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danielv835

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pf_coach_v0.1

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User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." User (bka510): "Great. Thanks for your detailed response! That clears up alot along with other posts" apogee308 (apogee308): "I use a Sallie Mae MasterCard which I heard of from this sub actually; 5% cash back on gas groceries and books (including anything ordered from Amazon) great for college students/ 20 somethings" PatrickMorris (PatrickMorris): "I feel like i've made at least $500 off of this card with just my normal purchases, too bad they discontinued it for new applications "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If your credit card is compromised, somebody has stolen **Visa's** money. They will work very hard to fix the problem to the best of their ability. If your debit card is compromised, somebody has stolen your money, and the Bank will work as slowly as possible to get **your** money back. " Hyppy (Hyppy): "I find that this can vary by bank. Some are better than others, particularly credit unions or limited membership ones like the various military-centric banks." Self: "This will be true for any institution. In general, credit card companies are going to do a much better job resolving this type of dispute, though."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Another BIG point on fraud prevention/disputes. A lot of debit cards will freeze the money you're disputing for as long as it takes to investigate. Most credit cards don't even make you pay/charge you interest during the same process. \n\nAlso, don't forget about pre-authorization holds. If you pump gas or check into a hotel, they might hold much, much more than you actually spend, and can hold it for a lot longer than you want. With a credit card, you probably wouldn't notice unless it maxed out your limits. Not the same experience with debit. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Chase actually contacts me when they've suspected suspicious behavior with my account. Twice they've removed the charges, and it took nothing more than a five minute phone call. Try doing that with a bank account debit card. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "I get 5% cash back on purchases from gas stations and "grocery stores" (walmart counts). Up to $250 a month for each.\n\nIt also has 5% cash back at book stores and amazon counts as one. \n\nSo I basically save 5% on almost everything that I buy since it usually comes from walmart, amazon or is gas for my car. I usually end up with $30-40 every 2 months in rewards."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Most importantly for me, on top of the other benefits listed here, is that credit cards provide a security layer between my bank account and the vendors I use. I should never be in the position that someone fraudulently empties my bank account and leaves me completely cash-less. Having a credit card gives me a buffer and the peace of mind that if there's fraud or something wonky, nothing will happen to my actual money. " rshanks (rshanks): "Out of curiosity, what happens if you have a big fraudulent charge and your bill is due while they are investigating (or worse trying to say they believe you did it)? Do you still have to pay (or get charged interest), or are they required to take it off your bill until it's sorted out?" cubism_dreams (cubism_dreams): "Most credit card companies will deduct the disputed charge from your account while they investigate, so you are not responsible for paying that amount until a resolution is reached either way. " rshanks (rshanks): "Thanks, that's good to know"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." Giraffezilla (Giraffezilla): "Costco's card is great for gas and restaurants! :)"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." gvnatrc0 (gvnatrc0): "To add to this, even though it's pretty obvious i still think it's important to mention.\nyou should generally try to stick to using either your debit card only or your credit card only for all of your purchases. you cannot spend out of both every month because then you would have no money to pay your credit card off with. " toga-Blutarsky (toga-Blutarsky): "Have you tried not spending all of your money though? "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Pay for everything with your credit card but treat it like your debit card. Always pay off your entire balance. \n\nAs a result, you will have:\n\n- incredible credit (both credit score and borrowing ability), \n- increased convenience, \n- rewards in the form of cash back or travel rewards,\n- fantastic fraud protection, \n- additional extras like travel insurance, extended warranties, etc.\n\nNo brainer. Just be smart with your money. Keeping a balance on your credit card and just paying interest negates these benefits rapidly.\n\nSo, if you can't spend only the money that you actually have in your bank account, don't get or use a credit card.\n\nBut, if you can be part of the small percentage of the population that can use credit cards without carrying a balance then you will be rewarded significantly for it. And you will feel like you're getting something for nothing, which you are, if you use it correctly."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Here in Atlanta, we have our local personal finance guru Clark Howard and [here](http://www.clark.com/5-more-places-you-should-never-use-debit-card)'s what he has to say re: debit cards." rshanks (rshanks): "In regards to the gas, (at least in Canada) you can usually manually specify a lower authorization amount at the pump (regardless of credit or debit), and that will take care of the issue of them holding funds (if you don't use all of it you won't be charged the full amount, but it will be held, otherwise the pump will cut you off automatically when you've used all of what you authorized)\n\nI keep a $50 daily limit on my debit card to prevent fraud but have it just in case, so I always need to manually lower the auth limit if using debit otherwise it will be declined.\n\nNote that this is not the same as prepaying for $20 inside and not using all of it, don't do that!"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If your credit card is compromised, somebody has stolen **Visa's** money. They will work very hard to fix the problem to the best of their ability. If your debit card is compromised, somebody has stolen your money, and the Bank will work as slowly as possible to get **your** money back. " Cpcr1203 (Cpcr1203): "My bank, PNC, will shut down my card and call me immediately if they think my card is being fraudulently used. For example, my husband and I were purchasing a bed for around $1400 at a local store. Because I put my debit card into the chip slot before the girl clicked credit, she had to re-enter that I was using debit so I could slide it first. I slid it, and it was declined. I had enough in my checking account to pay for it many times over, so that wasn't the issue. All of a sudden, my phone is ringing from an 1-800 number. I answer and it's PNC verifying that I was at the store trying to purchase the item. I said yes, verified my last purchase made, and was good to do. They are awesome when it comes to fraud. " turkeylurkey9 (turkeylurkey9): "Citi did the same for me, but in text since that's my preferred contact method, When I was purchasing concert tickets for a few different venue's in the area. It probably looked like the card was stolen...Nope, just an obsessed fan. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Most offer rewards for these purchases, personally always prefer debit and credit for only emergencies"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Fraud fraud fraud. If someone gets a hold of your cc number and charges a bunch, you don't ever pay a dime. They get your debit number and while you'll get your money back, they could drain your bank account while you're getting that sorted out.\n\nAlso, fraud departments at most cc companies are much better in both detection and to work with than a bank (generally speaking).\n\nLastly, rewards. As long as you pay it off in full every month, it costs you nothing and you can get a little something back. For instance, I get 1 percent cash back on my discover and 5 percent back on gas stations for the next 3 months. It costs me nothing to have the card so that's free money because I pay it off every month. Why not get 1 percent back on the 60k or so a year I spend?"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." LotsOfWatts (LotsOfWatts): "All good stuff, without even mentioning float on checking funds. Not that it matters much in this low interest rate environment. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." D6613 (D6613): "I use three of the same cards: Citi DoubleCash, Discover IT, and American Express Blue Cash Preferred. They are excellent."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." ChargerMatt (ChargerMatt): "Out of curiosity have you been able to find a list of what stores classify as a grocery store for the Amex card? I looked at my statements recently and I'm only getting 2% at stores that are clearly grocery stores" D6613 (D6613): "In my experience, it's stores that would be considered "super markets", where they're a big store of almost entirely food.\n\nSo no Wal-Mart, Costco, Sam's Club, Target, etc. More like Albertson's and Smith's/Kroger (though I haven't tried those specifically). I have a fair amount of local grocery stores nearby, and they all get me the 6%."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." User (bka510): "Great. Thanks for your detailed response! That clears up alot along with other posts" apogee308 (apogee308): "I use a Sallie Mae MasterCard which I heard of from this sub actually; 5% cash back on gas groceries and books (including anything ordered from Amazon) great for college students/ 20 somethings" loganz (loganz): "I believe they discontinued that card, and it's up to $750 worth of purchases. \n\nIf you are the primary owner of your prime account, the Amazon store card gives you 5% which is better than the Amazon credit card at 3%."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." User (bka510): "Great. Thanks for your detailed response! That clears up alot along with other posts" apogee308 (apogee308): "I use a Sallie Mae MasterCard which I heard of from this sub actually; 5% cash back on gas groceries and books (including anything ordered from Amazon) great for college students/ 20 somethings" User (bka510): "great! i'll check into that!" Havegooda (Havegooda): "I think they closed it to new customers, but if you can get it, it's probably the best option.\n\nI use that for the groceries/gas/Amazon and put everything else on my Quicksilver for 1.5% back. " Brewcitykid (Brewcitykid): "Citi has 2% cash back, fyi"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "This. Everything in this thread." WestCoastPiper (WestCoastPiper): "Thanks for letting us know"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If I'm at a local establishment I use cash. if it's semi local or I don't have cash I use debit (liquor store). Corporate chain definitely credit."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." gvnatrc0 (gvnatrc0): "To add to this, even though it's pretty obvious i still think it's important to mention.\nyou should generally try to stick to using either your debit card only or your credit card only for all of your purchases. you cannot spend out of both every month because then you would have no money to pay your credit card off with. " CharlestonChewbacca (CharlestonChewbacca): "Lol, do you "pay off" your debit card with a credit card?"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." puterTDI (puterTDI): "Also, don't forget price matching. I just recently learned about that."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." User (bka510): "Great. Thanks for your detailed response! That clears up alot along with other posts" apogee308 (apogee308): "I use a Sallie Mae MasterCard which I heard of from this sub actually; 5% cash back on gas groceries and books (including anything ordered from Amazon) great for college students/ 20 somethings" Altephor1 (Altephor1): "It's no longer available."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." dipwizzydizzle (dipwizzydizzle): "Also a really good reason to have a capital one card is if you travel internationally. They don't charge you any international transaction fees. " dawookiemonster (dawookiemonster): "I have the VentureOne I no longer use (except for Netflix to keep the card active), but I keep it just for this reason. All my other cards charge foreign transaction fees. " lvt4284 (lvt4284): "I just got the Venture One card and if I spent 1k I the first 3 months, I get 20,000 bonus miles. Just so happened the remainder of my cruise payment needed to be paid, so I put that on the card and then paid it 2 days later. I also put other things that I was going to pay for anyway out of my checking account, and I went on a business trip so put all that on there too ( i was reimbursed from work 1 week later and immediately paid the card for all of those charges as well) so now I have over 20k miles earned already to use towards future traveling. