Someone teach me how to adult please. I'm 23 and never had a credit card. I just find them so stupid. I mean seriously...

Someone teach me how to adult please. I'm 23 and never had a credit card. I just find them so stupid. I mean seriously, imagine for a moment this. If they didn't make you build up credit why the fuck would you ever want a credit card instead of a debit card? I see no advantage to a credit card. I have money in my bank, I use my debit card to buy shit. Why would I want to use a credit card except for the fact that it builds up credit? I'm obviously missing something. What don't I understand here?

Like i'm about to walk into my bank and say "listen bitch give me a credit card. I'm going to walk into a 7/11 once a fucking month and buy some stupid candy bar for a dollar then pay it off imediately. Don't worry about me building up debt. Don't worry about me not paying my bill. Don't worry about me spending too much. I'm buying 1 fucking candy bar a month and forgetting I have the damn card until next month."

I looked up some stuff and found something called a secured credit card which sounds like just a prepaid card essentially. I put in $500 of whatever and spend however much and I just built up credit right? That sounds like exactly what I want.

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annualcreditreport.com/manualRequestForm.action
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_buyer
investopedia.com/terms/f/fractionalreservebanking.asp
discover.com/company/corporate-responsibility/financial-education/straight-talk/credit-loans.html
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My mother made me get a credit card when I was 18 so I could build up credit. I only use it when I buy things on Amazon and I always pay it off in one payment.
They might be useful if you want to live beyond your means, I guess.

Because you get 2% back on every purchase for free.

does it have to be a good credit card? Can I do exactly what you did pretty much? Amazon has a credit card. Can I get one of theirs and use it on amazon to buy shit? I'm sure they have a ton of rewards for using it on amazon. Or do I need a fucking master card of Visa or Discover or some shit?

I like video games and am almost entirely digital at this point. Playstation has a credit card. I've thought about getting a playstation credit card and using it to buy all my games.

i avoided creditcards/banks/the credit system for years (up until i was like 26) and it bit me in the ass hardcore.

I am effectively a "ghost" to credit agencies and now that i -want- to build credit no one will take me

theres various things that credit is pretty much -needed- for such as school, cars, and houses. Less u save up 200k in cold hard cash to buy a house like scarface, you're going to -need- credit.

with that said, I don't recommend using a creditcard for -anything- other than to build credit. Use it to pay for stuff make sure you have the cash to backup the purchases and pay the balance off immediately to avoid interest. ONLY use the cc in this way, do NOT use it to spend cash you don't have.

Furhtermore, various creditcards have various cashback and rewards programs. You can utilize these systems to effectively increase your quality of life and spendable income by multiple %. Google how to "get more money" out of your credit cards for details on how this works.

Basically, Card A may pay back 10% on gas purchases, Card B pays back 5% on anything bought on amazon, etc. By utilizing these offers you can honestly live a drastically different lifestyle compared to another person with the same yearly income as you but not utilizing the cc systems properly. depending on ur spending habbits this can result in hundreds, even thousands in "extra money"

Credit cards usualy come with much better fraud protection & garuntees than uour bank card. Some experts say to do all your online or over the phone purchases with a credit card for this reason. Another readon is if someone does steal your card info, they cant drain your bsnk account and bankrupt you.

>Why would I want to use a credit card except for the fact that it builds up credit?
That's why

>Like i'm about to walk into my bank and say "listen bitch give me a credit card. I'm going to walk into a 7/11 once a fucking month and buy some stupid candy bar for a dollar then pay it off imediately
Yep

As someone who arrived in America at 30 years old, with $250,000 in a foreign bank account, a $120,000 salary and no credit history here, I was laughed at even by utilities companies for my lack of credit and had to pay something like a $250 'security deposit'

Not to mention finding a place to rent requires credit. "I'll pay the first year up front" didn't work for them and so I had to pay a fucking atrocious security deposit for that too.

So go about your business as always, but buy that twix at the 711 once a month and get fucking credit.

I get 2.4% back on every purchase except for rent. That's 720 free dollars a year if I spend 30k.

I also don't pay anything until 30 days later (average) which, if you know anything about finance, is pretty fucking great. That alone is worth roughly 125 bucks a year.

