• Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Don’t pay by credit card.

    This is bad advice for anyone with good credit and spending habits. A credit card with rewards is just free money if you’re responsible with it. I haven’t paid interest in over a decade and have made thousands from rewards.

    • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Yep, the rich are rich because they borrow other peoples money. 0% free interest lines are about the best discount you can get on anything. I get to make the interest while you hold the loan? Sign me up! Siri, remind me in 11 months to pay off the X loan.

      • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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        2 months ago

        Surely you know that’s too good to be true. The card issuer charges fees to the merchant and then throws a portion of the money you just gave them back to you. But the prices of products are being driven up and the merchants aren’t eating them.

        • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Depends on the situation honestly. We offer financing through my work for our clients and the 0% option is still a good deal. Not all of them are designed to screw people.

    • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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      2 months ago

      You pay with your data lol

      The reason why corpos been able to price gouge the peasants is particulaly to tp them having access to data this granular. Same reason why they want dynamic pricing schemes.

    • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Not to mention the security that comes from being able to not pay if you get scammed for whatever reason. I paid for a course at a community college with a credit card, but then my schedule changed so I tried to cancel the class before it even started. The college gave me a whole runaround, and whether it was willful or just simple incompetence, I wasn’t able to get a refund. So I called my credit card company and explained the situation to them, and they resolved the whole thing for me. Sometimes even mentioning that you’ll refer such a problem to the fraud department at your credit card company is enough to get someone to back down and give you a refund.

      Credit cards have issues, especially if you have problems with using them responsibly, but that’s one particular way in which they can save you a lot of headache.

    • ALostInquirer@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I haven’t paid interest in over a decade and have made thousands from rewards.

      I’m not too familiar with credit cards, do you mean this in a literal money sense or something more complex, i.e. the value of rewards & money?

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        We pay for EVERYTHING on our credit card, shared account with my partner. 2% money back. Pay it off in full every month. Zero interest paid, thousands of monies back.

      • Zak@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        One of the better credit card rewards is a small percentage cash back, so literally free money. Money is fungible though, so any discounts on things you were going to buy anyway are effectively the same thing.

    • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      There are no free money. These are loans. And making them attractive with cashbacks and rewards is done to trap unresponsible spenders. 95% of the time you don’t need to borrow money from the bank, unless you are in emergency or you are to invest these to achieve some payback (e.g. a loan to open your business).

      • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        These are loans. And making them attractive with cashbacks and rewards is done to trap unresponsible spenders

        I am aware, which is why I specifically said

        This is bad advice for anyone with good credit and spending habits.

        For people who aren’t irresponsible spenders, it’s a bad financial decision not to take the short term bank loan. Sure, I don’t need to spend the banks money because I have enough in my checking account to cover it. But by not doing so, I lose money on any transactions that don’t charge me a fee to run my card.

        If you’re not responsible enough to use a credit card and not destroy your finances, absolutely do not use them. But for those of us who are, it’s a dumb idea to eschew it just because you have the money on hand. Like I said, I haven’t paid interest in a decade and have made thousands from my normal spending habits.

        If I followed your advice, I would be objectively worse off, because I’d be losing money from my rewards for no benefit whatsoever. And I can guarantee I’d be materially worse off, since my credit card is the reason my credit is as good as it is, and that bullshit has a pervasive and perverse effect on your life. It’s not only loans that are impacted, but insurance, housing and employment can be as well. So maybe I should have left good credit off, since responsible spending will build your credit up even if it is bad currently.

        TL;DR - responsible credit card use is a good thing, and foregoing it just because you have money on hand is a bad financial decision. Pay that shit off immediately and there’s no material downside and you still get all the benefits.

        • zbyte64@awful.systems
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          2 months ago

          Irresponsible vs responsible is how the credit card companies frame it, but I think most of the time it’s about luck. The kind of luck where the primary income gets hit by a car or someone in the family gets cancer.

      • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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        2 months ago

        Yes, but you can also do a chargeback if the company you purchased from sold you a lousy product and isn’t being reasonable about returning it. If you had paid with cash, that cash is GONE.

        Each method has its pros and cons.

        • DMBFFF@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          If you had paid with cash, that cash is GONE.

          not if I have a receipt.

      • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        And? How has that harmed you overall?

        Not saying I like that they track everything but I’ve yet to see it impact me personally.