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Not covered so far: returns. Many credit cards will offer return protection (and this policy supersedes the store's policy as long as you pay with your credit card). \n\nDoesn't sound like a big deal until your fiance buys a dress then decides on another one. Store's return policy? 30 days. The card she bought it on (mine)? 90 days. The store didn't want to take the dress back but had no choice (it was new in the bag - we weren't being jerks, she just wanted something else). \n\nThis podcast (http://www.abroaders.com/category/podcast/) is all about earning points by churning credit cards but the first 10ish episodes are all about the protections and benefits credit cards offer that most people don't know about. I'd highly recommend them to any consumer that wants to be informed." User (bka510): "Thanks for touching on something that wasn't mentioned!!!!"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "I used nothing but my 2 credit cards this past year. Amex rewards with 5% cash back on gas, and 3% on groceries. I use my Citi 2% cash back on everything else. I had 500$ in rewards by December. Now, did I spend more because I knew I'd be getting cash back with credit cards? I'm not too sure, but I still ended up reaching my final goal for savings at the end of the year. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." ChargerMatt (ChargerMatt): "Out of curiosity have you been able to find a list of what stores classify as a grocery store for the Amex card? I looked at my statements recently and I'm only getting 2% at stores that are clearly grocery stores" judep90 (judep90): "https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/rewards-info/retail.html\n\nI know that isn't a complete list because my Kroger purchases most definitely count " ChargerMatt (ChargerMatt): "Safeway and QFC are the ones I'm wondering about. It seems like it's spotty. I think I need to give a call" djnowell (djnowell): "As an ex-Seattleite, can confirm that Safeway and QFC both count. They're alternate brands of Vons and Kroger." ChargerMatt (ChargerMatt): "Strange. Guess I do need to call" djnowell (djnowell): "It's basically any grocery store that isn't a 'superstore', like Walmart or Target. If you look at your online account, it has to show as "Merchandise & Supplies - Groceries" ex: http://i.imgur.com/u09xTUrh.jpg"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Most importantly for me, on top of the other benefits listed here, is that credit cards provide a security layer between my bank account and the vendors I use. I should never be in the position that someone fraudulently empties my bank account and leaves me completely cash-less. Having a credit card gives me a buffer and the peace of mind that if there's fraud or something wonky, nothing will happen to my actual money. " rshanks (rshanks): "Out of curiosity, what happens if you have a big fraudulent charge and your bill is due while they are investigating (or worse trying to say they believe you did it)? Do you still have to pay (or get charged interest), or are they required to take it off your bill until it's sorted out?" Chris_Hansen_AMA (Chris_Hansen_AMA): "As someone else pointed out, they will usually deduct the charge from your account while investigating. In addition to that, credit card companies are *really* good at detecting fraudulent charges. They come to completely understand your spending habits and they will alert you immediately if they see something out of the ordinary and ask you if that purchase was valid even before charging you. \n" rshanks (rshanks): "Its interesting that they can be that good at it without triggering a lot of false alarms, personally I've never gotten a call about a potentially fraudulent charge, even if I go somewhere I've never been before or wouldn't usually go" Chris_Hansen_AMA (Chris_Hansen_AMA): "I would have initially agreed but I've learned that they are that good. Think about it - they have millions of people using their cards every single day. They study these people, learn about their salary levels, where certain people go out, when they go out, how much money they typically spend, etc. They constantly use big data to draw inferences about your spending habits. Constantly draw connections from this data." rshanks (rshanks): "Thats true, but then I still dont believe they would catch most fraudulent transactions (and I am pretty sure I recall reading they dont, they only catch a small % like that but it still saves them lots of money)\n\nI guess my point is, if I can suddenly visit a Walmart / what ever other store in another city and by something, so can a fraudster. They might have trouble buying something that's completely different from what I buy (for example I dont own a car, so buying car parts would probably be a red flag), but I would think most modest transactions at a big box store would go through genuine or not, seeing as most people shop at those stores, or if they dont it wouldn't be hard to believe they might."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." ChargerMatt (ChargerMatt): "Out of curiosity have you been able to find a list of what stores classify as a grocery store for the Amex card? I looked at my statements recently and I'm only getting 2% at stores that are clearly grocery stores" judep90 (judep90): "https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/rewards-info/retail.html\n\nI know that isn't a complete list because my Kroger purchases most definitely count " User (bka510): "Weird that Publix is not listed" djnowell (djnowell): "Publix is a regional chain, but I can confirm that it codes as "Merchandise & Supplies - Groceries" on the AMEX network."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If you have $1000 in your debit account and you pay at a bank, the bank somehow screws up the payment, and then you suddenly end up with a -$2400 with a $24 purchase of gas. This will mostly inconvenience you because now you have no money to pay for anything.\n\nThe same goes for any sort of fraud; it immediately puts you and your hard earned money at risk. It's up to the bank to decide whether or not to give you your money.\n\nWith a credit card you not only shift that liability to another entity, but it's to another entity with great fraud protection that doesn't immediately effect your hard earned cash.\n\nAnother added benefit are the programs that give you cash back points, etc. Most places give at least 1% of what you spend.\n\nIf you spend $1,000,000 in your life time and use a credit card instead of a debit card you will save $10,000. That's MINIMUM. Places offer 2% (would be 20,000). If you got the right cards you could average probably 3% ($30,000). This does not take into account getting something other than cash back. Some points programs you can get 1.5c or almost 2c per point. \n\nAll you need to do is ALWAYS pay off your card in full every month and you're golden." Jordaneer (Jordaneer): ">If you have $1000 in your debit account and you pay at a bank, the bank somehow screws up the payment, and then you suddenly end up with a -$2400 with a $24 purchase of gas. This will mostly inconvenience you because now you have no money to pay for anything.\n\n3 questions.\n\nDo you speak from experience?\n\nStory time?\n\nHow the hell does that happen?" Self: "I speak anecdotally, and while a 10x charge is probably rare it's not unusual for someone to be double charged. In fact, more realistically, the gas station usually places a hold on your account of about $100 to be sure you have the money to pay. If you have $50 in your account and they put a hold for $100 you won't be able to charge anything more for 24 hours.\n\nMy point is vendors aren't perfect and mistakes happen. It's better a mistake is made with someone else's money than with yours because then it's your CC company's problem too. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." emt139 (emt139): "This is a very good summary. I'll just add that some cards offer some extra benefits like doubling the warranties of the products you buy with them, doing price protection by refunding you when whatever you got has it's price lowered, have secondary and sometimes even primary rental car insurance, and finally, they give you some extra days to pay. For example, I got a new card in late October and my due date to pay is December 5th. Has I brought with cash, it would be out of my account now but they're basically giving me a very short interest free period. " User (bka510): "I think AmEx is the one that doubles warranty? I'll look into it!" DaveInPhilly (DaveInPhilly): "I think many do these days. I know my Chase and Citicards do as well. " Imallvol7 (Imallvol7): "My citi double adds two year now!!!"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Purchasing airline tickets with credit cards can often carry little known insurance coverage."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." starwish68 (starwish68): "Hi not OP but just a quick question. You say there is no cost to using your credit card responsibly, but doesn't using your credit card frequently negatively affect your credit score? " echonov (echonov): "Nope! As far as I know, issuers don't even report frequency of use (as in number of individual charges) to the reporting bureaus. Credit utilization can impact your score, but it has no history. Usually, issuers report at statement time, and your utilization is your total balance as a percent of your available credit. If this is super high, it can negatively impact your score a little -- but it's also recalculated every month. \n\nAs long as you don't charge so much that you can't pay it off on time, there is no concern here. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." teh_tg (teh_tg): "Some credit cards charge an annual fee. Avoid those, unless you have the IQ of toast." echonov (echonov): "There are legit reasons to get a card with a fee, depending on the card and your spending habits. They're definitely not the best choice for everyone, but they can be excellent choices for some people. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." emt139 (emt139): "This is a very good summary. I'll just add that some cards offer some extra benefits like doubling the warranties of the products you buy with them, doing price protection by refunding you when whatever you got has it's price lowered, have secondary and sometimes even primary rental car insurance, and finally, they give you some extra days to pay. For example, I got a new card in late October and my due date to pay is December 5th. Has I brought with cash, it would be out of my account now but they're basically giving me a very short interest free period. " User (bka510): "I think AmEx is the one that doubles warranty? I'll look into it!" textonic (textonic): "Most cards for it now due to competition. All my chase, citi and discover cards do it too."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If your credit card is compromised, somebody has stolen **Visa's** money. They will work very hard to fix the problem to the best of their ability. If your debit card is compromised, somebody has stolen your money, and the Bank will work as slowly as possible to get **your** money back. " Cpcr1203 (Cpcr1203): "My bank, PNC, will shut down my card and call me immediately if they think my card is being fraudulently used. For example, my husband and I were purchasing a bed for around $1400 at a local store. Because I put my debit card into the chip slot before the girl clicked credit, she had to re-enter that I was using debit so I could slide it first. I slid it, and it was declined. I had enough in my checking account to pay for it many times over, so that wasn't the issue. All of a sudden, my phone is ringing from an 1-800 number. I answer and it's PNC verifying that I was at the store trying to purchase the item. I said yes, verified my last purchase made, and was good to do. They are awesome when it comes to fraud. " textonic (textonic): "Yes but it will vary bank to bank. I've had a friend who was defrauded 3.5k and it took him months to resolve. In the end, the bank doesn't care. It's not their money. They can do it as a courtesy or if you are a high value customer etc. But with credit card, it's never your money, the risk to YOU is much less."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If your credit card is compromised, somebody has stolen **Visa's** money. They will work very hard to fix the problem to the best of their ability. If your debit card is compromised, somebody has stolen your money, and the Bank will work as slowly as possible to get **your** money back. " echonov (echonov): "This is not true. Visa is a card association -- they provide, among other things, a processing network to intermediate between issuers and merchants. All credit cards are issued by banks. When your card is compromised, somebody has stolen the bank's money -- exactly as when your debit card is compromised. Credit cards fraud protections are better for totally different reasons. (Among I other things, federal regs in the states, and, even more importantly, being able to access your money during the investigation.) It has nothing to do with whose money it is. (And Visa has as much to do with it for debit cards on their network as credit, but either way -- still definitely not Visa's money.)"