Two. My Amex (used for travel, fun purchases, and work purchases that get reimbursed), and then our joint Citi Visa card (used for groceries, going out to eat/drink, and Amazon - gets crazy good rewards, plus places that don't take Amex). DH also has an Amex for his fun purchases. I seriously don't understand how people don't have credit cards, how do you pay for hotels/rental cars?!
That's the part that sucks the worst. I have to use my debit card for business travel and right now Hertz still owes me 200 damn dollars that they "held" from a few weeks ago. Not all rental car companies have this stupid policy, but when you go through priceline it doesn't give you the choice. Luckily, my hotels are usually booked ahead of time by my client or company.
I do use my debit card for the majority of my purchases, probably 75%, but I still have 6 credit cards! My mom was big on me starting to get credit as soon as I was 18. My dad never had a credit card until he was married & couldn’t rent a car on their honeymoon because he didn’t have one. Mom to the rescue.
I believe you still can't use a debit for a rental car. I could be wrong.
Now this is even weirder.
Why don't you use your credit cards?
Oh no, I do. All of the normal monthly expenses come out of my debit. It's the extra stuff that goes on the cards. I rotate them & they all get used every other month or so.
I do use my debit card for the majority of my purchases, probably 75%, but I still have 6 credit cards! My mom was big on me starting to get credit as soon as I was 18. My dad never had a credit card until he was married & couldn�t rent a car on their honeymoon because he didn�t have one. Mom to the rescue.
I believe you still can't use a debit for a rental car. I could be wrong.
Now this is even weirder.
Why don't you use your credit cards?
I have two friends who have credit cards but only ever use their debit cards (one even leaves her credit cards in a block of ice in the freezer) because they once had credit card debt and don't trust themselves to use credit cards responsibly.
They're both lawyers in their 30s with biglaw salaries. And they're both smart people (both went to your law school, in fact!). I don't get it, but I don't think it is uncommon.
And then someone stole my wallet and had direct access to all my money. Arguing with the bank over individual charges was not fun so now I use my credit card for everything.
I have two friends who have credit cards but only ever use their debit cards (one even leaves her credit cards in a block of ice in the freezer) because they once had credit card debt and don't trust themselves to use credit cards responsibly.
They're both lawyers in their 30s with biglaw salaries. And they're both smart people (both went to your law school, in fact!). I don't get it, but I don't think it is uncommon.
And then someone stole my wallet and had direct access to all my money. Arguing with the bank over individual charges was not fun so now I use my credit card for everything.
yes! this is exactly my fear. debit cards are linked to your checking account and that freaks me out. credit cards are linked to nothing lol.
Not to mention you have more protection with a credit card.
I have two. One is a Target card, the other is Capital One.
I fucked up my credit when I was nineteen by wanting to buy all the things. After paying off 10k by the time I was 21, I'm hesitant to jump back into having multiple cards.
me too, but i'm afraid of skimmers and such. i use my debit card but as credit.
Does that change things if they get your card number? I mean, they don't have your pin, but they still have the acct number, right?
yes, they'd still have my card number. but in that instance, they wouldn't have direct access to my account funds unless they could magically guess my pin. also, everything would be easy to dispute through visa instead of having to flag all the charges with my bank.
Post by fuckyourcouch on Dec 28, 2012 14:29:13 GMT -5
yes they could run it as credit, but it would be like if they ran charges on another CC. i wouldn't be liable and they'd get reversed.
it may not be the same at every bank. we are with a credit union and that's how we were told it works through them. thankfully we've never had to find out.
Post by MixedBerryJam on Dec 28, 2012 14:33:44 GMT -5
I probably have ten if not more but I only use 2, which I alternate on depending on the rewards points offered in a given month. I never close out old credit card accounts, so they still exist even though they've not had activity in years or even decades.
You do not have to USE your credit cards in order to establish credit. This is a myth.
I hear people say, "Oh, I got a small card, make a couple of purchases each month and then pay it all off to help build my credit."
That does not build your credit and I'll tell you why.
Your credit report only shows your account as either current, paid as agreed, or late by XX number of days.
Your credit report doesn't show usage. It doesn't show that you charged $50 or $5000 in a month and then paid it all off.
A credit card might help you rebuild your credit but you don't have to use in order to do so.
I have a question. Does making purchases & then paying them off help to increase your credit limit? In my experience so far, it does. And wouldn’t a higher credit limit be advantageous in increasing your credit score?
You do not have to USE your credit cards in order to establish credit. This is a myth.
I hear people say, "Oh, I got a small card, make a couple of purchases each month and then pay it all off to help build my credit."
That does not build your credit and I'll tell you why.
Your credit report only shows your account as either current, paid as agreed, or late by XX number of days.
Your credit report doesn't show usage. It doesn't show that you charged $50 or $5000 in a month and then paid it all off.
A credit card might help you rebuild your credit but you don't have to use in order to do so.
I have a question. Does making purchases & then paying them off help to increase your credit limit? In my experience so far, it does. And wouldn’t a higher credit limit be advantageous in increasing your credit score?
I've never had a credit limit increase unless I asked for it.
A higher credit limit is only advantageous if it doesn't skew your available credit to income ratio.
If your income is $50K and your available credit is $40K, that's no bueno.
I have a question. Does making purchases & then paying them off help to increase your credit limit? In my experience so far, it does. And wouldn’t a higher credit limit be advantageous in increasing your credit score?
