cash or credit

[plennis]

Ran into some hard times a couple of years back and basically lived off of our credit cards.  Now we are working hard to pay off.  But it is not easy.  Now I use my debit/ATM card, if I don't have the money we just have to do without.  We are not going to keep letting the credit cards get us down.  I think that I read that a large percentage of people with money problems had medical issues (that's us) and you have to pay or not get all the treatments, medications etc., you should have.   SO NOW CASH OR ATM FOR EVERYTHING.  We are paying off the creditors who worked with us first, not the ones who were so rude and obnoxious when we had enough other problems on our plate.  In fact, some of those collectors I have turned in to everyone who will listen.  Some of them have got problems with  government agencies now.    They cannot threaten you or say horrible things they will do physically, they have rules to follow to.  Not matter how bad off you are, you don't need to take be treated poorly.  

[lannl]

I use cash or a prepaid debit card. Cannot see spending fees on a credit card.

[frozenimage]

I mostly use cash for purchases, but for online, credit cards. I can't risk having my credit card exposed to another person other than my self.

[southernhorizons]

I use cash when I make physical purchases at stores, and debit cards for online purchases. People think they are doing good with credit cards because of the cash back, but sooner or later they will forget or be unable to pay a bill on time, and then they'll end up paying more than what they get back, as well as start getting into debt which will be very hard to get out of. I have two debit cards that give me cash back for purchases, so I can remain debt free and get bonuses!

No, forgetting or unable to pay a bill doesn't happen to everybody, it hasn't happened to me in over 30 years.  I check my credit card on line and pay on line directly from my bank account 2 or 3 times a month.  I don't just pay the amount necessary to prevent interest charges, I pay the full amount, so I'm always ahead of the game.

I use the Discover card, and I use it for every possible purchase.  Right now they have a special deal where you get 5% cash back for gasoline purchases, that gets me at least $10 a month cash back for fuel purchases for 3 months.  In September I'll have to pay city taxes for my own rental property and one of my brother's rental properties that I manage.  That city accepts the Discover card and the total taxes will be over $2000.  Even at 1% cash back, that will add another $20 to my September reward.  If I go on vacation, I charge everything, airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, meals, gasoline and all other purchases.  I use that card for everything, appliances, electronics, furniture, groceries, I even tried to use it to help pay for cars, but they wouldn't accept a credit card for a car purchase.  There have been months (not very many) when I made over $100 on cash back bonuses.  Of course it makes it easier if you have a comfortable limit on your card, Discover allows me a limit of $12,700, my Visa allows me a limit of $12,000, but I only use my Visa when there are purchases that don't accept Discover. 

You're one of the rare ones for sure. You obviously have a comfortable income, if you're not actually wealthy, so it's probably easier for you to stay on top of things. But for a lot of people, who live in less affluent circumstances, having a credit card is the beginning of a downward spiral. Actually if you listen to Dave Ramsey's show, he can tell a ton of stories about people getting into crushing debt even with large incomes.

[gennjen]

If you cash, pay cash,if not pay with your credit card.

[gramev64]

I never seem to have the cash, but I do have a debit card which I use, but the money has to be in the bank.

[alaric99x]

I use cash when I make physical purchases at stores, and debit cards for online purchases. People think they are doing good with credit cards because of the cash back, but sooner or later they will forget or be unable to pay a bill on time, and then they'll end up paying more than what they get back, as well as start getting into debt which will be very hard to get out of. I have two debit cards that give me cash back for purchases, so I can remain debt free and get bonuses!

No, forgetting or unable to pay a bill doesn't happen to everybody, it hasn't happened to me in over 30 years.  I check my credit card on line and pay on line directly from my bank account 2 or 3 times a month.  I don't just pay the amount necessary to prevent interest charges, I pay the full amount, so I'm always ahead of the game.

I use the Discover card, and I use it for every possible purchase.  Right now they have a special deal where you get 5% cash back for gasoline purchases, that gets me at least $10 a month cash back for fuel purchases for 3 months.  In September I'll have to pay city taxes for my own rental property and one of my brother's rental properties that I manage.  That city accepts the Discover card and the total taxes will be over $2000.  Even at 1% cash back, that will add another $20 to my September reward.  If I go on vacation, I charge everything, airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, meals, gasoline and all other purchases.  I use that card for everything, appliances, electronics, furniture, groceries, I even tried to use it to help pay for cars, but they wouldn't accept a credit card for a car purchase.  There have been months (not very many) when I made over $100 on cash back bonuses.  Of course it makes it easier if you have a comfortable limit on your card, Discover allows me a limit of $12,700, my Visa allows me a limit of $12,000, but I only use my Visa when there are purchases that don't accept Discover.  

You're one of the rare ones for sure. You obviously have a comfortable income, if you're not actually wealthy, so it's probably easier for you to stay on top of things. But for a lot of people, who live in less affluent circumstances, having a credit card is the beginning of a downward spiral. Actually if you listen to Dave Ramsey's show, he can tell a ton of stories about people getting into crushing debt even with large incomes.