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." teh_tg (teh_tg): "Some credit cards charge an annual fee. Avoid those, unless you have the IQ of toast." haltingpoint (haltingpoint): "My Amex has a small annual fee and it is more than offset by the unlimited cash back and other perks that I wouldn't get with comparable cards."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." teh_tg (teh_tg): "Some credit cards charge an annual fee. Avoid those, unless you have the IQ of toast." IAMA_YOU_AMA (IAMA_YOU_AMA): "They can be worth it for certain people, like frequent fliers.\n\nChase has a card with a $450 annual fee, but will reimburse up to $300 in airfare. So if you fly often, the cost is already reduced to $150/yr, which is further offset by the higher than average points/miles you get on airfare spending.\n\nThe card also gives you admittance to the Admiral's club which is a nice place to wait for your flight.\n\nIs it worth $150/yr to sit in a first class waiting area? Maybe, depends on if you fly a lot and if $150 isn't that much money to you." attax (attax): "It actually gets your priority pass, assuming you're talking about the sapphire reserve. Which gets you into a variety of airport lounges. Couple it with rental car insurance up to 75k, trip insurance, roadside assistance, pays for your TSA global entry application, and that the current sign up bonus is worth a cash value of $1,000 (which you can certainly do much better than through travel portals), then $450 doesn't look too bad. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Liability and rewards. Pay your card off in FULL each month."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If you can afford to pay cash/debit for larger purchases get a credit card that offers air-miles. I've seen people purchase cars on their credit cards just for the air-miles to register and then pay it off before the interest kicks in. Put everything on the card with air-miles instead of your debit card then pay it off at the end of the month. Free vacation !"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "As long as you pay off your statement balance at the end of the month your rewards points will eventually add up. I just cashed in some of my points for a $60 credit on my account. Took about 6 months but this card is one of 3 that I have. The only debt I have is my mortgage as I am able to put some general expenses on my credit cards and pay off the statement balance. I would hate to have to carry a balance."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "I heard credit cards give you normally a 1 year warranty on purchases? So if i were to purchase a computer through a credit card and it broke then credit card company would refund my money or something like that? Am I right?" lifeiswonderful1 (lifeiswonderful1): "Usually Mastercard doubles the original manufacturer's warranty up to 1 year. So for example, you bought your Macbook with a credit card. The logic board dies after the original Apple warranty expires, you can claim the repair with Mastercard as long as you can prove it was not your fault it broke. So you pay first for the repair/replacement, send in a claim, and hope Mastercard will approve it to reimburse you. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." emt139 (emt139): "This is a very good summary. I'll just add that some cards offer some extra benefits like doubling the warranties of the products you buy with them, doing price protection by refunding you when whatever you got has it's price lowered, have secondary and sometimes even primary rental car insurance, and finally, they give you some extra days to pay. For example, I got a new card in late October and my due date to pay is December 5th. Has I brought with cash, it would be out of my account now but they're basically giving me a very short interest free period. " Gfrisse1 (Gfrisse1): "Credit cards also afford you the opportunity to dispute problem purchases by blocking charges to your account until you have resolved the issue with the retailer or other entity from whom you purchased the product or service." astarria (astarria): "Had this come in handy at the beginning of this year. I had made a purchase from a well-known company with gift cards, but they required either credit or debit card information as well. They later charged my card for the purchase amount. I was able to dispute it through my credit card company. A bank would have been much harder to deal with." dallibab (dallibab): "All above have very good points. If you pay off the balance regularly, But... If you don't pay the balance and just pay the minimum payment you will be doing so for a very long time.... Ask virtually anyone who has had or has a credit card. \n\nThey are very easy to use... " echoAwoo (echoAwoo): "> minimum payment you will be doing so for a very long time\n\nEveryone I know who does this makes minimums on their cards but uses it to live off of\n\n\nAnd I *facesmack* myself every time. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Because of who's money is getting spent: if it's a debit card, a thief or accident can take all of your cash (and more), leaving you with fuck-all until the bank gets around to sorting it out. With a credit card, it is Bank of America/American Express/ etc. who's money disappears. This makes them more motivated to resolve the issue. Also, said bank will not suffer from a few thousand dollars less liquidity for a month or 3, whereas you might."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Like a lot of people have said it's good for building a good credit score.\n\nHere in the UK i use a credit card to buy shopping, fuel and small bits just so i can pay it off and increase my credit score because getting a house over here as a first time buyer is no easy task.\n\nOf course though, you need to be sensible its easy to get carried away thinking i can spend what i want."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." WebSummol (WebSummol): "Why do they give such advantages? What do banks and stuff win with us using their credit cards and paying the debt asap, so no interest rates come into effect? " jas25666 (jas25666): "> What do banks and stuff win with us using their credit cards and paying the debt asap\n\nThey make money on the vast majority of people who do NOT pay the debt in full.\n\nAnd even if they don't credit card companies charge merchants a fee for each purchase (typically 3%), so if they give 1% cashback they're still ahead even if no interest is paid. The cashback is then used to entice people to use their card over a competing card so THEY get the transaction fee." WebSummol (WebSummol): "Cool!\nCrazy scheme!"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." starwish68 (starwish68): "Hi not OP but just a quick question. You say there is no cost to using your credit card responsibly, but doesn't using your credit card frequently negatively affect your credit score? " dc4894 (dc4894): "Running up your balance greater than 30% of your credit limit can negatively affect your credit score, but using your cards regularly and paying them offv every month will absolutely help increase your score" FelidiaFetherbottom (FelidiaFetherbottom): "Also, any detriment to your score is a temporary one, like, a month or two"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." kittens_and_cupcakes (kittens_and_cupcakes): "I find that credit card fees are more common than debit card fees. I wonder if it cancels out the rewards." J22Jordan (J22Jordan): "There are MANY credit cards with no annual fee. The ones that do have annual fees, even in the hundreds of dollars can still be hugely beneficial if you are able to use them correctly (spend lots of money, sometimes in specific categories). There is an entire cottage industry dedicated to maximizing credit card reward points. thepointsguy.com is one that comes to mind, but there are many if you look around." kittens_and_cupcakes (kittens_and_cupcakes): "I meant when making purchases, like the cheapest gas station by my house charges an extra 10 cents per gallon when paying with credit card." 99991233 (99991233): "I think that might be a California thing. Only place I've seen that is the bay area." kittens_and_cupcakes (kittens_and_cupcakes): "Interesting. I would've never guessed it was regional"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." emt139 (emt139): "This is a very good summary. I'll just add that some cards offer some extra benefits like doubling the warranties of the products you buy with them, doing price protection by refunding you when whatever you got has it's price lowered, have secondary and sometimes even primary rental car insurance, and finally, they give you some extra days to pay. For example, I got a new card in late October and my due date to pay is December 5th. Has I brought with cash, it would be out of my account now but they're basically giving me a very short interest free period. " ciabattabing16 (ciabattabing16): "Expanding further, purchase protection is fairly common. Bought a new phone on Amazon... promptly walked it into the ocean. For reasons unknown, my credit card covered this act of raging stupidity and I replaced the phone cost. " groovyfinch (groovyfinch): "Someone who takes action without considering the consequences is the ideal credit card customer. " ciabattabing16 (ciabattabing16): "I put it in my suit pocket...saying out loud 'I shouldn't do this, but what are the odds I'll forget it?' Literally 20 minutes later, like an Alzheimer's patient, wandered into the ocean for a good ten mins. Came back out...I'm gonna read for awhile...let's get my phone out....oh...wait..." groovyfinch (groovyfinch): ""I shouldn't put this here, I'll never find it" -- me IRL. I feel you."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." emt139 (emt139): "This is a very good summary. I'll just add that some cards offer some extra benefits like doubling the warranties of the products you buy with them, doing price protection by refunding you when whatever you got has it's price lowered, have secondary and sometimes even primary rental car insurance, and finally, they give you some extra days to pay. For example, I got a new card in late October and my due date to pay is December 5th. Has I brought with cash, it would be out of my account now but they're basically giving me a very short interest free period. " Gfrisse1 (Gfrisse1): "Credit cards also afford you the opportunity to dispute problem purchases by blocking charges to your account until you have resolved the issue with the retailer or other entity from whom you purchased the product or service." astarria (astarria): "Had this come in handy at the beginning of this year. I had made a purchase from a well-known company with gift cards, but they required either credit or debit card information as well. They later charged my card for the purchase amount. I was able to dispute it through my credit card company. A bank would have been much harder to deal with." dallibab (dallibab): "All above have very good points. If you pay off the balance regularly, But... If you don't pay the balance and just pay the minimum payment you will be doing so for a very long time.... Ask virtually anyone who has had or has a credit card. \n\nThey are very easy to use... " zinger565 (zinger565): "Yup. Ran into some of that during college, luckily for me my card had an $800 limit at the time. Now I shame myself into paying our main credit card off. I get an email every Tuesday with the current balance. Never had an issue since. Payments go in twice a month around paycheck time."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." emt139 (emt139): "This is a very good summary. I'll just add that some cards offer some extra benefits like doubling the warranties of the products you buy with them, doing price protection by refunding you when whatever you got has it's price lowered, have secondary and sometimes even primary rental car insurance, and finally, they give you some extra days to pay. For example, I got a new card in late October and my due date to pay is December 5th. Has I brought with cash, it would be out of my account now but they're basically giving me a very short interest free period. " User (bka510): "I think AmEx is the one that doubles warranty? I'll look into it!" Dif3r (Dif3r): "Note that's not to say that getting a credit card with an annual fee isn't worth it.\n\nFor example a World Elite MasterCard (the Black Card) has a $120-150 annual fee but if you're on the road a lot and expense things and get reimbursed by your company later its practically free money (and sometimes better benefits than the standard or gold cards).