So the question is, 845 bucks, or 0 bucks, I think I will choose the 845. Also, have you ever disputed a charge on a credit card? Well, obviously not but they pretty much just give you your money back without doubting anything. It's fucking great

Disregarding the cashback rewards (functionally everyone pays more for the product, so cash back just prevents you from getting screwed as badly as everyone else), there's a lot of perks with some of the better credit cards. Many of them aren't worth the yearly fees if you aren't using the perks, but it's great to have them if you do. Usually the perks are heavily airline related.

There's also building a line of credit too. Credit is fucking stupid, but a cheap credit card that you use will constantly bump your credit up. I have a bunch of cards for various purposes (small business so easier to keep separate accounts for taxes) and because I have so many credit cards, I can actually take negative hits on my credit report without it mattering. If I want a loan and get a bunch of hard pulls, or if I somehow get something negative reported, it doesn't actually really impact me.

>Also, have you ever disputed a charge on a credit card? Well, obviously not but they pretty much just give you your money back without doubting anything. It's fucking great

Amex will rollback 50,000 dollar pissing contests with vendors without so much as blinking if you give them some proof.

>As someone who arrived in America at 30 years old, with $250,000 in a foreign bank account, a $120,000 salary and no credit history here, I was laughed at even by utilities companies for my lack of credit and had to pay something like a $250 'security deposit'

Oh lawd. I'd forgotten about this story.

I actually had exactly this happen with water in an old ruralish house when I was young. They wanted a 1000 dollar deposit. I told them to fuck off and put in a well instead, and got higher quality water in the process. Then they tried to fine me because I wasn't paying the monthly charge for the meter. Asked them to show me where I had signed any paperwork binding me to that.

>That's 720 free dollars a year if I spend 30k.
Peanuts.
Always glad I'm a yuropoor when I read about credit scores and cards in the US.

It's not like it takes any effort to get the money.

so what specific credit cards do you guys use?

Getting in debt is always a risk.

Just get a couple of credit cards and use them like you would use your debit card and pay them off in full every month

If for some reason your debit card get stolen one day, you're going to have a huge headache trying to get all of your money back from the bank when someone empties out your account

If someone steals your credit card, as long as you have cards at banks like Chase, Discover, and Amex, who are known for their stellar customer service, they'll wave whatever fraudulent charges you have on your cards and send you new ones immediately

Just don't get some small shit tier bank credit card (unless you bank with that company already), a Capital One card, or a Bank of America card, because they usually have shit tier customer service and are a pain to deal with

Uhhmm.. What?

A credit card is a universal coupon (cashback) that has built in anti theft, anti-fraud, and various other enhanced protections and perks that make it superior to cash in nearly all circumstances. In most cases, it's superior to using checks or any form of ACH transfer as well. There's no need to go into debt with it. If you don't have the money in the bank, don't use your credit card.

Don't spend what you don't have. This is not a difficult concept to grasp.

>Don't spend what you don't have. This is not a difficult concept to grasp.

Unfortunately it is, and that's why people like Dave Ramsey are so successful, he knows people are inherently dumb and can't own a credit card because of the temptation to overspend

I know people myself who believe "they DESERVE to own nice things right now" and then get into thousands of dollars worth of credit card debt, those types of people shouldn't have credit cards because they simply cannot handle them

citi doublecash is a pretty good no bullshit card for general purpose use. You can't move a lot of money through it though because the limits on it (and citi cards in general) are ridiculously low. Need a decent credit score to get it, but it's simple, and does the job for most people. Unless you want to actively spend time and effort getting sign on bonuses for random cards, or shop exclusively through a site like amazon 2% universal cash back is hard to beat.

I actually don't have it because it's not worth my time to use the card enough to raise the limit when I get the same or better rewards with my already existing cards, but if you aren't moving tons of money or using perks extensively, it's hard to beat. Only real drawback besides the low limits are that it's supremely fucking ugly.

I have some 'premium' cards that I do not recommend because I get the fees waived, or get so many benefits that it's worth the yearly charge, and most people simply don't use them enough to justify the fees. Some high cash back cards for the business (some materials I go through a lot of give me 4% back, so I get easily 8-10k back a year from that alone), and there's the platinum amex which has a bunch of nice stuff for when I travel. Centurion lounges are totally worth a few hundred bucks if you fly a lot. So is calling them and letting them get transport arranged and waiting for you on arrival. Plus amex support is fucking incredible. On their high end cards they will send a courier to give you a replacement card if yours gets lost/stolen/skimmed. If you are in a big city, you can have a new card placed into your hand in under an hour.