You're making a few presumptous assumptions, it's not a matter of wealth, it's a matter of life-style choices.

No, I'm not wealthy, absolutely not, if I were wealthy, I wouldn't be on this site for a few extra bucks.  As I said in another posting, I retired at age 57, live off of my military retirement pay (US Army), rental income from my second property and my wife has a part time job, even though I made it clear to her that she didn't need to work.  My income is maybe average, probably even modest, however, I don't have any rental payments, mortgage payments, own two cars without any car payments, and have no other debts.  I don't know who Dave Ramsey is because I don't use any TV service provider, I get my news on the internet, TV here in the US drove me crazy anyway because there's 18 minutes of TV and 12 minutes of commercials.  I don't have a phone, I use Magic Jack, I don't need a cell phone.  We, myself and my wife, only use our clothes dryer in emergencies, we hang up our clothes to dry.  We usually don't use our dishwasher, we wash by hand.  We only use our air conditioner when it gets really uncomfortable, this year I could hear our neighbor's air conditioners on for over a month before we started using ours.  My electical bill is 1/4 to 1/2 of what my neighbors pay and my water bill is about half, and, yes, we shower every day.  Guess what kind of financial attitude allowed me to pay off 2 mortages and pay cash for 2 cars that put me in this financial position in the first place?  I really never found it that hard to do, even with a modest income.

You might not have any idea of how little money you need on a monthly basis when you have no home, car or debt payments.  I suppose my wife and I are unusual, I know we're unusual for the US.  She's European and I've lived over there for many, many years.  People over there are just more frugal than people in the US, although I find the life-style much more comfortable in Europe than it is here in the US.  As far as I'm concerned you people just waste money over here, you make the wrong financial choices and then you cry about your debts.  However, in spite of a modest income, we're able to save at least $1000 a month, some months we can set aside over $2000.

[demaina]

I will generally pay with cash unless I don't have that much with me and then I will use my credit card.  Generally though, I try to avoid using my card.  For online, I'm kinda stuck using my card.

I would like to point out that credit cards aren't bad as long as you keep track of your spending and pay most/all of it off every month.  Some of my friends avoid them cause they think they are bad, but to me it just seems like it gets out of hand for people who get into debt.  The issues I've seen are people who get a $100 bill and only pay the minimum.  Then they charge an addition $100 and get charged interest on the part they didn't pay off last time and that when it starts to snowball out of control.  I have only paid $0.14 cents in fees and that's only cause I sent money to my Payza account.  No interest and no other fees.  So, credit cards aren't inherently bad, but they can cause a problem if not managed.

One thing to consider is if you have the cash to pay for it.  For me, if I don't have the cash in my bank account, I won't buy the item.  Granted that I don't have any monthly charges (like rent) that could go wrong quickly, but that's how I handle it.  I pay my balance off every month and haven't had an issue and I'm going on (I think) 6 years of having a credit card.

I personally don't like debit cards cause of the chance that I could lose it and someone could drain all the money from my account.  At least with a credit card, I could fight it before being forced to pay.  Plus, my company will stop purchases on my card if they seem strange (like buying gas twice within the same day).  They stopped my card when I purchased a bus ticket and then purchased another withing 3 minutes.  I did do the purchase, but since it was strange, they were being safe.  One call and my card was active again.

[webe4angels]

Cash/debit.

If I do not have cash.. then I do not need it.

Take some more orders for my hats, scarves, etc and now quilts..
... Then maybe I can buy it next time.

Not worth it to charge anything in this economy.. Unless of course.. it is an emergency.

Happy Earning   
 

[inertia4]

I prefer cash or debit card. Credit cards are the main reason we all get into financial trouble.

[Knt1984]

Before I met my husband, I hardly ever had cash...it was strictly my debit card(I have never owned a credit card) but now, I mainly do cash...but I think that is more cause we are so broke  If I had money in the bank I would probably still use my debit card lol So I guess I am a combo of both...having a credit card would be nice right about now though...

[timandvicky1]

Debit card so it comes right out of a checking account, I have been thinking about using a credit card for the reward benefits, Im just worried if I would be disciplined enough to make sure I paid it off each month...

[DeliriousKris]

I prefer cash because you can see exactly how much you have to spend.
It's far too easy to just swipe your card and not really think about what you're spending.

[jorhea]

We use our debit card for the most part. It comes right out of our checking account and we get 1% back on every purchase.

[jwallbank]

I pay cash or check for most things but, if it is a big item TV etc. I usually use CC. If i do use my CC, I pay it off within 3 months. If I can't pay it off in 3 months, I don't buy it. I am pretty disiplined about My CC. I never run it up into the thousands of dollars, like I know some do!. I don't even keep a balance of 1 thousand, maybe $700 at the most.