\n\nAt one point in time I owned a MasterCard "Gold card" with an $80 annual fee and it paid for itself in 2.5 months after expensing things for my company (hotels, fuel, meals etc).\n\nAnother one of my old bosses had the highest tier AmEx card you could get and pretty much was able to fly his family to and from any vacation spot in the world for free with all of the points that he got on the card yearly."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Two reasons. \n\nThe first is that when you pay with a debit card the funds immediately leave your account. By charging everything I use all month long I am essentially getting an interest free loan for my living expenses. Meanwhile my money is earning the pitiful excuse for interest that banks pay these days.\n\nThe second is that the not only is the loan interest free but they also pay me for using their money to buy groceries or gas or food. I am going to buy groceries, gas or food anyway not like I am going out of my way to earn the rebate. So when I get 1% back on everything and an additional 4% back on certain purchases why wouldn't I use my credit card? This is free money, last year I cashed in $700 worth of rebates checks or direct deposits.\n\nMind you, $700 isn't going to change anything in my life. But free money is free money."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Using a credit card has benefits for the purchaser, but is detrimental for the seller. They pay a fee on the transaction so if you're at all concerned with the seller's success use cash/debit (i.e. Friend/family's store, small business, etc)"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." Dr-Rocket (Dr-Rocket): "I will add that this is all true *as an individual*. The problem is that the more people use credit cards, the price of goods goes up greater than the payback you get. \n\nThat is, stores must pay the credit card company for the use of the card, and are either barred by contract or law (lobbied by credit card companies) from charging the individual for the use of the card; they have to include it in overhead costs of doing business.\n\nAs an example, suppose the credit card company charges the store owner 3% for each purchase. If you are the only person using a credit card and you spend $100 per month in that store, the store needs to pay $3 per month to the credit card company. If the store sells $100,000 worth of goods each month, they can just raise the price of everything by 0.003%, which is negligible. Essentially, all of the other customers pays for your credit card use (as do you) by a very small amount. And the credit card company give you back 1%, which is $1 in this case, and keeps the other 2% ($2).\n\nNow as more people catch on to this, more use credit cards. If everybody uses credit cards, and the store still pays 3% to the credit card company for each use, now they owe $3000 per month for the $100,000 in sales (all using credit cards), which means they raise their price of goods by 3%. And everybody gets their 1% back, so everybody is now paying 2% more and thinking they are getting a deal of 1% back. \n\nThe reality is that it will be somewhere between these two cases of 0.003% and 3%. Some will use credit cards but not everybody. If 1/3rd of sales use credit cards, prices rise 1% and you break even if you use the cards. If greater than 1/3rd, you are losing money; if less you are making money.\n\nIronically, it's the people who don't use the cards that pay the mark-up but don't get it back as rewards that make the credit card company their money. Sadly, the people who don't qualify for the cards, or the better rewards cards, are the poor. That is, the poor tend to pay slightly higher retail costs, part which goes to the rewards of the richer card users, and part which goes to the credit card company revenues.\n\nHowever, there is never a point where you, as an individual, are better off not using the card. If everybody else is using it and you don't, you are paying the inflated prices but not getting the 1% back so are worse of than if you used the card and got 1 back. If you use it you have have a small punishment of 2% loss. If you don't use it you have a larger punishment of paying 3% loss from markup. \n\nIf nobody else is using it and you don't use it, you break even with $0 net. If you do use it, you have a net reward of 0.997% (1% reward - 0.003% markup in price).\n\nThis is an example of a financial Prisoner's Dilemma. The only way to get rid of it is by legislating it to be an illegal practice, perhaps forcing stores to charge the credit card users directly for the costs of using credit cards.\n\nThere are other values to credit cards though, like fraud coverage and credit score, but that doesn't really change the description above; that just gives individuals potential reasons to use the card even if they had to pay for it's use directly at the checkout. \n" Jupiters (Jupiters): "this is a fantastic analysis. Thank you"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." Dr-Rocket (Dr-Rocket): "I will add that this is all true *as an individual*. The problem is that the more people use credit cards, the price of goods goes up greater than the payback you get. \n\nThat is, stores must pay the credit card company for the use of the card, and are either barred by contract or law (lobbied by credit card companies) from charging the individual for the use of the card; they have to include it in overhead costs of doing business.\n\nAs an example, suppose the credit card company charges the store owner 3% for each purchase. If you are the only person using a credit card and you spend $100 per month in that store, the store needs to pay $3 per month to the credit card company. If the store sells $100,000 worth of goods each month, they can just raise the price of everything by 0.003%, which is negligible. Essentially, all of the other customers pays for your credit card use (as do you) by a very small amount. And the credit card company give you back 1%, which is $1 in this case, and keeps the other 2% ($2).\n\nNow as more people catch on to this, more use credit cards. If everybody uses credit cards, and the store still pays 3% to the credit card company for each use, now they owe $3000 per month for the $100,000 in sales (all using credit cards), which means they raise their price of goods by 3%. And everybody gets their 1% back, so everybody is now paying 2% more and thinking they are getting a deal of 1% back. \n\nThe reality is that it will be somewhere between these two cases of 0.003% and 3%. Some will use credit cards but not everybody. If 1/3rd of sales use credit cards, prices rise 1% and you break even if you use the cards. If greater than 1/3rd, you are losing money; if less you are making money.\n\nIronically, it's the people who don't use the cards that pay the mark-up but don't get it back as rewards that make the credit card company their money. Sadly, the people who don't qualify for the cards, or the better rewards cards, are the poor. That is, the poor tend to pay slightly higher retail costs, part which goes to the rewards of the richer card users, and part which goes to the credit card company revenues.\n\nHowever, there is never a point where you, as an individual, are better off not using the card. If everybody else is using it and you don't, you are paying the inflated prices but not getting the 1% back so are worse of than if you used the card and got 1 back. If you use it you have have a small punishment of 2% loss. If you don't use it you have a larger punishment of paying 3% loss from markup. \n\nIf nobody else is using it and you don't use it, you break even with $0 net. If you do use it, you have a net reward of 0.997% (1% reward - 0.003% markup in price).\n\nThis is an example of a financial Prisoner's Dilemma. The only way to get rid of it is by legislating it to be an illegal practice, perhaps forcing stores to charge the credit card users directly for the costs of using credit cards.\n\nThere are other values to credit cards though, like fraud coverage and credit score, but that doesn't really change the description above; that just gives individuals potential reasons to use the card even if they had to pay for it's use directly at the checkout. \n" kataxist (kataxist): "This only covers credit cards and assumes cash is perfect though. \n\nThere's also two additional cases off the top of my head. \n\n1. people are likely to spend more depending on payment method: http://www.cultofmac.com/455124/apple-pay-drives-vending-machine-spending-roof/ . In this example, a 135% increase in spending can easily cover the sales of 3% fee. \n\n2. Cash arrives from consumer to bank perfectly. I've heard so many nightmare stories. managers taking the cash register to the casino etc and then yelling at employees for mishandling money. Its a significant loss to the business. (There's also tax evasion opportunities with cash but thats not technically legal...)\n"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." kittens_and_cupcakes (kittens_and_cupcakes): "I find that credit card fees are more common than debit card fees. I wonder if it cancels out the rewards." J22Jordan (J22Jordan): "There are MANY credit cards with no annual fee. The ones that do have annual fees, even in the hundreds of dollars can still be hugely beneficial if you are able to use them correctly (spend lots of money, sometimes in specific categories). There is an entire cottage industry dedicated to maximizing credit card reward points. thepointsguy.com is one that comes to mind, but there are many if you look around." kittens_and_cupcakes (kittens_and_cupcakes): "I meant when making purchases, like the cheapest gas station by my house charges an extra 10 cents per gallon when paying with credit card." J22Jordan (J22Jordan): "Oh, my bad. I (obviously) didn't get that. That's crazy though. I've seen some places do that, but usually it's like really small businesses like corner stores and craft shops. Where do you live, btw?" kittens_and_cupcakes (kittens_and_cupcakes): "Fresno, CA, USA. I've noticed that some of my favorite restaurants charge for credit and not for debit. Idk. " kataxist (kataxist): "Some locations have got it into the local law that gas stations can charge 10cents less per gallon back when gas was super pricey. There are a couple of credit cards that give between 3-4% cash back at a gas station though so it more or less offsets the 10 cents if gas is at $3/gallon. Otherwise visa/mc/etc typically dont allow you to publish different prices. \n\nSame goes for restaurants :\ citi costco visa is a great (costco membership annual fee) way to get 4% gas and 3% dining though. \n\n"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "3% cash back on groceries by using an AMEX Blue Cash Everyday card instead of zero cash back by using my bank's debit card.\n\nHey, it's only 3%, but it's 3% on all groceries. Even alcohol. I've had my card for around 6 months and I've already gotten $64 and change in cash back, which isn't a lot, but it's cash back for doing nothing more than using an AMEX Blue card to pay for groceries & then paying off the card each month. And since I do pay the card off completely every month (twice monthly, actually, out of habit), I never pay any interest or fees.\n\nSamuel L. Jackson brags about 1.5% cash back? I'll tell HIM what's in my wallet! A card that gets me 2% back on all purchases with no annual fee, and another than gets me 3% back on groceries with no annual fee." kataxist (kataxist): "btw. you can buy gift cards for things at the grocery store. they should still be categorized as groceries. ie. itunes/google/bbuy\n\n"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "since nobody said it, resistance to skimming. \n\nIf your debit gets skimmed then you're screwed, its your money that's gone. If your cc gets skimmed you dispute the charges, get new cards and that's that." Golpar (Golpar): "That is false. If your debit card has a visa or mastercard logo, you get the exact same protections as a credit card, which include $0 fraud liability"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Reddit apparently thinks that most people are capable of using a credit card and paying off the balance in full at the end of the month. There are few people who can and actually do this. The point of a credit card is to be loaned money and paid back with interest. Other perks such as cash back and frequent flyer miles etc are gimmicks to get you to apply for a credit card. If you have a decent credit history, the just use cash. Because what happens is that $200 purchase becomes "well I'll pay 50 on it this month and so on". How many people in this subreddit have CC debt? That'll answer your question. " User (bka510): "This is a very good point. The majority of comments in this thread assume that people pay off their CC monthly, otherwise, you're paying interest. I've read through all comments thus far and i'm sure your the first to say to use cash. Cash is KING!"