If you can't grasp that concept, it's on you. I have no sympathy. You will learn or you will fail. Possibly both.

Bottoming out is an experience everyone is entitled to experience once. I've been close enough to learn that I'm never going back. If someone accepts their new equilibrium of hell, that's their choice. If they are too stupid to learn not to spend what they don't have, I can't help them. Entitlement is a disease, and it cannot be cured except through consequence, and the understanding of consequence.

There's really not much else to say.

(((entitlement)))

stop thinking you need 10 jeans and 3 cars shills

Normie answer
>huehuehue gotta build that credit! How else are you gonna buy a new car and a mortgage and stay at hotels for all those vacations??
Actual answer
>A line of unsecured credit is very useful. Why spend your money when you can spend someone else's and put your money towards something that generates interest? In addition, you can reduce the entirety of your life expenses by a substantial 2%

Some people are unfortunately just dumb entitled pieces of shit

I have 13 credit cards because I exploit credit card companies and their signup bonuses, and because I won't be getting a car or house loan soon, but the people I know who can't control themselves believe that's unfathomable because they expect me to max out each one

Some people are just dumb, uneducated about how to handle themselves financially, and entitled, it's the way it is

Noob question on credit cards - interest free days (i.e. 44 or 55 interest free days) that banks offer. How does it cycle?

My statements for my credit cards are on the 4th of every month

My statement came in yesterday on the 4th, and I bought an item today on the 5th for $10

I won't get another statement for my credit card with that item included until September 4th, and then I'll have to pay off the statement balance by October 1st at the latest before I'll be charged interest

>They might be useful if you want to live beyond your means, I guess.
that's retarded

I agree with this user. I have the citi double cash card and it reminds me of a Sam's Club membership card. My initial credit limit with a 790 credit score was like $6k. I later called and asked for a credit line increase, citing that my Chase Sapphire had a $14k limit and I needed a higher limit to buy an engagement ring and wanted to take advantage of their 18-month 0% APR offer; I was instantly granted a $16k limit.

lol I can literally feel how poor you are

nah only a poorfag would pay 2% more for anything he doesn't have to.

I will never understand how citi comes up with their limits. I have a credit score above 800. citi offered me a limit of 1500 dollars. Went in to ask about an appeal since I was nearby one of their banks, and the guy basically said they might be able to do 2500 if I had an account with them. I just laughed at him and left. Not making an account with a shitty bank just to have a credit card I can't even pay my utility bill with.

Not worth my time to bother with a limit under 10,000. Yeah, I know you can pay it off whenever you want, but that is just more paperwork to keep track of. The whole point of having good cards is that none of mine ever max out. I'll move 250,000 in a good month on my business cards. Amex certainly doesn't give a fuck.

I used to have 10 credit cards until I fucked up my life and got so addicted to videogames and imageboards that I just kept on using them to fuel my lifestyle until they got maxed out and I couldn't pay them anymore due to having $30k in credit card debt. Really regret fucking up life this way, I just didn't plan ahead at all and think about the future, only right now and the best way to satisfy my happiness.

1 card or 50 cards it makes no difference. My father always brags about never paying a cc a dime of interest in 40 years. That's cool as fuck. I am able to say that I have not paid 1 fucking penny in interest to a card in 5 years. I spend 4,000 a month through my cards. That's the way to be an adult my nigger.

i thought that will be the case for me too, but even tho i don't pay interest so far i'm not in the plus with my card.the monthly fee and occasional fees (like setting limits or query the balance) ate up all the profits.

Because building credit is a damned good idea if you ever plan to own a home or a car or anything really for that matter. Better chance of getting approved in the first place and on top of that usually better interests rates on those loans.

Also it takes 5 minutes or less a month to pay your bill and you can essentially get 2-5% back on everything you purchase. In 2016 alone from all my cashback returns I have gotten $1400 for doing absolutely nothing.

Also not to mention that dealing with credit card fraud is way less of a hassle than debit fraud.

So I amassed $800 worth of debt out of $2000.

I paid off $200 of the debt so far, son ow im at $600 in debt. It's stayed at 600 for like a year though.

I usually spend $100 a month using the card, and then pay like $110 each month.

