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See this is why I don’t own a credit card because I don’t know what the fuck anything you said means. Im kidding kinda.
It's fine so long as you make sure to
I avoided credit cards like the plague until I turned 30 something. My partner coaxed me into getting my first one just to build my credit up, which I'm actually super glad for because my neolib credit score was so low I couldn't even get a loan for a used trash car. I have 1 rule for my credit card and it is "the bill must be paid in full every month, no exceptions" and I have never bent that rule even once. Now my neolib score varies between excellent and very good boy depending on how much i use the card on any given month.
But doesn’t paying things off immediately negatively affect your credit score?
Nope.
It's not my business, but if you're in the US you really ought to have a credit card unless you're sure you can't manage it. Credit score is interwoven into so much of life and the easiest way to build it is with a card. Plus you end up paying less due to cashback.
Damn I guess I need a credit card. What’s the best way to use it?
Buy things you can easily pay for every month and set up autopay so you never miss a payment. Get a card with cashback on groceries and do your groceries on it since you have to buy them anyway. If you cannot trust yourself with that do something like one low cost subscription on it.
Do not miss a payment, they will fuck you over and the interest on everything is insane.
I think I’m responsible enough, I’m in my late twenties and I’ve never felt the need for one, I’ve always just bought what I could afford.
If you keep that same mindset and apply it to a credit card, you can benefit from having one. I've had a credit card for 10 years and always paid it off in full at the end of the month. You get a little bit of cash back from using it, you build your Neoliberal Good Consumer Score (which is useful for any future auto or home loans), and credit cards are also better protection against merchant frauds/scams. Credit card companies make so much money from people who carry balances that they don't mind giving out these benefits to the few who pay it off monthly
get something that has no annual fee, for starters. nerdwallet has (or at least used to) have a good tool for looking at offers based on credit score, including options for people that have no credit history.
anyway, the main thing is to get something that is taken everywhere (not amex, not discover), gives you some kind of benefit (1% cash back?), and then use it for all of your purchases, and then pay it off completely each month. pay off the full balance, not just the statement balance. i have been using Mint to track my accounts, but that is going away and i haven't figured out an alternative that meets my needs yet. it is very convenient and helpful to have an app on your phone that lets you look at your statement balance in real time and look at transactions. you can usually have it generate reports to see where your money is going. more importantly, it gives you peace of mind to know that if a fraudulent charge shows up, you can immediately call and have it flagged. though that's rare. sometimes an app is offered by the credit card bank, but there are free alternatives.
anyway, open an account, stop carrying cash, and keep that account at $0. or, you can literally just activate the card and keep it in your sock drawer.
Thanks for the help I think I’m gonna look at what’s out there. I want to build up my credit because I need to get my wife a car eventually.
If you're extremely consistent in paying off your balance every month, your credit score will still increase. Like yeah being a good debt customer looks better, but paying off your card and using it as a buffer against your checking account or bundle of cash in the mattress will cost you basically nothing because the interest never accrues.
I don't think so, that's what I do and I have a good credit score
it might make you a less attractive (read: profitable) credit card customer but shouldn't impact your credit score itself, which is sold as a measure of likelihood of timely repayment
~~It might, but~~ (Edit: apparently not, see above) it's not like I'm ever going to be able to buy a place so it seems kind of irrelevant.
Having gotten one relatively recently it's not as complex as you'd think... but then that just begs the question of what these people do to owe literally THOUSANDS, like I just pay my card off and don't go into debt, it's really that simple.
yeah, the credit card is a tool to make spending money easier. fraud protection on credit cards in the states is better than any debit card, so it's more secure than any other option (cash, checks). make your selections, zip zap, the money moves. and the user can check their spending categories because there's a record. i love that shit.
i think where it breaks down is how the time period between swiping and actually paying for the charge can decouple the two events in our minds. combine that with how crap wages are, driving down savings, and a sudden emergency expense (car repair) can give someone a balance, that is now taking on very high interest. if they can't pay it off immediately, it now makes some other typical expenses take on interest as the balance is carried.
the "credit card float" is the term that the personal finance community uses for that window and makes a big point about making sure not to pay any utilities with a credit card, because it essentially keeps you "behind" on paying bills. it took me a bit to understand that conceptually, but the recommendation is to pay all bills/utilities straight from one's bank immediately because if you lost your job/income, you wouldn't still be on the hook for last month's bills + this month's at the same time. i know once i made that switch, i felt the bite of "catching up" immediately and realized how it was another trap and it wasn't really adding convenience in the way swiping a credit card at a store does. not to mention, utilities are always hitting us with "convenience fees" anymore, lol.
i HIGHLY recommend having a credit card that doesn't have any foreign transaction fees too in case you ever find yourself in another country. It makes everything SO much easier and you're protected from the various scams you might run into as well.
They are 69 and 72. They have social security income. If they are smart, they've transferred all their assets out of their names, and now they are cashing in on their credit. If you don't leave the world with an estate worth nothing and 7 figures of unrecoverable debt, then what are you even doing with your life?