Plastic

[dropthatpuck]

Multiple Choice, Private Voting.

Read to the bottom before voting.

Why the poll? I'm doing bills :mad:

[Markt]

How could a poll possibly be this long and not include a Freddy Meyer option? :D

[Rimbaud]

I got confused with all the options, so I voted for everything. I figured some of the things I voted for were right.

[Zudnic]

I have a few credit cards and I tend not to cancel them unless they have an annual fee. I tend to move from card to card as my needs change. For example I needed some airline miles to book an overseas flight, so I got the United card. The fee was more than paid for by the fact that the miles bonus got me over the hump to get a $1600 flight for free.

My day to day card is the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex. Annual fee's only $30 and the points are transferrable to any airline at a 1:1 ratio (except United). If you pay it off every month it can work out pretty well in the long run.

[eaglehockeyrules]

I have one credit card that was issued to me by work, and it is for work (travel) purposes only.

[dropthatpuck]

I have a few credit cards and I tend not to cancel them unless they have an annual fee.

Someone told me that cancelling cards is a negative on your credit rating - which makes no sense to me at all. :confused:

[Zudnic]

Someone told me that cancelling cards is a negative on your credit rating - which makes no sense to me at all. :confused:
Well there are positives and negatives. Your credit score is dependent on the percentage of credit you are using (e.g., if you carry a $50 balance on a total credit line of $100) as well as the total amount of credit you have. Your score is also dependent on your history - if you've had a card for a long time and had no late payments, even on cards with zero balances.

[Haunted]

Also, lots of inquiries are a negative. If you jump from card to card, it shows up as a negative with inquiry after inqury, and constantly opening and closing accounts.

Remember, your score is a rating on basically how much money the bank can/will make off you. If you have a high balance, but make payments on time (and pay over the minumum), it actually looks pretty good. If you're the type that has a card with a 0 balance and never use it, they know they probably won't make much money off you: lower score.

The score has less to do with how good you are at managing money, and much more to do with how much money they can make off you compared to your risk of non-payment. Credit cards love me because I have a high (too high) balance, but am never late, and pay well over the minimum. They know they'll make a killing off me. :(

[St. Clown]

I use one rewards credit card for online purchases every month and I pay off the balance every month. I use my debit card that also has rewards, though not as attractive as the credit card, for everything else.

[Zudnic]

Once upon a time debit cards carried higher risk for fraud than credit cards, because if it got stolen and emptied, it was your actual funds that got stolen rather than credit.

Is this still true?

[dropthatpuck]

If you're the type that has a card with a 0 balance and never use it, they know they probably won't make much money off you: lower score.(

HTF can they give you a low score for not having a balance? I'd have to imagine there's some sort of protection for the consumer to prevent that sort of thing from happening.

[Haunted]

HTF can they give you a low score for not having a balance? I'd have to imagine there's some sort of protection for the consumer to prevent that sort of thing from happening.
I won't say low (necessarily), but lower. They want a highly active account. Lotsa charges, lotsa payments. Also, getting a CC early helps too, to develop a history sooner. History is important in the score as well.

[Markt]

Once upon a time debit cards carried higher risk for fraud than credit cards, because if it got stolen and emptied, it was your actual funds that got stolen rather than credit.

Is this still true?

It's still true that it's your money instead of the bank's. My wife's friend's card got stolen. They emptied the checking account completely. The bank has a helpful feature where any overcharges will be drawn from your savings account. So, they emptied the savings account too. The bank has another helpful feature where the debit card basically turns into a charge card when the account is empty. So... they put their money in the bank like you're supposed to, and ended up with no cash and $4K in charges. That's before the bad check charges started coming in at $25 a pop.

The bank immediately conceded that it was theft/fraud, but told them they couldn't give them money back until their investigation was complete. Three months later, I don't think they have their money yet.

All of this electronic banking and card-based payment is convenient, but I think there are some pretty strong arguments for keeping a couple of stacks in the safe.

[MikeAnderson]

HTF can they give you a low score for not having a balance? I'd have to imagine there's some sort of protection for the consumer to prevent that sort of thing from happening.
Not at all. Why should a bank loan you money if they can't make anything off it?

I lost any illusion that my credit score is important about a year ago. I have since cancelled all my credit cards, and I don't buy things I can't afford.

"But what will you do when you want to buy a house?" Simple, I'll have a plenty large down payment, and work with a lender that does manual underwriting. That is, does more than run my FICO score through a computer to determine wheither I can borrow or not.

The only way to keep a high credit score is to keep plenty of debt that keeps accruing interest.

Payment history: 35%
Outstanding debt: 30%
Credit history: 15%
Max limits: 10%
Recent applications for credit: 10%

http://www.everythingre.com/FICO_Scores

[LynahFan]

HTF can they give you a low score for not having a balance? I'd have to imagine there's some sort of protection for the consumer to prevent that sort of thing from happening.
I've heard from insiders that the industry term for people (like me) who pay their balances in full is "deadbeats." They hate me - I just use the infrastructure that they built for making money for my own personal convenience without paying them a dime*. And I laugh, pardon the expression, all the way to the bank.

*yes, I realize that the merchants pay them a fee and pass that cost on to me, but they'd do that even if I paid in cash, so it doesn't make any difference.

[French Rage]

Only have a ExxonMobil card, and that's only to build a credit rating. Otherwise, I would just pay debit. Once I graduate, I'll probably get an all-purpose, like Visa or Discover, but that's only be for big items (TV, washer/dryer, etc.), the kind of stuff that even someone with a decent income wouldnt be able to pay for at once. For other stuff, clothes, movies, food, etc., I intend to pay cash and only buy stuff when I can afford to do so. I dont plan on being one of those idiots these days who has everything on credit, mortgaged against an unrealistic home value about to bust, paying off one credit card for another.

[ShirtlessBob]

All I know is after absent-mindedly using my CC for Blockbuster and beer money, it gets up there, and now I'm paying for it. I'm probably going to need a loan to pay off my credit card, but I'll do that when I consolidate my student loans after graduation.

I need to hire an accountant, because I am stupid with money.

[USAFA Bulldog]

I think we have a new record for most complex poll :)
, but it bites because as Markt said there no Freddy option. ;)

I have all my cards paid off, first time in a long time. Unfortunately it also comes at hockey season, we'll it was good having zero balances while it lasted.

[walrus]

*yes, I realize that the merchants pay them a fee
2 or 3 percent for a small company, not sure what a place like BEst Buy pays but it must be smaller. Another reason stores want you to get one of their cards instead of using Visa or MC. American Express charges higher %, maybe 4 or 5 %. :eek:

[St. Clown]

Once upon a time debit cards carried higher risk for fraud than credit cards, because if it got stolen and emptied, it was your actual funds that got stolen rather than credit.

Is this still true?
That's largely dependent upon the bank. USBank has a zero-liability on debit cards, and Wells Fargo does as well, IIRC. I think most of the larger banks have similar/same policies. When I was in Europe my debit card was stolen by gypsies, I was lost $50 out of my checking account, they rang up over $500 from a camera shop on that card. About a year later USBank went to the sero-liability.

So the only advice I could give would be to check with your bank. And then see how they process theft/fraud claims. I got my money right away, but that may have been due to the relatively small amount taken from my account.