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Number 1 reason, lots of people are broke and enjoy things they can't afford and so use credit cards. Read this sub and you see the appaling amount of near sighted financial decisions young folks make. People don't consider credit cards to be "their" money, and then get shocked when the bill comes in, and start drowning in high interest debt\n\nAmoung responsible users, most cc's have some sirt if rewards program that they can use, there's a sub for it but I forget the name" User (bka510): "r/churning i believe. someone mentioned it in this thread"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." emt139 (emt139): "This is a very good summary. I'll just add that some cards offer some extra benefits like doubling the warranties of the products you buy with them, doing price protection by refunding you when whatever you got has it's price lowered, have secondary and sometimes even primary rental car insurance, and finally, they give you some extra days to pay. For example, I got a new card in late October and my due date to pay is December 5th. Has I brought with cash, it would be out of my account now but they're basically giving me a very short interest free period. " seeringeyeball (seeringeyeball): "You got to know the terms of price protection though. I called Discover about a price reduction and found the item didn't qualify because it had a removable lithium battery. Their price protection basically covers TV's, appliances, furniture and computers. That's close to all. That drone you bought for the kids, is a no go. " dickbuttluvr (dickbuttluvr): "Jealous of you americans we dont get that shit here :/" gmdavestevens (gmdavestevens): "What country do you like in where they don't let you have kids? " dickbuttluvr (dickbuttluvr): "lol price reduction not kids!"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "All prices in the US are ~2% more because this is the fee for using a credit service at the till. They don't offer discounts for debit, so if you're not getting cash back, you're essentially paying a minimum 2% more for everything." Downvotes-All-Memes (Downvotes-All-Memes): "Woah I was surprised no one mentioned this tidbit, and I'm surprised you got down voted because it's true." subject193 (subject193): "It's not really a reason to use debit though" Downvotes-All-Memes (Downvotes-All-Memes): "Duh? No one said that." subject193 (subject193): "It was barely relevant, which explains the downvotes" Downvotes-All-Memes (Downvotes-All-Memes): "I think it's super relevant to point out that the credit providers are a business and it costs businesses money to utilize those little machines that swipe your card. That cost is built into their prices, whether you pay with cash or credit. It is not efficient to *not* use a credit card that pays you rewards. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "I'm not sure if someone said this here, but specifically at gas stations, they typically place a $50 hold if you use a debit card. Not for credit card. So if you're driving across the country and fill up every time you have half a tank, it might cost you (temporarily), say, $750 for $200 of gas. Then there are hotel holds as well, and you're going to have a ton of cash held hostage.\n\nI suppose you could hit an ATM, have a small amount held hostage (ATM fees), and go inside and pay cash every time. But if you're traveling, you'd still need a card to put down at hotels." Golpar (Golpar): "Holds drop off after a day. And I don't think the scenarii of falks driving cross country and filling up every half tank is quite worth worrying about. " Self: "It often takes a few days. It's not an everyday thing to worry about, but it is a situation I've encountered. Even if I only need one tank of gas, I still prefer not to use debit card and tie up an extra $30ish for a while."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "None of these comments factor in that you generally spend 12-18% more using credit card than when you use cash (and a slightly small savings when using debit). All the mostly invalid reasons, but some valid, don't make up for those savings. Use cash." User (bka510): "cash is KING!"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If your credit card is compromised, somebody has stolen **Visa's** money. They will work very hard to fix the problem to the best of their ability. If your debit card is compromised, somebody has stolen your money, and the Bank will work as slowly as possible to get **your** money back. " godlyhalo (godlyhalo): "I had to file a charge back on my debit card because a hotel I stayed at fraudulently charged my debit card for 3 separate $10 charges one month after I had checked out of the hotel. It took chase literally one business day to get me my money back, and 1 month to get a new debit card. Getting my money back wasn't an issue, getting a new debit card though was just terrible experience." jt121 (jt121): "My credit union charges $15 for a debit card transaction dispute, and that's even if you are found in the right." gratua (gratua): "At a /credit union/? Sounds like you're with the wrong establishment. CUs are supposed to be awesome. The one I've had I've kept for years. They're great " jt121 (jt121): "Honestly, that is the ONLY fee that is higher than the regional bank I was previously with. I agree, it's odd, but that's only a small reason as to why I don't use their debit card." gratua (gratua): "Huh. Alright. Interesting. Funny that it's still so eau top be better than a bank's services tho hahaha"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Short answer. Its easier to undo the charges (whether on purpose/fraud) \n\nNot the only way to protect yourself. Purchasing via a online payment system like paypal, amazon payments also afford you a bit more protection against fraud. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "A little late but wanted to add something I didn't see.\n\nWhen you use a card at some places like a hotel they take an authorization. This is usually the entire estimated charges plus a little extra so it could be more than you expected. It's no problem for credit cards but if you use a debit card it will tie up your funds. This authorization will be dropped when you're done, but can take up to a week to see it back in your bank. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Disputing unauthorized charges is much easier as has been said already. I think they respond to security concerns a lot faster since it's their money on the line. \n\nThe heaviest benefit (for us) are the perks, such as:\nAdditional year warranty\nDamage protection of small devices, like cell phones, iPads, etc. \nFree Travel insurance when tickets purchased with card\nMassive travel points earned under promotion or with usage (we have earned approx 6 round trip tickets to Europe in a year between two cards). Don't be tempted to spend just to earn those points. \nDelayed or damaged luggage insurance\nTravel delay reimbursement/insurance\nAirport lounge access. Small but nice perk especially for long flights in economy class. \nConcierge services\nSome cards offer a dollar amount towards a specific category like travel - this can include parking. Great if you have a monthly parking fee at home or work. \nAlso - shopping that offers anywhere from 2-8x points for every dollar spent at specific retailers if you shop through your cc account. Whereas if you buy in store or through the retailers websites, it's only 1 point. \nTravel accident insurance\nEmergency Health benefits while away\nCar rental perks. No need to buy additional insurance. It's included. \nTSA precheck fee credit\n\nThere's probably more. These just come to mind. \n"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." DannyBlind (DannyBlind): "I dont know if you have any experiece with europe and credit cards but does that apply there aswell?\n\nI need to build up my credit since im 22." Frostleban (Frostleban): "Europe is completely different. \nFraud prevention on credit cards is waaay worse. \nThere is no benefit program. \nYou have the chance of paying interest, while a debit card (with a no-red option enabled) will never let you pay interest. \nCredit card score is not useful and never used for loans. They look at your income, employment time, spouse etcetera to see if you qualify for a certain loan. They don't check if you have paid groceries on time in the past 10 years, they check if you are reasonably able to pay off a debt with your current or predicted income. \n"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." Quadzah (Quadzah): "Just thinking logically about the fraud point.. Doesn't that mean I want the guy pretending to be me to use my credit card? " echonov (echonov): "As opposed to your debit card? I mean, yeah. Obviously no one wants to be defrauded, but if someone's going to use your card, it's better if it's your credit card."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Another benefit (on top of the others here) is as emergency money. There are other ways to do this, but a credit card's very convenient for it. If you ended up stranded in some other city, say, and needed a cab ride or a new plane ticket or something, you wouldn't have to worry about whether you have cash on hand or even whether the money's in your bank account at that moment (for debit). You just swipe and go and figure it all out later.\n\nOf course, everything people are saying here assumes you're in the US. Credit cards in other countries often lack a lot of these features." falco_iii (falco_iii): "I see what your saying and its good in certain emergency situations, but it could also be interpreted as credit cards are good at helping you spend money you don't have. \n" Zargabraath (Zargabraath): "Always better to have the option than to have no options."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "There is only one reason to use a debit card, and it's not even a great reason, and it's the inability to self limit your spending. If you can limit your spending there is no benefit to a debit card. Hell, I bet some credit cards allow you to impose a limit, but I'm not certain about that. The reasons a credit card are better are security, rewards, and building credit. The people that tell you credit cards are the devil have probably buried themselves in debt and have a fear of ever going there again." Matope (Matope): "That's the only reason from the perspective of someone with plenty of available credit. You could also need to be spending more money than your available credit if you're young and have income but no credit history. A new card with a $500 limit isn't always going to be enough." yeah87 (yeah87): "Just pay off your credit card when you're close to your limit and it resets it. You don't have to wait the whole month." huebomont (huebomont): "Unless you need to buy something over $500 or you need it to reset immediately and can't wait for the payment to post."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." Soti892 (Soti892): "Just curious, if I were to use the USAA card on gas only, does it have to be on base or can it just be any gas station?" Self: "From what I can see it's any gas. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." Zargabraath (Zargabraath): "2% cashback on everything sounds like easily the best card out of those you described. how much is the annual fee? I've never found a card with 2% on everything and no limit" Self: "No fee on the double cash. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If your credit card is compromised, somebody has stolen **Visa's** money. They will work very hard to fix the problem to the best of their ability. If your debit card is compromised, somebody has stolen your money, and the Bank will work as slowly as possible to get **your** money back. " Cpcr1203 (Cpcr1203): "My bank, PNC, will shut down my card and call me immediately if they think my card is being fraudulently used. For example, my husband and I were purchasing a bed for around $1400 at a local store. Because I put my debit card into the chip slot before the girl clicked credit, she had to re-enter that I was using debit so I could slide it first. I slid it, and it was declined. I had enough in my checking account to pay for it many times over, so that wasn't the issue. All of a sudden, my phone is ringing from an 1-800 number. I answer and it's PNC verifying that I was at the store trying to purchase the item. I said yes, verified my last purchase made, and was good to do. They are awesome when it comes to fraud. " tintin47 (tintin47): "That's nice, but credit cards do that also and don't expose you to any risk at all, in addition to having the other benefits like price protection and rewards points." Cpcr1203 (Cpcr1203): "You have a valid point. I use my Discover with 5% cash back and pay off the balance every payday for everyday things or whatever the 5% promo is for. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." starwish68 (starwish68): "Hi not OP but just a quick question. You say there is no cost to using your credit card responsibly, but doesn't using your credit card frequently negatively affect your credit score? " dc4894 (dc4894): "Running up your balance greater than 30% of your credit limit can negatively affect your credit score, but using your cards regularly and paying them offv every month will absolutely help increase your score" caseyjonesforever (caseyjonesforever): "Is it better to pay it off at the end of each month, or is it ok to pay it off sooner? I don't like letting the balance sit there. " dc4894 (dc4894): "If you pay before the end of your statement period, the balance probably won't be reported, and your credit report will reflect that (negatively)." caseyjonesforever (caseyjonesforever): "Good to know! Thanks!"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." gvnatrc0 (gvnatrc0): "To add to this, even though it's pretty obvious i still think it's important to mention.\nyou should generally try to stick to using either your debit card only or your credit card only for all of your purchases. you cannot spend out of both every month because then you would have no money to pay your credit card off with. " dweed4 (dweed4): "Where in the world do you get the logic for this statement?" gvnatrc0 (gvnatrc0): "um from my bank and financial planners? if you spend from both you won't have enough to pay off your credit card and save. how does this not make sense?" dweed4 (dweed4): "Um you dont spend twice as much as you bring in a month.. You can use both debit and credit cards. Budgetting doesnt change based on which one you use."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." emt139 (emt139): "This is a very good summary. I'll just add that some cards offer some extra benefits like doubling the warranties of the products you buy with them, doing price protection by refunding you when whatever you got has it's price lowered, have secondary and sometimes even primary rental car insurance, and finally, they give you some extra days to pay. For example, I got a new card in late October and my due date to pay is December 5th. Has I brought with cash, it would be out of my account now but they're basically giving me a very short interest free period. " User (bka510): "I think AmEx is the one that doubles warranty? I'll look into it!" Posimagi (Posimagi): "All four major US card networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) offer extended warranties on purchases made with them, although the specifics and claim processes differ somewhat. As a result of it being network-based, rather than issuer-based, it also applies (almost) regardless of which bank you use." ilikzfoodz (ilikzfoodz): "Huh, really? Where can I find details about Visa?" Posimagi (Posimagi): "https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/card-benefits.html#collapse12\n\nIf your card is Visa Signature, it's always active. If it's Visa Platinum (i.e. your card just says "Visa"), it's up to your bank, but most include it. The definitive source of truth is the benefits guide that came with your card. You can also search for those guides online."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "The minor reason is that Credit Cards usually have rewards on them for those activities.\n\nThe real reason: the law protects credit card usage, with respect to a consumer, to a greater degree. When you notice a fraudulent charge on your credit card statement, you inform the company/bank, and they reverse the charge because under TILA you can't be liable for unauthorized usage, beyond $50, if you report the unauthorized usage in a timely fashion.\n\nHowever, a Debit Card is an Electronic Fund Transfer, convered by the ETFA, which does not protect consumers to the same degree. If you don't notice the money is missing within 2 days (not 2 days of your statement, literally two days of the transaction) your liability jumps up.\n\nSo say someone fraudulently purchases something for $300 on your credit card and debit card. You notice this 5 days after the purchase.\n\nOn your credit card your maximum liability is capped at $50, i.e., the credit card company can at most demand 50$ from you (most waive this in the contract you sign because it's not worth it). \n\nOn your debit card your maximum liability, had you noticed it within 2 days was also $50, but because you didn't it's $500. The bank is under no obligation to do anything.\n\nThat is why you shouldn't use a debit card." Golpar (Golpar): "This is false. Visa and MC association debit cards (and I've never seen a debit card not one of thise) have the identical protections as their credit cards, which includes $0 fraud liability" Self: "Under the ETFA and TILA your liability is capped at 50$, which I pointed out they can waive. However, after 2 days under the ETFA they have no obligation to help you if it is under $500. You can choose to believe that isn't true, but it's literally the law."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." ICanSeeItAllSoClear (ICanSeeItAllSoClear): "> Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr\n\nTo add to this one: you can buy gift cards to places like Amazon, Home Depot, various restaurants, etc. and it will count as a grocery store purchase, so you can maximize the $6,000 / yr. Which helps offset the annual fee. Even ignoring that, spending anything over $2375 at said grocery stores will help the Amex Blue Cash 6% + $95 annual outpace the Citi DoubleCash 2% no annual."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." Dr-Rocket (Dr-Rocket): "I will add that this is all true *as an individual*. The problem is that the more people use credit cards, the price of goods goes up greater than the payback you get. \n\nThat is, stores must pay the credit card company for the use of the card, and are either barred by contract or law (lobbied by credit card companies) from charging the individual for the use of the card; they have to include it in overhead costs of doing business.\n\nAs an example, suppose the credit card company charges the store owner 3% for each purchase. If you are the only person using a credit card and you spend $100 per month in that store, the store needs to pay $3 per month to the credit card company. If the store sells $100,000 worth of goods each month, they can just raise the price of everything by 0.003%, which is negligible. Essentially, all of the other customers pays for your credit card use (as do you) by a very small amount. And the credit card company give you back 1%, which is $1 in this case, and keeps the other 2% ($2).\n\nNow as more people catch on to this, more use credit cards. If everybody uses credit cards, and the store still pays 3% to the credit card company for each use, now they owe $3000 per month for the $100,000 in sales (all using credit cards), which means they raise their price of goods by 3%. And everybody gets their 1% back, so everybody is now paying 2% more and thinking they are getting a deal of 1% back. \n\nThe reality is that it will be somewhere between these two cases of 0.003% and 3%. Some will use credit cards but not everybody. If 1/3rd of sales use credit cards, prices rise 1% and you break even if you use the cards. If greater than 1/3rd, you are losing money; if less you are making money.\n\nIronically, it's the people who don't use the cards that pay the mark-up but don't get it back as rewards that make the credit card company their money. Sadly, the people who don't qualify for the cards, or the better rewards cards, are the poor. That is, the poor tend to pay slightly higher retail costs, part which goes to the rewards of the richer card users, and part which goes to the credit card company revenues.\n\nHowever, there is never a point where you, as an individual, are better off not using the card. If everybody else is using it and you don't, you are paying the inflated prices but not getting the 1% back so are worse of than if you used the card and got 1 back. If you use it you have have a small punishment of 2% loss. If you don't use it you have a larger punishment of paying 3% loss from markup. \n\nIf nobody else is using it and you don't use it, you break even with $0 net. If you do use it, you have a net reward of 0.997% (1% reward - 0.003% markup in price).\n\nThis is an example of a financial Prisoner's Dilemma. The only way to get rid of it is by legislating it to be an illegal practice, perhaps forcing stores to charge the credit card users directly for the costs of using credit cards.\n\nThere are other values to credit cards though, like fraud coverage and credit score, but that doesn't really change the description above; that just gives individuals potential reasons to use the card even if they had to pay for it's use directly at the checkout. \n" wijwijwij (wijwijwij): "So basically I'm a chump if I don't use rewards credit cards because I don't want merchants to have to pay fees that lead to higher costs for consumers. Even though if my behavior were adopted by everyone, consumers would be better off. :-(" redditlady999 (redditlady999): "Don't people use credit cards so that they can prove they can handle paying things on time (and show this with a good credit rating)? This is the one reason I want my kids to have credit cards now that they are young adults." wijwijwij (wijwijwij): "Oh, I certainly use a credit card for this purpose. But I don't have a reward credit card and I don't pay for everything using a credit card to rack up rewards. Apparently I'm leaving money on the table."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." Dr-Rocket (Dr-Rocket): "I will add that this is all true *as an individual*. The problem is that the more people use credit cards, the price of goods goes up greater than the payback you get. \n\nThat is, stores must pay the credit card company for the use of the card, and are either barred by contract or law (lobbied by credit card companies) from charging the individual for the use of the card; they have to include it in overhead costs of doing business.\n\nAs an example, suppose the credit card company charges the store owner 3% for each purchase. If you are the only person using a credit card and you spend $100 per month in that store, the store needs to pay $3 per month to the credit card company. If the store sells $100,000 worth of goods each month, they can just raise the price of everything by 0.003%, which is negligible. Essentially, all of the other customers pays for your credit card use (as do you) by a very small amount. And the credit card company give you back 1%, which is $1 in this case, and keeps the other 2% ($2).\n\nNow as more people catch on to this, more use credit cards. If everybody uses credit cards, and the store still pays 3% to the credit card company for each use, now they owe $3000 per month for the $100,000 in sales (all using credit cards), which means they raise their price of goods by 3%. And everybody gets their 1% back, so everybody is now paying 2% more and thinking they are getting a deal of 1% back. \n\nThe reality is that it will be somewhere between these two cases of 0.003% and 3%. Some will use credit cards but not everybody. If 1/3rd of sales use credit cards, prices rise 1% and you break even if you use the cards. If greater than 1/3rd, you are losing money; if less you are making money.\n\nIronically, it's the people who don't use the cards that pay the mark-up but don't get it back as rewards that make the credit card company their money. Sadly, the people who don't qualify for the cards, or the better rewards cards, are the poor. That is, the poor tend to pay slightly higher retail costs, part which goes to the rewards of the richer card users, and part which goes to the credit card company revenues.\n\nHowever, there is never a point where you, as an individual, are better off not using the card. If everybody else is using it and you don't, you are paying the inflated prices but not getting the 1% back so are worse of than if you used the card and got 1 back. If you use it you have have a small punishment of 2% loss. If you don't use it you have a larger punishment of paying 3% loss from markup. \n\nIf nobody else is using it and you don't use it, you break even with $0 net. If you do use it, you have a net reward of 0.997% (1% reward - 0.003% markup in price).\n\nThis is an example of a financial Prisoner's Dilemma. The only way to get rid of it is by legislating it to be an illegal practice, perhaps forcing stores to charge the credit card users directly for the costs of using credit cards.