How kek'd is my credit score?

you are the wet dream of banks user

Not having a long credit history bit me in the ass when I bought my house.
I had a few credit items from hospital bills and stuff, but nothing else. I had cash in hand to pay 50% of the cost of the house, but they wouldn't approve me because I didn't have credit history. I ended up having to wait nearly 2 years and didn't get the house I wanted.

Probably not great user, sign up for credit karma and you can check your credit score weekly for free.

Credit is convenient.

As long as you make the required payments, your credit won't be tanked.

You are paying out the ass in interest though.

>not wanting a free $60/month

it's almost like you like being jewed in the ass, and you're not even american

good goy

it's my main card and I've got 4500
that's enough for me to live upper middle class easy

If you aren't running a business, and are just an employee, a few thousand is typically enough to cover normal expenses. Nice to have more to keep the odd large purchase here and there relatively hassle free, but far from required. The problem is I do run a business, and it's one with high operating costs. My income is a function of my profits, and those have only a tangential relationship to my revenue stream and spending patterns, particularly when I make bulk material and equipment purchases.

I have a flawless history, so being told that my limits aren't in the 10k+ range isn't so much insulting as it's just so much of an inconvenient burden as to be untenable. I'm not going to pay my credit card bill 5+ times a month just to take advantage of it. I'm also not going to sign up for a card that I literally cannot use to pay some of my expenses because they are greater than the limits on the card. That defeats the benefits of having a credit card.

This apparently is a concept that the dipshit at citi bank didn't understand when he tried to patronize me about mutual trust and understanding and how that applied to limits.

>he tried to patronize me about mutual trust and understanding and how that applied to limits
In fairness, he's an employee doing his job. He's not going to suck your dick because you have a good established 'relationship' with other financial institutions. Chase gave me an $800 limit card because I had no relationship with any bank or credit institution in USA and within a year it was $4,000. If I pushed I'm sure it could exceed $10,000 since my wife who grew up in USA uses my income to get her cards and none of her 4 cards are below $12,000.

aren't there business cards better suited to what you're looking for anyway?
why would you use a personal consumer credit card for that.

credit cards exist to enslave the poor and stupid

in order to justify their existence, banks created the credit score minigame

play the minigame. get a basic no fee card and buy your groceries and gas on it. pay the first day your bill comes in. nothing else.

reap the rewards later when you need a car or house.

I'm not expecting him to suck my dick, but there's a difference between simply saying, sorry, my hands are tied, and being an arrogant prick about it. One minute he commented on how amazing my paperwork was, and expounding on the benefits of the card, the next minute he was trying to hardball me into the card. As soon as he felt like he was losing me, he changed tactics, and didn't even have the decency to bother trying to hide it. It's unprofessional.

We both knew the terms he was offering were not acceptable. Leave it at that and call it a day. Sometimes a deal doesn't work out. A good salesman moves on instead of flailing and clinging like a drowning man. As soon as he started being a cunt, I lost any incentive to maintain the veneer of civility. I've got several million in credit in my wallet. I don't have any incentive, let alone desire, to tolerate that sort of behavior. So I laughed at him because I found it amusing and walked out.

Wound up going with another amex card. While amex isn't as widely accepted, they did do the 'dick sucking' and were happy to build a card specifically tailored to my wishes with very little effort required on my part. More on that below.

I was acting as a cosigner and planning to move an enormous amount of money through the card in the first year to turbocharge one of my kid's creditworthiness, then have myself removed from the card after a while, giving them a substantial line of credit to work with after their graduation, and a solid credit score allowing them to secure further lines of credit for whatever rental/housing situation and location they find themselves in after graduation.

That child is responsible enough to handle it. Even if they were not, they are smart enough to realize that the long game of inheritance is a far bigger prize than any amount they could steal from me before the card was paid off and disposed of. The younger one will not receive the same offer because they are arrogant enough to believe they can concoct a way to get away with it. One day they will fail catastrophically. It's not a matter of if, but when. I will have to sit down and tell them how to dig themselves out of their hole when it happens. I'm not looking forward to that day, but I can't justify hurting them by coddling them. They will sink, or they will learn to swim.

Sorry for the tangential rant.

I am 25 years old and I never owned a credit card. I finally got a full time job but I've been there for less than a month so I think if I apply for credit now, I'll be denied and my credit rating will be lowered for trying.

