For those of you who use them -- which ones do you use/prefer, and what perks (rewards/cash back/miles etc) do they have? Just wondering.

AMEX

I have a ghetto CapitalOne MasterCard with a crappy limit cause that's all someone with 0 credit can get (since up until very recently I was just using my Visa check card from my checking account). No benefits on it cause the ones with benefits had annual fees, mine doesn't.

Discover gives me 1% back on everything I buy with the card (that is paid off every month, that is).

Should be noted that, like AMEX, Discover is not taken everywhere (because they charge businesses more for using them than VISA/MasterCard does).

This.

I have a capitalone mastercard, but as soon as I pay it off I'm canceling it. It bailed me out a few months ago when I had to get my car fixed. I dropped a $200 payment on it the day the bill was due - which happened to be the same day I got paid. Then suddenly a late fee shows up on it. And the late fee is credited the day I made the payment. And the late fee puts it over limit. So they charge me an overlimit fee on the same day. And then they credit my payment FIVE DAYS LATER? When my bank clearly shows it was withdrawn from my account the same day as everything else?

A dozen phone calls have just had me running in circles. Apparently capital one is known for this kind of ****, so **** them.

I've heard they also tend to have better customer service than Visa and MasterCard and will tend to take the customer's side more in disputes, but of course, it comes with the disadvantage of not being taken everywhere.

We had problems with capital one and a dispute with UPS. They eventually gave us all our money back. This was two years ago and they still won't let us cancel the card because there's an "open dispute" even though we have documentation stating that the dispute is over! I hate capital one. Don't go with chase, hsbc, or BofA either. The best credit card is a low-fixed-rate from your local CREDIT UNION.

I have a discover card but the interest rate is >20% I think. I did a 0% balance transfer to it, so as soon as the 0% is over I will switch it to another one.

I have a visa, but I hate credit cards in general and I'd cancel it asap if I wasn't too lazy to figure out how.

I have a best buy credit card, which I use to purchase my 360elite

Visa, and because of it I'm in more debt now than I can really afford to be in. As soon as it's paid off I'm cutting the damn thing up and not getting another one until I have my own place and a steady job.

I have a Capital One. It sucks, but it's a starter card. It's already maxed though.

I also have a Toys R Us card, which I used to get my 360.

Unfortunately, credit is a necessary evil these days. Can't buy anything important without it.

It's only evil if you somehow don't understand the simple concept of "don't spend what you don't have."

Good luck getting a house or a car with that ideology!

Not like anybody is getting houses now anyway.

Eh, I'd still consider those cases to be spending what you have more or less. No, you don't have the whole sum at once in most cases, but if you're smart, you make sure your monthly car/home loan payments aren't going to be more money than you have for the given month.

However, when people aren't smart with their credit cards by doing things like not taking into account how much money they'll have at the end of the month to pay it off, and then they keep doing the same thing month after month, adding to their nice stack of debt, that's quite stupid.

Maybe a better way to rephrase what I was saying is "Don't spend what you won't have," or rather, know how to manage loans and not treat them like free money like so many people seem to do.


And actually, I find it funny that you act like it's impossible to get a house/car without a loan. It's very possible. The next car I'm planning on buying will actually most likely be almost completely paid for, if not completely paid for on the spot simply because I will have enough money sitting around to do so. If you have the money saved up, you can do these things without loans, it's just a matter of if you're willing and able to wait or not. Not to say that I'm against using loans, cause I definitely am not, I'm just stating that I probably won't need one for my next car puchase (probably will get one and just pay it off early though for the nice credit score boost it will provide).

You're either not buying a new car or you sell drugs for a living because there are very few people who can put up all the money for a car up front.

That's not necessarily true. I know a couple people who earn about $45K a year who have bought ~$17K cars and paid them in full up front, because they buy at the right time (e.g. after they've saved up for a year) and pull money from the right accounts.

Precisely. If your income is significantly more than your expenses and you stash away that extra income for a couple years or so (time required to save depending on how wide the gap between income and expenses of course), it's very easy. I'll likely spring for something in around the $30k range in about two years or so doing exactly that.

No credit cards here, don't really need one with check cards doing the exact same thing.

My credit card is for emergencies, not normal purchases.

In before people yell at you because you "need" a credit card to "build credit."

I found that having a credit card and keeping up with the payments wasn't even enough to get a car loan without a cosigner. I have had my Capital One Mastercard for about 2 years, and have never missed a payment, or even come close to the $1,500 cap, paying it off in full 22 out of the 24 months I've had the card.

This has netted me a ~720 credit score, which in my understanding is pretty good. I was not able to get financing on my own from ANYBODY, and had to have my father co-sign for me.

What free said.

I'm still failing to see what advantages I'd have in getting a credit card apart from being able to buy things online from US sites that don't accept paypal.

Businesses want zero risk. If they can strongarm you into cosigning, they basically get it.

I'm in the same ball park. A credit card won't "build" your credit, thats what they tell you to suck you in. It helps, but not as much as most people choose to believe. I have multiple current accounts on my credit, a paid in full car note on my credit, and I got a loan on my own ($10,000 car loan) and am currently paying that. My credit score is 724, I am 21. Never had a credit card.

i have an amazon visa... not a horrible card you get points for using it... 1 point for every dollar, 3 points for every dollar for amazon purchases after 2500 points they send a gift certificate for $25

the interest rate isn't the greatest but i've seen worse and i did get $30 off my first amazon purchase with the card

I have a credit card for buying stuff that doesn't accept my debit card, and I have it set up to pay off the full amount each month automatically.

In before I'm a moron who was too lazy to establish credit so I got raped when I tried to move out because no one would give me an apartment.

Some of us have flat just fine without credit cards.

Things I haven't had to pay for or paid less for because I have good credit, which I established primarily with credit cards;

No deposit on electricity
No deposit on cable or internet (if I ever have the money to activate service
Significantly lower rate on student loan, without cosigner
Apartment in downtown area
Half security deposit


This list is actually too long for me to really feel like typing out. But basically, I have super duper awesome credit and because of it I almost never put down a deposit on anything and if I do it's alot less. I'll also never be turned down for another loan provided I meet financial earnings requirements.

People like Freelancer that OMG HATE THE MAN HE'S SO EVIL IT'S ALL THE MAN MAN have little or no established credit. So things cost them more, whether they care to admit it or not. Not establishing credit is retarded, because it's RETARDEDLY easy to do without OMG LOSING ALL OF UR MONNIES ON TEH INTERESSSTTSSSS.

This does not seem very responsible.



That's really the trick, isn't it? Good credit won't help you with that.

NEVER USE CREDIT CARDS unless u have load of moneys

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Did you have any other lines of credit? My score is in the 780s, but even when it was in the 720s a year or so ago, I could have qualified for a lot more than you simply because I had more things on my credit report. Now that I own a house, I can qualify for all those 'must have super credit' deals. Companies will actually prefer someone with multiple lines of credit and a low score to someone with just one line and a high score. Those people are actually less risk, and in the long run, the company makes more money off of them.

I got a loan with a score of 716- with no verifiable income. Maybe your bank sucks?



I've found it easier to dispute charges on credit cards, because the CC company can essentially tell the merchant 'hey, you lose, no money for you'. There's a process to reverse charges on debit cards, but it takes a while. I've done it twice...once for a purchase from eBay and once for a purchase from an online retailer.

Have Visa, use it all the time because it's convenient. Always pay it off early, and usually for more than the balance on it.

Bwuh?

Surely you meant the minimum monthly payment, not balance.

You can pay more, it gives you the option to buy things beyond your credit limit in the future.

Why would you stick money in an account that doesn't earn you anything?