\n\nThere are other values to credit cards though, like fraud coverage and credit score, but that doesn't really change the description above; that just gives individuals potential reasons to use the card even if they had to pay for it's use directly at the checkout. \n" wijwijwij (wijwijwij): "So basically I'm a chump if I don't use rewards credit cards because I don't want merchants to have to pay fees that lead to higher costs for consumers. Even though if my behavior were adopted by everyone, consumers would be better off. :-(" Zargabraath (Zargabraath): "yep. you pay the fees anyway so you might as well use a card and get the benefits" wijwijwij (wijwijwij): "My point, and I think the point u/dr-rocket was making, is that this discourages people from behaving in ways that would ultimately reduce consumer costs. The "prisoner's dilemma" here being that acting in our "self-interest" (i.e. getting the credit card rewards) ultimately ends up making everyone worse off (because merchants pass along fees to consumers). The "cooperation" needed to kill this vicious cycle would be to ask everyone to *not* get credit card rewards, but self-interest wins out." Zargabraath (Zargabraath): "You could apply that to just about every industry there is, though. any consumer could take a number of measures that are against that own consumer's self interest but could benefit consumers in that area as a whole\n\nultimately though it's foolish to expect any entity, whether producer or consumer to not act in its own self interest. it's not selfish, it's simply prudent.\n\n"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." Dr-Rocket (Dr-Rocket): "I will add that this is all true *as an individual*. The problem is that the more people use credit cards, the price of goods goes up greater than the payback you get. \n\nThat is, stores must pay the credit card company for the use of the card, and are either barred by contract or law (lobbied by credit card companies) from charging the individual for the use of the card; they have to include it in overhead costs of doing business.\n\nAs an example, suppose the credit card company charges the store owner 3% for each purchase. If you are the only person using a credit card and you spend $100 per month in that store, the store needs to pay $3 per month to the credit card company. If the store sells $100,000 worth of goods each month, they can just raise the price of everything by 0.003%, which is negligible. Essentially, all of the other customers pays for your credit card use (as do you) by a very small amount. And the credit card company give you back 1%, which is $1 in this case, and keeps the other 2% ($2).\n\nNow as more people catch on to this, more use credit cards. If everybody uses credit cards, and the store still pays 3% to the credit card company for each use, now they owe $3000 per month for the $100,000 in sales (all using credit cards), which means they raise their price of goods by 3%. And everybody gets their 1% back, so everybody is now paying 2% more and thinking they are getting a deal of 1% back. \n\nThe reality is that it will be somewhere between these two cases of 0.003% and 3%. Some will use credit cards but not everybody. If 1/3rd of sales use credit cards, prices rise 1% and you break even if you use the cards. If greater than 1/3rd, you are losing money; if less you are making money.\n\nIronically, it's the people who don't use the cards that pay the mark-up but don't get it back as rewards that make the credit card company their money. Sadly, the people who don't qualify for the cards, or the better rewards cards, are the poor. That is, the poor tend to pay slightly higher retail costs, part which goes to the rewards of the richer card users, and part which goes to the credit card company revenues.\n\nHowever, there is never a point where you, as an individual, are better off not using the card. If everybody else is using it and you don't, you are paying the inflated prices but not getting the 1% back so are worse of than if you used the card and got 1 back. If you use it you have have a small punishment of 2% loss. If you don't use it you have a larger punishment of paying 3% loss from markup. \n\nIf nobody else is using it and you don't use it, you break even with $0 net. If you do use it, you have a net reward of 0.997% (1% reward - 0.003% markup in price).\n\nThis is an example of a financial Prisoner's Dilemma. The only way to get rid of it is by legislating it to be an illegal practice, perhaps forcing stores to charge the credit card users directly for the costs of using credit cards.\n\nThere are other values to credit cards though, like fraud coverage and credit score, but that doesn't really change the description above; that just gives individuals potential reasons to use the card even if they had to pay for it's use directly at the checkout. \n" wijwijwij (wijwijwij): "So basically I'm a chump if I don't use rewards credit cards because I don't want merchants to have to pay fees that lead to higher costs for consumers. Even though if my behavior were adopted by everyone, consumers would be better off. :-(" Zargabraath (Zargabraath): "yep. you pay the fees anyway so you might as well use a card and get the benefits" wijwijwij (wijwijwij): "My point, and I think the point u/dr-rocket was making, is that this discourages people from behaving in ways that would ultimately reduce consumer costs. The "prisoner's dilemma" here being that acting in our "self-interest" (i.e. getting the credit card rewards) ultimately ends up making everyone worse off (because merchants pass along fees to consumers). The "cooperation" needed to kill this vicious cycle would be to ask everyone to *not* get credit card rewards, but self-interest wins out." SuperSalsa (SuperSalsa): "1. I honestly can't see major retailers removing the baked-in credit card charge, even if most consumers switched to cash or debit. Companies like making more money, and everyone's already used to paying the markup. Hell, how many people even *realize* they're paying for it? \n1. Minor retailers/small businesses might change, but many of those already have cash/debit discounts. (Which are skirting the card processor agreements, but they get away with it as long as no one reports them)\n\nBasically I think we're way past the point in the cycle where it'd even be *possible* to return to 'normal'. Even if we ignore that everyone involved has a vested interest in the credit card cycle continuing(consumers because we get rewards & better protections, retailers because cards make people spend more, and card processors because they make money from the cards existing at all), the price-hike genie's not going back in the bottle." wijwijwij (wijwijwij): "I agree. My not using reward credit cards for Kantian categorical imperative reasons is about as effective as Don Quixote tilting at a windmill."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If you have $1000 in your debit account and you pay at a bank, the bank somehow screws up the payment, and then you suddenly end up with a -$2400 with a $24 purchase of gas. This will mostly inconvenience you because now you have no money to pay for anything.\n\nThe same goes for any sort of fraud; it immediately puts you and your hard earned money at risk. It's up to the bank to decide whether or not to give you your money.\n\nWith a credit card you not only shift that liability to another entity, but it's to another entity with great fraud protection that doesn't immediately effect your hard earned cash.\n\nAnother added benefit are the programs that give you cash back points, etc. Most places give at least 1% of what you spend.\n\nIf you spend $1,000,000 in your life time and use a credit card instead of a debit card you will save $10,000. That's MINIMUM. Places offer 2% (would be 20,000). If you got the right cards you could average probably 3% ($30,000). This does not take into account getting something other than cash back. Some points programs you can get 1.5c or almost 2c per point. \n\nAll you need to do is ALWAYS pay off your card in full every month and you're golden." Jordaneer (Jordaneer): ">If you have $1000 in your debit account and you pay at a bank, the bank somehow screws up the payment, and then you suddenly end up with a -$2400 with a $24 purchase of gas. This will mostly inconvenience you because now you have no money to pay for anything.\n\n3 questions.\n\nDo you speak from experience?\n\nStory time?\n\nHow the hell does that happen?" ICanSeeItAllSoClear (ICanSeeItAllSoClear): "Not as common at a bank, where it's automatic, but many places the vendor will key in the payment amount. It's not impossible to be off by a decimal place. I must have put a decimal point in the wrong place or something. Shit! I always do that. I always mess up some mundane detail."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." emt139 (emt139): "This is a very good summary. I'll just add that some cards offer some extra benefits like doubling the warranties of the products you buy with them, doing price protection by refunding you when whatever you got has it's price lowered, have secondary and sometimes even primary rental car insurance, and finally, they give you some extra days to pay. For example, I got a new card in late October and my due date to pay is December 5th. Has I brought with cash, it would be out of my account now but they're basically giving me a very short interest free period. " ciabattabing16 (ciabattabing16): "Expanding further, purchase protection is fairly common. Bought a new phone on Amazon... promptly walked it into the ocean. For reasons unknown, my credit card covered this act of raging stupidity and I replaced the phone cost. " groovyfinch (groovyfinch): "Someone who takes action without considering the consequences is the ideal credit card customer. " ciabattabing16 (ciabattabing16): "I put it in my suit pocket...saying out loud 'I shouldn't do this, but what are the odds I'll forget it?' Literally 20 minutes later, like an Alzheimer's patient, wandered into the ocean for a good ten mins. Came back out...I'm gonna read for awhile...let's get my phone out....oh...wait..." Going_Live (Going_Live): "You....wore a suit into the ocean....? " iamfoshizzle (iamfoshizzle): "I'm guessing swimsuit.\n\nBut a full three piece suit would be so much cooler, something the Most Interesting Man in the World would do."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." BaketownFF (BaketownFF): "Using credit can cost you something beyond interest and fees. BUT, so can debit. Your statement made me think of the study that this article cites, an interesting read.\n\nhttps://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/credit-cards-make-you-spend-more/" Zargabraath (Zargabraath): "it seems self evident to me, cards make it so much more convenient to spend money of course it'd result in more spending\n\nit's like if you had an electric car with infinite range you never needed to charge, it'd make driving much more convenient so chances are you'd drive more" BaketownFF (BaketownFF): "Yeah I mean, I'm not surprised people find it easier to spend, but what surprised me was the increase in spending per transaction because you're not activating the pain censors in your brain by forking over cash. I believe they found a 12-18% increase in spending per transaction, which far outweighs the few % people get back on cards. Obviously there are some things that are what they are, like utility bills and so on."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "None of these comments factor in that you generally spend 12-18% more using credit card than when you use cash (and a slightly small savings when using debit). All the mostly invalid reasons, but some valid, don't make up for those savings. Use cash." gurney__halleck (gurney__halleck): "This logic isn't correct when being applied to an individual. Sure in aggregate that statistic is valid. But for someone who has self control and is logical it has no bearing. My spending habits do not vary if I use cash, debit or credit so it would be really unwise to use this statistic to base any decision I make on. " Self: "This applies to the way the human mind operates and is developed, and CERTAINLY applies to the disciplined. This is in multiple studies.\n\n\nIt would be unwise to not at least question if you're wrong read the studies, the practice it honestly as a test even maybe something as simple as a food budget only for 2 months. I know this because I'm not only heavily disciplined, but spoke and thought EXACTLY as you just did on the subject until I promised someone I highly respected to try it. I was wrong. And your assumption is wrong."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "I used chase sapphire card to get travel mileage. Last month I had enough point to buy a $650 worth of plan ticket to Japan. What I do every week is I check my credit card account and pay it off right away. It's a same thing as using debit card, but with a benefit of travel points. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." Dr-Rocket (Dr-Rocket): "I will add that this is all true *as an individual*. The problem is that the more people use credit cards, the price of goods goes up greater than the payback you get. \n\nThat is, stores must pay the credit card company for the use of the card, and are either barred by contract or law (lobbied by credit card companies) from charging the individual for the use of the card; they have to include it in overhead costs of doing business.