Best Credit Card? What an oxymoron.

[Cowbell]

Credit cards are by far the safest and most secure form of payment. People that run down using credit cards don't fully understand the positives and/or base their decisions on others lack of financial discipline. Most Retailers already figure in the cost of cc processing in their markup so you might as well do your part to get some of it back.
Chase ink unlimited for me - 2% cash back across the board. Basically it turns into $60-100/month in free money.

 

[doc holiday13]

X2 on the debit card. Haven't had a cc in 10 years.

you both are not so smart and missing out. a cc that earns redeemable points is where it's at. as long as you live within your means it's no different than a debit card AND it offers you buyers protection. if you never use your debit card then you can never have the card number stolen but if your debit card is stolen that money comes right out of your account.

points.. my honeymoon was damn near free because points. 2 round trip tickets from the east coast to Hawaii. 5 days in a resort, and 12 days rental car. all paid for in points

 

[D S 319]

I used scheels card for awhile but had issues with their bank when I had a card stolen so I stick to my 2% cash back navy federal.

 

[Mosby]

I used to use Cabela's cc which gave me 5% back on purchases but I don't really shop there anymore. I have an Amazon card that we use for Amazon purchases and get 5% back. We have a Southwest card that I also use when we fly anywhere because we almost always fly on Southwest and we get points. We pay our cc bill monthly and maintain 0 balance. I pay cash at small businesses and gas stations that pass along the 3% cc fee. I am a big believer in being debt free. We've been married for 35 years this year and we don't owe anyone anything. My parents grew up in the great depression. People that owed the banks were screwed. People that didn't, had a roof over their heads and could get by. Something they told me as a kid that I never forgot.

 

[Unckebob]

The best everyday card is probably something like the Fidelity that always gives 2% back on everything. No annual fee. You can get different cards that will increase the cash back depending on the category. (Grocery’s, Cabela’s, Scheels, travel, fuel, etc)

I mostly use the Fidelity card.

Our last family vacation was paid for with points from credit cards. So essentially free. I can’t even imagine swiping a card and getting absolutely nothing back. (Debit card)

The best part of the Fidelity card is you don't have to account for the rebates to wife. I use the rebates to fund my hunting habit

With the flat 2% back, you dont have to keep tract of categories. Always paid in full like clockwork.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

Costco credit card, paid off every month, more like every week, usually 0 balance at statement but sometimes a transaction clears that day, no interest paid either way. On pace to end up with about $900 coming my way just from our regular spending this year


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Super tag]

My wife and I don’t use debit cards, only credit cards, the cash back adds up to a lot of money over a years time, thousands of dollars, so you can look at it a couple ways, but it’s cheaper than debit, more for your money, safer etc. We keep the balance current, pay weekly and have never paid interest. Pretty good deal.

 

[ODB]

I use a reward CC from one of two Credit Unions - one in Seattle, the other Idaho. Balances are paid off every month - actually I pay off charges as I make them so the CC will often show a credit before everything posts.

Yes, you have to be very disciplined - it's easy to spend more. That said, we use cash everywhere possible, but it's hard to reserve a hotel room for cash, buy a plane ticket, gas at Costco, travel, etc. We do not use Debit Cards for stuff like that because it's much easier to stop a CC card with no risk of (even temporarily) losing any money attached to it. We've had to do it several times. The last time my card was ripped off was using the parking app in boise. Someone hacked in and started buying parking time at border towns. I cancelled by CC immediately, had a replacement in a week, and never risked a dime. That works for me.

 

[z987k]

Paying off the balance before it's due is pretty dumb. At the very least leave that money in your savings or whatever and collect the 2% on it for 30 days before you give it to them. 30 day interest free loans are actually nice provided you pay it. With as much as I run through my credit card that's an extra $1k in my pocket every year.

 

[Sportsman247]

I’ve ran a Cabela’s card for years now. Love the points that I can use in store or online. Have no idea what the interest is because it’s paid off monthly.

 

[doc holiday13]

Costco credit card, paid off every month, more like every week, usually 0 balance at statement but sometimes a transaction clears that day, no interest paid either way. On pace to end up with about $900 coming my way just from our regular spending this year


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah the Costco Credit is pretty good. I use it mainly for Costco only purchases. The 4% cash back on gas adds up quickly and you get 2% on all costco purchases. I think we're on track for $250ish back this year. I might put that towards a 2 person kayak

We use our Amazon card for everything else.

 

[wind gypsy]

$887,000,000,000
Only takes one month of things not going right and you can't pay it off in full.

2024 Credit Card Debt Statistics | LendingTree

Americans’ total credit card balance is $1.166 trillion in the third quarter of 2024, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

www.lendingtree.com

A lot of things need to go wrong.

It only takes one month of things not going right AND someone who has planned poorly when it comes to emergency funds AND someone who spends money they don't have with a CC

 

[ODB]

Paying off the balance before it's due is pretty dumb. At the very least leave that money in your savings or whatever and collect the 2% on it for 30 days before you give it to them. 30 day interest free loans are actually nice provided you pay it. With as much as I run through my credit card that's an extra $1k in my pocket every year.

Not dumb. It creates a situation that is closer to using cash as far as discipline. Do whatever works for you, this works for me. I have a hell of a lot more money collecting a hell of a lot more than 2% than the 1000$ I spend a month on a CC.

 

[-bowfreak-]

I use a Chase Freedom card. All fuel, travel, vacations etc. are paid with this card. Currently it is 1.5% on most stuff and then it is doubled for the first year. I pay off every month, but have considered to just start using it as a debit card and paying as you go. For those of you that pay for an item with your cc and then immediately pay it off from your bank account, do you still accrue all of your cash back this way or does your item have to post and be billed on the monthly statement to get the points?

 

[EdP]

I am 68 and have never, ever, had a credit card balance, Not even when we were scrapping and scraping to make ends meet. Every bill gets paid in full prior to the due date. If you do that, it pays you to have one of the cash back cards.

 

[z987k]

Not dumb. It creates a situation that is closer to using cash as far as discipline. Do whatever works for you, this works for me. I have a hell of a lot more money collecting a hell of a lot more than 2% than the 1000$ I spend a month on a CC.

I just see it really weird that someone doesn't have the discipline to already have the money they're spending and then to pay a bill with that money at the end of the month. $1000/mo isn't much. I run a lot more than that through mine, and ya, I can do a lot better than 2% as well, that's the bottom end of what you can do with free money for 30 days.

 

[MattB]

Paying off the balance before it's due is pretty dumb. At the very least leave that money in your savings or whatever and collect the 2% on it for 30 days before you give it to them. 30 day interest free loans are actually nice provided you pay it. With as much as I run through my credit card that's an extra $1k in my pocket every year.

I tend to agree but have noticed that strategy degrades my FICO score more than more frequent payments. I don’t make more frequent payments because I don’t care about FICO much, but for those who do….

 

[svivian]

I use two credit cards religiously. I love the Discover It card as it has a rolling 5% calendar that is really nice. Each quarter it has fuel, Online places like walmart or amazon, as well as one quarter a year for Paypal.

The other is the captial one savor where i get 3% back on groceries and 2% back on eating out.

Should be used just the same as a debit card.

Edgy meme below

Edit meme removed....