Hey, you fucking slave. Here's an idea, be responsible with credit, have a high income and you'll be eligible for cards with high limits. My credit union offered me a CC with a MINIMUM limit of $7,500, 1% cash back, 9.5% APR (not that I carry a balance).

If you're really hot shit, Citi would give you whatever limit. You're not. They don't need a jackoff who will go bankrupt in 3 years, they don't need to give you a $10,000 limit (or any credit limit) to meet their goals.

But hey, keep applying for subprime cards and bitching about muh limit. If you were so smart, you'd know what cards throw around 5 figure limits to qualified people like it's nothing.

Hard pulls only impact you for a little bit. To see your current credit score, without any bullshit, send a hardcopy of this form in via certified mail.

>annualcreditreport.com/manualRequestForm.action

Don't do it online. If you do it online, they opt you into binding arbitration unless you opt out. This means you lose a lot of power to dispute things. The only way to opt out is to send them a certified letter about it (they can 'fail to receive normal mail), and since you can just send a certified letter requesting your credit report in the first place, you may as well save yourself the trouble.

All the sites like creditkarma, are just soft pulls, and will have wildly varying numbers. You want the real hard numbers before you make a decision.

I have plenty of very high limit cards. Hell, the amex card I use for my business doesn't even have a hard limit. I've run upwards of 500k through it on multiple occasions for larger purchase orders. Citi just has very restrictive offerings, and their limits are very frequently nonsensical. I don't pretend to know what their exact criteria are, but the handful of cards I've applied for through them have all had offers that were wildly out of line with what anyone else was offering me.

I'm far from the only person to have run into this when dealing with citi bank.

You are projecting really hard.

I had no credit and I still got a credit card because I had a job. It's not a very good card, as my limit is $500, but build credit quickly and you can get it higher.

Idiot yuropoor here.
Is creditcard just an american meme?

Im 22 and I have never thought of getting a credit card because i see litteraly no use for it.

If i want to buy something, i pay for it with the money i have in the bank. Why would I want to do it in any other way? Theres nothing to be gained right?

Also what do you mean by 'building credit'?

Do you need to get a loan? A mortgage? Car loan? If no, then don't get a credit card.

Europe doesn't have as many incentives for using credit cards, and many places don't take them. In America and Canada, they are taken nearly everywhere. Even hotdog stands on the road accept credit cards these days.

It's a combination of the incentives, people being stupid enough to spend beyond their means, and legal protections offered via credit cards that make them useful. If you don't spend beyond your means, it's cash that doesn't get stolen.

I never used them in Australia. Got a home loan no worries. No credit is better than poor credit said the bank

Think of it this way: Amerifats get fuck all on their savings accounts. So in order for the banks to drum up customer interest they hook people into gimmicky credit cards with promises of free cash for making purchases.

It's blatant usury.

I use my credit score to impress women. That's literally the only thing I do with it.

OP, an uncommon but valid reason to get one is the perks that come with certain cards if you live in a rural area and your bank has shitty services.

For example, I have an online business on the side of my wagecuck job, and use paypal for my money.

I then have a paypal credit card, but my actual bank sucks absolute dick because we live in population 800.

With my credit card I get immediate balance updates, can actually track purchases, and then also have that all tied into one account so it's easier to manage, all which I cant do with my bank.

Why not migrate to a better bank or credit union?

If someone steals your wallet with your Debit card in it, you are fucked for a few months;
But if they still your Credit Card, just report it, and they will send you a new one.

That alone, is a reason on why you should use a Credit Card.

But it is free cash
I just got 300 dollars from Discover for the year and have never payed interest, it's literally free money

Not exactly.

Credit cards work by charging fees for making transactions. Say you use your credit card at a store. You pay 100 dollars. A few percent of that 100 dollars goes to the credit card company. Of that few percent, the credit card company takes their cut, and passes the 2% or whatever along to you. This for an item that would cost 95 dollars instead if credit cards weren't a thing.

It's not so much that cash back is an advantage, as it's that taking full advantage of cashback, or other rewards, prevents you from being screwed quite as badly.

Why are they a shitty bank? Lot of wealthy people use it. They are there in many countries.

A fair point, and if 'cash price' was different to 'credit card swipe' it'd have merit, but since most (not all) stores charge the same price for different payment methods, getting that cash back is better than paying cash and getting nothing.

First time on Veeky Forums, read through this thread, realized how badly I've been fucking up.