\n\nAs an example, suppose the credit card company charges the store owner 3% for each purchase. If you are the only person using a credit card and you spend $100 per month in that store, the store needs to pay $3 per month to the credit card company. If the store sells $100,000 worth of goods each month, they can just raise the price of everything by 0.003%, which is negligible. Essentially, all of the other customers pays for your credit card use (as do you) by a very small amount. And the credit card company give you back 1%, which is $1 in this case, and keeps the other 2% ($2).\n\nNow as more people catch on to this, more use credit cards. If everybody uses credit cards, and the store still pays 3% to the credit card company for each use, now they owe $3000 per month for the $100,000 in sales (all using credit cards), which means they raise their price of goods by 3%. And everybody gets their 1% back, so everybody is now paying 2% more and thinking they are getting a deal of 1% back. \n\nThe reality is that it will be somewhere between these two cases of 0.003% and 3%. Some will use credit cards but not everybody. If 1/3rd of sales use credit cards, prices rise 1% and you break even if you use the cards. If greater than 1/3rd, you are losing money; if less you are making money.\n\nIronically, it's the people who don't use the cards that pay the mark-up but don't get it back as rewards that make the credit card company their money. Sadly, the people who don't qualify for the cards, or the better rewards cards, are the poor. That is, the poor tend to pay slightly higher retail costs, part which goes to the rewards of the richer card users, and part which goes to the credit card company revenues.\n\nHowever, there is never a point where you, as an individual, are better off not using the card. If everybody else is using it and you don't, you are paying the inflated prices but not getting the 1% back so are worse of than if you used the card and got 1 back. If you use it you have have a small punishment of 2% loss. If you don't use it you have a larger punishment of paying 3% loss from markup. \n\nIf nobody else is using it and you don't use it, you break even with $0 net. If you do use it, you have a net reward of 0.997% (1% reward - 0.003% markup in price).\n\nThis is an example of a financial Prisoner's Dilemma. The only way to get rid of it is by legislating it to be an illegal practice, perhaps forcing stores to charge the credit card users directly for the costs of using credit cards.\n\nThere are other values to credit cards though, like fraud coverage and credit score, but that doesn't really change the description above; that just gives individuals potential reasons to use the card even if they had to pay for it's use directly at the checkout. \n" FallenAege (FallenAege): "*Spec's Wine and Fine Foods* has a discount for people that pay cash. I've seen vending machines that charge an extra 10¢ if you pay with a card. "

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." User (bka510): "Great. Thanks for your detailed response! That clears up alot along with other posts" apogee308 (apogee308): "I use a Sallie Mae MasterCard which I heard of from this sub actually; 5% cash back on gas groceries and books (including anything ordered from Amazon) great for college students/ 20 somethings" User (bka510): "great! i'll check into that!" Havegooda (Havegooda): "I think they closed it to new customers, but if you can get it, it's probably the best option.\n\nI use that for the groceries/gas/Amazon and put everything else on my Quicksilver for 1.5% back. " Miethe (Miethe): "It is closed, but the Chase Freedom Unlimited and Discover It are great beginner cards with well-rounded point categories." dragonflysexparade (dragonflysexparade): "Freedom Unlimited is a 1.5 pt / $ card, no categories.\n\nFreedom is the rotating category card."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Example: benefits I'm getting from Discover it over debit right now:\n\n* $50 from referral bonus when opening card\n* $50 from referral I gave to SO\n* 2% cashback on all purchases \n* 10% cashback on quarterly category (currently Amazon, Gas in January)\n* My credit score + explanation with each statement\n* No costs to me, no fees\n* Contributes positively to my credit history\n\nAfter first year ends (double cashback) will switch to another cashback card."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "I don't think anyone mention this yet, but a credit card is like having an on-demand 30 day interest-free loan. Just remember to not "burrow" more than you can pay back in full in 30 days or whatever the grace period. Your parents are probably the only other people that can beat this deal." Sesleri (Sesleri): "It's actually longer than 30 days too:\n\nI buy something Dec 2\n\nIt appears on statement Jan 1\n\nPayment for said statement is autopaid on due date of Jan 31"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "I don't think anyone mention this yet, but a credit card is like having an on-demand 30 day interest-free loan. Just remember to not "burrow" more than you can pay back in full in 30 days or whatever the grace period. Your parents are probably the only other people that can beat this deal." Sesleri (Sesleri): "It's actually longer than 30 days too:\n\nI buy something Dec 2\n\nIt appears on statement Jan 1\n\nPayment for said statement is autopaid on due date of Jan 31"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "since nobody said it, resistance to skimming. \n\nIf your debit gets skimmed then you're screwed, its your money that's gone. If your cc gets skimmed you dispute the charges, get new cards and that's that." User (bka510): "What is skimming?" highcroft (highcroft): "Slipping something into the scanning part of a credit card machine so that it records all of the transaction information. " User (bka510): "yea that happens alot in the U.S." Self: "It doesn't happen very much at all in the US compared to eastern Europe and the 3rd world. I check every machine before I put my card in and I've never seen a skimmer."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "All prices in the US are ~2% more because this is the fee for using a credit service at the till. They don't offer discounts for debit, so if you're not getting cash back, you're essentially paying a minimum 2% more for everything." Downvotes-All-Memes (Downvotes-All-Memes): "Woah I was surprised no one mentioned this tidbit, and I'm surprised you got down voted because it's true." jaggity_boom (jaggity_boom): "Because it's not true." Downvotes-All-Memes (Downvotes-All-Memes): "Businesses aren't just eating the CC processing fees, you know. It's passed on to the consumers. Credit card rewards aren't "bonus money", they're a rebate." jaggity_boom (jaggity_boom): "Nor is dealing with cash anywhere near free—or any other payment method, for that matter. CC processors just package it up nicely on a single line-item.\n\nTANSTAAFL." Downvotes-All-Memes (Downvotes-All-Memes): "Hmm, how is dealing in cash not "free"? Maybe that would help me understand where you're coming from." jaggity_boom (jaggity_boom): "Security. Transportation. Theft. Counterfeiting. Deposit fees." Downvotes-All-Memes (Downvotes-All-Memes): "Okay I guess we have different things in mind. I'm thinking of my retail experience with small businesses where we made cash deposits at the local bank on a lunch break or something in our personal cars. Theft and counterfeiting should be built into your accounting, and I've never heard of a deposit fee. Meh."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Credit card fraud prevention is better in the sense that fraudulent purchases aren't immediately deducted from your cash balance.\n\nCredit cards often offer a rewards program gives you a small amount of cash back. Those programs can apply to all your purchases (generally in the 1% - 2% range) or specific categories (3% for restaurants and groceries, 5% for gas, etc.).\n\nUsing a credit card responsibly doesn't cost you anything. If you pay off your statement in full no interest is charged and there are a number of no annual fee cards to choose from.\n\nCredit card use benefits your credit score by giving you a long history of on time payments." starwish68 (starwish68): "Hi not OP but just a quick question. You say there is no cost to using your credit card responsibly, but doesn't using your credit card frequently negatively affect your credit score? " thecw (thecw): "Are you getting a big loan tomorrow? Then it really doesn't matter."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If your credit card is compromised, somebody has stolen **Visa's** money. They will work very hard to fix the problem to the best of their ability. If your debit card is compromised, somebody has stolen your money, and the Bank will work as slowly as possible to get **your** money back. " Cpcr1203 (Cpcr1203): "My bank, PNC, will shut down my card and call me immediately if they think my card is being fraudulently used. For example, my husband and I were purchasing a bed for around $1400 at a local store. Because I put my debit card into the chip slot before the girl clicked credit, she had to re-enter that I was using debit so I could slide it first. I slid it, and it was declined. I had enough in my checking account to pay for it many times over, so that wasn't the issue. All of a sudden, my phone is ringing from an 1-800 number. I answer and it's PNC verifying that I was at the store trying to purchase the item. I said yes, verified my last purchase made, and was good to do. They are awesome when it comes to fraud. " thecw (thecw): "Sure, if they catch it as it's happening.\n\nBut if someone gets away with your cash first, you're still out cash."

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "Ok so here are my credit cards:\n\n1. USAA Cash Back Rewards Plus. Gets me 5% cash back for all purchases made on a military base and gas up to $3000/yr. So it's basically like having 5% more money.\n\n2. Citi DoubleCash: 2% cash back on every purchase ever\n\n3. Discover IT: 5% cash back on rotating categories. Of particular interest is Amazon.com in the last half of the year, which makes a Prime Store Card largely irrelevant.\n\n4. Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on groceries up to $6k/yr, 3% on gas, 1% on everything else, $95 annual fee. Signup promotion: Spend $1000 in 90 days, get $250 back, plus 10% cash back on Amazon.com for 6 months up to $200 back. Effectively, I spend $1000 on amazon, I get $350 back.\n\nMilitary Star card: 10% discount at burger king. Also 10% off entire first purchase. I should've bought a TV but I didn't.\n\nCapital One Platinum: Does nothing, but I got hit with $1200 in credit card fraud on this card. But since it's not my money, I wasn't out anything. I just called them and the charges were reversed by that afternoon." ChargerMatt (ChargerMatt): "Out of curiosity have you been able to find a list of what stores classify as a grocery store for the Amex card? I looked at my statements recently and I'm only getting 2% at stores that are clearly grocery stores" SurveySaysX (SurveySaysX): "Weirdly, it seems that AmEx also classifies my local Total Wine as a grocery store... not that I'm complaining.\n"

User (bka510): "If there are any links to explain I would appreciate that as well. \n\nedit: Thank you all for your responses today" Self: "If you have $1000 in your debit account and you pay at a bank, the bank somehow screws up the payment, and then you suddenly end up with a -$2400 with a $24 purchase of gas. This will mostly inconvenience you because now you have no money to pay for anything.\n\nThe same goes for any sort of fraud; it immediately puts you and your hard earned money at risk. It's up to the bank to decide whether or not to give you your money.\n\nWith a credit card you not only shift that liability to another entity, but it's to another entity with great fraud protection that doesn't immediately effect your hard earned cash.\n\nAnother added benefit are the programs that give you cash back points, etc. Most places give at least 1% of what you spend.\n\nIf you spend $1,000,000 in your life time and use a credit card instead of a debit card you will save $10,000. That's MINIMUM. Places offer 2% (would be 20,000). If you got the right cards you could average probably 3% ($30,000). This does not take into account getting something other than cash back. Some points programs you can get 1.5c or almost 2c per point. \n\nAll you need to do is ALWAYS pay off your card in full every month and you're golden." Jordaneer (Jordaneer): ">If you have $1000 in your debit account and you pay at a bank, the bank somehow screws up the payment, and then you suddenly end up with a -$2400 with a $24 purchase of gas. This will mostly inconvenience you because now you have no money to pay for anything.\n\n3 questions.\n\nDo you speak from experience?\n\nStory time?\n\nHow the hell does that happen?" Self: "https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/5geq42/guy_pretends_to_be_a_professor_on_the_first_day/" Jordaneer (Jordaneer): "while funny, what does that have to do with finances?" Self: "Hahahaha, totally wrong link\n\nhttps://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/5gfekn/25k_taken_from_boa_checking_account_at_an_atm_in/\n"