I've never had a credit limit increase unless I asked for it.
A higher credit limit is only advantageous if it doesn't skew your available credit to income ratio.
If your income is $50K and your available credit is $40K, that's no bueno.
I've had all of my credits cards increase their limits, without me asking. I just get a letter in the mail after. I paid for our wedding mostly on the credit cards for protection & then paid in full each month. After a few months of that, each card limit went up & up. My credit limit is at least 40% higher now than last year.
I see the credit to income ratio as one issue, but the debt to credit ratio would improve. At least that part is good.
ETA: I genuinely want to know b/c DH has ZERO credit. So he is starting from scratch. He can't get a regular credit card. They all ask for him to put a deposit on it & it basically works like a prepaid card for an undetermined amount of time. I told him to do what I did & get a Target store card, use it responsibly & then upgrade to a Target Visa when they let you. Need to start somewhere.
I've never had a credit limit increase unless I asked for it.
A higher credit limit is only advantageous if it doesn't skew your available credit to income ratio.
If your income is $50K and your available credit is $40K, that's no bueno.
I've had all of my credits cards increase their limits, without me asking. I just get a letter in the mail after. I paid for our wedding mostly on the credit cards for protection & then paid in full each month. After a few months of that, each card limit went up & up. My credit limit is at least 40% higher now than last year.
I see the credit to income ratio as one issue, but the debt to credit ratio would improve. At least that part is good.
ETA: I genuinely want to know b/c DH has ZERO credit. So he is starting from scratch. He can't get a regular credit card. They all ask for him to put a deposit on it & it basically works like a prepaid card for an undetermined amount of time. I told him to do what I did & get a Target store card, use it responsibly & then upgrade to a Target Visa when they let you. Need to start somewhere.
You can add him as a joint owner (not authorized user) on your credit cards and that will help build his credit. That's what I did for my daughter when she turned 18 and she has excellent credit. Keep in mind however, that joint owners have the same authority on cards as you do. You can both use it, you are both responsible for it, and it shows on both of your credit reports.
When I added my daughter, new cards came with her name on them but I never gave them to her, I just shredded them. She didn't need the temptation and I certainly wasn't going to pay her expenses/bills for her.
I've had all of my credits cards increase their limits, without me asking. I just get a letter in the mail after. I paid for our wedding mostly on the credit cards for protection & then paid in full each month. After a few months of that, each card limit went up & up. My credit limit is at least 40% higher now than last year.
I see the credit to income ratio as one issue, but the debt to credit ratio would improve. At least that part is good.
ETA: I genuinely want to know b/c DH has ZERO credit. So he is starting from scratch. He can't get a regular credit card. They all ask for him to put a deposit on it & it basically works like a prepaid card for an undetermined amount of time. I told him to do what I did & get a Target store card, use it responsibly & then upgrade to a Target Visa when they let you. Need to start somewhere.
You can add him as a joint owner (not authorized user) on your credit cards and that will help build his credit. That's what I did for my daughter when she turned 18 and she has excellent credit. Keep in mind however, that joint owners have the same authority on cards as you do. You can both use it, you are both responsible for it, and it shows on both of your credit reports.
When I added my daughter, new cards came with her name on them but I never gave them to her, I just shredded them. She didn't need the temptation and I certainly wasn't going to pay her expenses/bills for her.
H did this for me on his Amex account. I'm now an authorized user and it really helped my credit. H had the account since 2003 and put me on it in 2009. My credit score reflects the original 2003 date, which is awesome.
I've had all of my credits cards increase their limits, without me asking. I just get a letter in the mail after. I paid for our wedding mostly on the credit cards for protection & then paid in full each month. After a few months of that, each card limit went up & up. My credit limit is at least 40% higher now than last year.
I see the credit to income ratio as one issue, but the debt to credit ratio would improve. At least that part is good.
ETA: I genuinely want to know b/c DH has ZERO credit. So he is starting from scratch. He can't get a regular credit card. They all ask for him to put a deposit on it & it basically works like a prepaid card for an undetermined amount of time. I told him to do what I did & get a Target store card, use it responsibly & then upgrade to a Target Visa when they let you. Need to start somewhere.
You can add him as a joint owner (not authorized user) on your credit cards and that will help build his credit. That's what I did for my daughter when she turned 18 and she has excellent credit. Keep in mind however, that joint owners have the same authority on cards as you do. You can both use it, you are both responsible for it, and it shows on both of your credit reports.
When I added my daughter, new cards came with her name on them but I never gave them to her, I just shredded them. She didn't need the temptation and I certainly wasn't going to pay her expenses/bills for her.
Yeah, not gonna happen. DH didn’t even have a debit card until last year. He just told me last week that he needed $20 because his debit account was overdraft for the past THREE MONTHS, and he never did anything about. I don’t trust him to be responsible with it & since I’m the only one with credit to get us an apartment, I can’t risk it.
None. I should have one but the baby has lost it within 24 hours each time I ask them to reissue it. I gave up. I use my debit while waiting for the kleptomaniac toddler phase to end.
How does anyone reach their midtwenties (or later adulthood) without a long record of payment history for gas bills, electric bills, phone bills, cable bills, perhaps car payments?
How does anyone reach their midtwenties (or later adulthood) without a long record of payment history for gas bills, electric bills, phone bills, perhaps car payments?