22 years old, lower-middle class family, somehow my credit limit is much higher than it should be, have only had income for 1.2 years of my life, and I have ridiculous spending habits. I primarily use my credit card and pay it off whenever I remember it, and often go into credit card debt without actually having money left to pay for it.

Fuck I need to get a job.

I've had a lot of problems with ACH transfers when dealing with them. Par for the course with international banks really, but it's still wasted man hours tracking down what payments got fucked up this week, and they really tried to dick me over in late 2010 with the housing crash. Froze a 400,000 dollar transfer for 2 months while they did an 'audit' because apparently a real estate company buying an a bunch of foreclosures at a bulk auction is suspicious behavior.

They aren't bofa tier by any stretch, but I'll stick with my credit union that had and continues to offer, phenomenal API support letting me do accounting wizardry with hundreds of bank accounts to make taxes easier.

Most agreements don't let you charge the transaction fees. You can offer 'discounts' for cash with some companies, but not all. Messing with the agreements is not advised. Places that do that get curb stomped by the credit card companies. A particularly fuckwitted colleague of mine had his business pancaked into borderline bankruptcy for trying that shit. I told him it was a bad idea, and he didn't listen. There's only a handful of things more terrifying than the army of bloodcrazed lawyers employed by credit card companies. One of them is the army of frothing mad lawyers employed by major insurance providers, and another is the long arm of the IRS.

It's not all bad though. There are benefits to using cards as a seller. Big box retail stores like Walmart like credit cards because it reduces liability issues. There's less to steal, they get some fraud protection, and it saves on man hours when a bunch of computers can tally up the profits at the end of the day/month. They don't like the fees, and have enough presence to pressure for them to be very low, but they'd certainly be happier if they could eliminate more of them. Walmart is currently (or recently was) in a pissing contest with visa over this.

Just in general, if you are wealthy and/or have good credit, and pay your bills on time or early, everything is actually less expensive than if you are poor and/or have no/bad credit and miss payments or even make payments over time.

This is just how the industry works. If you provide a line of credit to some one you want to give incentive to the guys who are guaranteed to pay you back and as a result, because you make money on the interest when they have things like foreign transactions or decide to carry a balance from time to time. As a result, the guys who have no problem making payments can take advantage of various rewards programs and if they never carry a balance, they can actually make money using credit cards.

Give cards to poor/low credit people is risky as they do things like max out cards and go bankrupt. So to make it worthwhile, if you carry a balance and make late payments you are hit with fees and higher interest rates.

It simply costs money to be poor and/or live irresponsibly. It really is free cash if you exploit credit card incentives, because they know enough people out there are incapable of being responsible enough to live below their means.

I speak from experience as I just went through 10 years of credit debt hell and now after the most costly mistake of my life is over, I live debt free. I was living hand-to-mouth cash only till several months ago, but when I became debt free, I grew some balls and got myself a big raise, decided to set a goal of buying a house and so now I'm building my credit and already have most of my down payment in the bank and my fico is @ 729. I only use around 10% of my credit limit ever and I pay it off each month.

Credit cards and the credit system are absolute bullshit, but we live in a bullshit world. Be responsible; exploit the system to your advantage.

Lets try to put several things into perspective from what I learned over time with the same mindset of you, now that I am in my late 30s.

Credit is stupid but necessary. It feels worthless in your 20s because depending on your purchasing power, it has almost no effect. If you are very good at saving money and money management the return on credit is very low.

However, certain large purchases demand a history of credit to float you a loan. They need to see a credit history to see that you are a proper member of society that doesn't nix on monthly payments. It is the main file companies have access to and decide if you are worthy of a loan.

Loans have several important uses. Down payments on houses, cars, and other large purchases. Loan companies require a credit history before they will help you. Yes they get a % of the loan back over time, but that is how business works. If you can outright buy a house or car with cash then you can ignore everything in this post.

Basically if you want minor benefits later in life (flyer mileage) or immediately over time (cash back or % cash back) then you should use credit cards. If you are as conscious of money management then credit card issues will be non-existent for you. If you pay off everything you put on a card in a single month, the interest rate is 0%, but you get all the bonuses in the card. Credit Card companies get due from the company you did business with (transaction/bank) in this instance, which is why they offer the incentives.

