for what interests us. I dont want everyone to do what I do or they would do away with it. ;)

Yeah, my wife says that all the time, Im pretty good with websites, at one time I ran about a dozen of them and she says I am giving out free advice on BITOG *LOL*
GON-just made the most nonsensical argument yet against credit cards. BTW-as a side point someone should tell him Costco now sends the rebate checks via email or direct deposit. He ignores my posts.
 
GON-just made the most nonsensical argument yet against credit cards. BTW-as a side point someone should tell him Costco now sends the rebate checks via email or direct deposit. He ignores my posts.
I use the Costco program and get the end-of-the-year rebates vis email. Every month Costco provides an accounting of the then-current rebate total with my statement, also online. For @GON and others who might be interested, there's little to no need to get anything via snail mail these days as everything can be done online.

I didn't know that Costco will provide the annual rebate via direct deposit. I'll look into that. Thanks for mentioning it.
 
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I use the Costco program and get the end-of-the-year rebates vis email. Every month Costco provides an accounting of the then-current rebate total with my statement, also online. For @GON and others who might be interested, there's little to no need to get anything via snail mail these days as everything can be done online.

I didn't know that Costco will provide the annual rebate via direct deposit. I'll look into that. Thanks for mentioning it.
On clarification I believe the amount of rebate needs to be at least $500.00 for direct deposit.
 
On clarification I believe the amount of rebate needs to be at least $500.00 for direct deposit.
Thanks for the clarification. I checked with Costco and I believe you're correct.
 
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I used to pay everything by credit card even a cup of coffee at the gas station after filling up. I'd have a boatload of 2 or 3 or even 4 dollar charges. Beginning of this year my credit score kept going down and finally broke under 700 to 697. I stopped using my CC's last month and just used my bank debit card and just got my discover card bill with the score jumping up to 714 after just one month. I'm not going to make any purchases the rest of the year on the cards till my score gets above 750 again
 
Tiime? Huh? Have no idea what you are saying or maybe you are not familiar with cash back cards?
Yes, I am a loss leader for them, Ill agree there because I never carry a balance..

But as far as me spending time I have no idea what you are talking about. I use my credit cards like anyone else and spend zero time getting cash back. I only accept cards that give me cash back and the cash back is applied monthly to my statements.

Hey we all have our thing but I dont understand your "hobby" statement. I just use the cards as a financial tool. For no effort at all, as an example of the impact, in equal dollars, just as an example the credit cards pay the insurance on my two cars, boat and motorcycle every year.

But we all invest for what interests us. I dont want everyone to do what I do or they would do away with it. ;)

Yeah, my wife says that all the time, Im pretty good with websites, at one time I ran about a dozen of them and she says I am giving out free advice on BITOG *LOL*
Between business and personal, I have "made" about $7500 this year from Fidelity VISA and various AMEX cards which have funded my HSA and now my brokerage account. Like you, this takes virtually no time other than determining do I use my Fidelity VISA, my Amex Gold, my Amex platinum, or my business Amex, and then once per month redeem my Amex points into my Charles Schwab account and transfer them to Fidelity. I'm spending this money anyway and if I can also invest it into a triple tax-protected investment account then that's even better.
 
I used to pay everything by credit card even a cup of coffee at the gas station after filling up. I'd have a boatload of 2 or 3 or even 4 dollar charges. Beginning of this year my credit score kept going down and finally broke under 700 to 697. I stopped using my CC's last month and just used my bank debit card and just got my discover card bill with the score jumping up to 714 after just one month. I'm not going to make any purchases the rest of the year on the cards till my score gets above 750 again
I'm guessing your score decrease was due to utilization being too high...get an increase in limit or a different card.
 
I'm guessing your score decrease was due to utilization being too high...get an increase in limit or a different card.
Yes...I think all the little piddly charges and trying to max the rewards causes most of the decline. Banks don't like giving back cash on purchases as much as people think lol
 
The key with credit cards:
1. have mutiple lines of credit, not just one card.
2. pay off cards asap.
3. use virtual numbers for subscriptions. (just shut off card to prevent reoccurring charges)
 
Avoid at all cost 👍


Yes, this right here 👍👍👍

Try privacy.com.
I use them to my advantage... I have a American Airlines card and use it for everything...I pay it off once it gets posted online...I earn points for flights...Over the years I have has two round trips to London and to Florida for free....also have used points to upgrade to first class...It works for me...A credit card can be used in a good way BUT the key is paying it off when posted or by the end of each month....
 
Yes...I think all the little piddly charges and trying to max the rewards causes most of the decline. Banks don't like giving back cash on purchases as much as people think lol
I'm lucky that my business cards do not show up on my credit report because I can run $20-$50k per month through those. My other two commonly used cards are a VISA and Amex gold and I believe only the VISA counts towards utilization. The net result is even though I run $30-$60K per month through CCs only the VISA shows up and my utilization is still under 5%.
 
Seems like once you get to 800, it takes a lot of installment loans (cars, etc.) to go any higher. Paying all of it off every month & having extra $ in the bank gets you nothing-the bureaus want you to play the game & not just reap the rewards…
I've only got a mortgage, car payment and three cards. I never carry a balance on a card. My score regularly fluctuates between 820 and 840. My experience is having no revolving debt and one-time payments keeps my score high.
 
I've only got a mortgage, car payment and three cards. I never carry a balance on a card. My score regularly fluctuates between 820 and 840. My experience is having no revolving debt and one-time payments keeps my score high.
^^^ Perfectly Said ^^^
Same here and the cards I use are for cash back on top of it, what you describe is what my wife and I do. Right now we just finished off a car payment so that was gone maybe last year. (14 months ahead of time making extra principle payments steadily meaning not lump sum, not more one month and less the next, steady I think is key) We do treat our 30 year mortgage as a 15 year mortgage and automatically every month, the same extra amount of money to be applied to principle is paid. All set up in my online bank bill pay.

True story, Ive been on this planet for a long time been in some way dealing with finances in my own life and other peoples indirectly. Im not in anyway saying this to boast about it, I was just taken by surprise and I didnt even know or think it could happen.(or would ever happen to me)

We run the same scores you do, but not more then two years back for 3 months in a row (and only 3 months) my score was reported as 850 on the 850 FICO scale. (these days they have other scales too)
It doesnt matter that it did hit that but it was cool that it happened to me since I am into these things, sometimes like a competition with my wife. Fun thing for us. But it never hit that again and now I get frustrated! *LOL* and that's ok though at least I can remember one time in my life that it did. 🙃
 
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