A person with their own business benefits greatly from a % cash back card. Charge 2000 dollars for supplies. Turn those supplies into merchandise. Sell Merchandise. Pay off credit card for that month. Gain 2% back to put back into their business they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Seems like small potatoes but it adds up over time.

take advantage of it. I plan on having free flight trips to everywhere for most of my retirement just by utilizing credit now.

citi in my country only had shit offers too.
i guess i depends greatly where you live.
i told them i find their offer insulting it was so bad.

>They need to see a credit history to see that you are a proper member of society that doesn't nix on monthly payments.
interestingly they don't give a fuck about this in my country.
they only look at the monthly salary they don't even care how much savings you got or assets in general.
but yes the apr is higher by 2-3% at least than in the us for similar loans. and there is also a black list if you fail to pay your debt even once you are on it you won't get any loans.

Two reasons that credit cards are supieror than debit cards.

If you have good credit and get a decent card, they will give you cash back on purchases. Its not much, but its free money.

See, the Credit Card companies hope you won't pay off your credit card every month so they can charge you insane interest, HOWEVER if you pay off your credit card before the monthly bill, then you won't be charged the interest (also make sure you don't have a card with annual fees etc etc there are tons out there that don't have that).

So basically is that if you pay your card off every month you get free money for using it.

SECONDLY, which is more important... Credit card companies are more forgiving when it comes with fraud purchases. Invariably you will use your card a place that has lax rules and your card will be stolen and someone will charge things to it.

Credit card companies are used to this so they will just revoke the charges and you don't get charged.

With a debit card, the cash is gone and you have to fight with the bank to get it back.

Or rather... The money is gone from your account and you have to wait for the bank to resolve it to get it back.

With a credit card, you just have a credit against your account and your actual money has not been molested.

Which is why you shouldn't use debit for purchases.

>insane interest
it's basically a "micro loan" the interest on them generally is way higher.

The credit card companies make up their money in transaction fees with the vendors anyways. They just hope that you won't pay off your card, but if you do, then its basically free money if you have cash back rewards.

>The money is gone from your account and you have to wait for the bank to resolve it to get it back.
it's the same with credit cards that is why fraud insurance is offered on them by the banks. you have to wait for the card company to investigate and drag it's leg.

The real money for credit card companies isn't in the interest. It's in the fees that they charge sellers for using their payment service.

The high interest is there just to discourage extended utilization of unsecured credit. People who do that are very likely to default, and the credit card company doesn't have any real recourse.

>The real money for credit card companies isn't in the interest.

i wonder how many fat cat bankers are laughing their asses off reading this thread.

For every one of the people 100,000 in credit card debt paying interest, there's a dozen 10,000 in debt who are defaulting and going bankrupt on that unsecured debt. It's not like a car where they can just repo it if you default.

The transaction fees are fixed profits every time a dollar moves through their system, and the people moving hundreds of thousands or tens of millions through the cards generate enormous amounts of revenue. There's a reason that many of the top end credit cards are actually charge cards, where you are required to pay your balance off at the end of each billing cycle. If interest was the primary form of profit, they wouldn't do that.

you are so naive and sheltered , young one.

Let me ask you something. Do you really believe that they offer all the premium perks to their low revenue customers? Why would they offer things like concierge services to the customers who aren't making them lots of money? Where's the incentive?

It doesn't add up. Those customers aren't the ones paying any interest, and many of their cards are charge cards anyways. So, where is the money coming from to pay for those perks, if it's not coming from interest? Here's an idea for you. Maybe, just maybe, the 3-8% transaction fees are paying for those perks. Those perks that encourage you to use their card, and stay within their ecosystem, so that they can keep skimming their transaction fees off the top of everything.

It's not uncommon for people running around with centurion cards to run 5 and 10 million a year through their card. Even if you assume a flat 5% transaction fee (which is not very high for amex), that's 250,000 to 500,000 a year in money. Giving you back a chunk of that, providing you with a Concierge service, and giving you all sorts of other random benefits still leaves room for substantial profits.

Then there's partner agreements with all the various chains on top of all this. You think there aren't mutual kickbacks for steering people to stay at Hilton hotels? Hilton gets more customers, amex gets their cut. Both parties put a bow on it and cater it to the people using the cards. Again, the goal is to keep you in their ecosystem. As long as they can do that, they can rake in millions in profit from a handful of very loyal customers, while expending relatively little manpower.

Little Timmy's mother going through her 3rd divorce and wracking up 10 or 20 grand in debt at 20% APR is peanuts in comparison. There's mountains of paperwork, computing resources, manhours, etc involved relative to an employee planning a vacation for some bigshot who's roadtripping in 3 new lambos to dubai while the CC company skims off of every purchase he makes.

yawn. ur so stupid.

I'm legitimately curious if you actually have a counterpoint to make.

it's true tho credit card companies are skimming the transaction fees and card fees for profit, and let the banks do the heavy lifting. it's actually the bank that manages the client and provides the loan. the card company doesn't do shit but offer a payment system with terminals and everything (that the make the vendors pay for btw).

the banks get a cut from the transactions and they get interest on their loans if you roll a balance and have fees for services like monthly closing fees.

the shop owners simply calculate this overhead into their prices so the ones that get cukced ultimately are the people paying cash/debit.

...

I've already explained why that's not relevant.

Are you actually incapable of reading? Or is it the comprehending part you are struggling with?

you can't collect the compound interest at that point on credit card debt. people just default on it if it gets to a point where they owe twice as much as they borrowed.

can u please stop saying stupid ass obvious ass bullshit to me, i know u crave attention any way you can get it , but can u respect that
im a busy man?

no you never said a single thing in this thread that makes sense you don't get any respect sorry.

aight fampie.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_buyer

yeah they will sell it, you will dispute it the bank gets a fraction of what you owe to them so they lose, the debt settler gets settled at a lower amount then he would like if you are not a retard so he loses, your credit history gets a huge black spot you lose too maybe some assets get seized and stuff.

it's an everybody loses scenario not some magic way where the card company makes a huge profit they don't even get in the picture.

you just don't understand how big capital pools work. its exactly the same concept as insurance, surely u can stop and think for a few minutes this time before you reply with some over blown ignorant post again?

no you retard what you are saying doesn't exists outside your head.

>The real money for credit card companies isn't in the interest.

>i wonder how many fat cat bankers are laughing their asses off reading this thread.

we tried to tell you you have no fucking clue what you are talking about but you won't listen.

the bank gives you the loan when they sell your defaulted debt they get like 5-10% of the face value of that debt that's not even half of what they lent you. the collecting agency fails more often on these loans than not so any amount of cash they will settle with after a while if you don't give in. they will make some money on it not what they started out looking for and the bank (that would have got the compound usury interest) gets cucked big time.

if you can't comprehend this there is no helping you. only the credit card company doesn't lose anything as they are simply not involved in the deal.

you're over complicating something thats actually very old and very simple.

ppl do that when they don't really understand something.

investopedia.com/terms/f/fractionalreservebanking.asp

no fractional reserve banking is something totally different. that only means the bank most likely only had about 10% of "real" money deposited for the loan they gave you and thus they don't actually lose that much, but it's not really that convenient for them accounting wise. they will take it as a loss if not for any other reason than taxes.

i guess you're trying to justify to yourself online and get approval for your unruly, smothering credit card debt due to your immature, young adult hood spent on spree's and poor spending habits?

i rarely see someone in such denial about such a well known fact.

whats the story?

lets get dr. phil for a minute here

now i see why you dont' play basketball.
you always miss the point.

Honestly, you sound like you took an econ 101 class and are spouting what you believe to be gospel. You've not raised a single point or counter argument that is founded in reality. You've had this explained to you in a relatively well thought out manner with relevant real world examples.

If you can't understand why someone who moves millions every year and always pays is going to be a bigger source of revenue than an army of people mired in functionally uncollectable debt, I can't help you. Maybe someone out there can, but fixing your ignorance is beyond my capacity to teach.

Good luck with whatever it is you do in life.

okay visa, ill let you go back to, sending out junk mail, cold calling deliquents , and brokering deals with collection agencies ;)

but the credit card company does not give you loans user get it through your head. the bank does. and the bank wants you to pay it that is why they set limits on the balance so they can make sure you can pay off your debt in a year because that is their best scenario. and they want you to do that. the cc doesn't give a shit they get their profit from the transactions and card fees (which the bank pays and might restructure or hide from you sometimes even swallow it).

and this is what we are trying to tell you here, even tho it's called credit card debt it really is a micro loan from your bank.

where do u even get this bullshit?

is it fun for u 2 just go online and authoritatively spew misinformation?


discover.com/company/corporate-responsibility/financial-education/straight-talk/credit-loans.html