Owning a credit card

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Should I? There are somethings on ebay I'm interested, but it won't throw me into a shopping spree(I hate shopping)..

Only spend what you have the money in the bank to spend. Don't use the credit part of a credit card. Pay it off immediately. Credit cards build positive credit if they're managed. The only way to keep them managed is to only spend what you have in your pocket (or bank account) to hand over to the credit card company immediately after.

Exactly what she said.

You can find ones that give you stuff back as well. I have an amazon.com credit card, so every time I buy things I would buy anyway (like groceries, etc.) I get points towards Amazon gift certificates. Free stuff.

credit cards are not very smart. even i am smarter than they are. for that reason i "own" credit cards.

If you have very good willpower and don't get very impulsive or compulsive about shopping.

Debit cards are a better choice, because it's impossible to go over what you have in your bank account.

I choose not to get a credit card.

Not true. There are circumstances under which a bank will allow an Nonsufficient Fund amount to occur and then NSF fee will occur.

I'm not a financial adviser. I was once upon a time for a very brief amount of time (it was not for me) but my licenses have been expired for eight years so understand that my advice is based on educational materials and money management seminars, but this is not my area of expertise.

Here's some of my financial tips:

Budget:

Account for everything in your budget, including frivolous spending that most people convince themselves they don't do (or won't do anymore) but always end up doing and then it blows the budget. Overestimate by a reasonable amount... if your electric bill is usually $80/month, budget for $100/month. This way if you have a hard month (broken A/C that sucks electricity or really cold winter nights needing more heat), you'll have it available. Budget for a savings that you will place into a savings account.

Savings Account:
Do not link the savings account to the checking account. Nothing eats your savings faster than Over Draft Protection. Logically, it should be easy to avoid but, for some reason, it happens over and over again with people. There are no special snowflakes.

Checking Account / Debit Card:
Try to use a debit card for all online purchases.

Check a detailed register of all account activity, round your activity up to the next dollar. If your account is going to have an amount that is different from the amount in your accounting, it should be greater. Accounting to the exact penny allows for mistakes which render costly fees. Avoid these by allowing a cushion made from simply rounding up your purchases to the next dollar when accounting in your register.

Do not allow automatic payments. Some payments are unavoidable, like Netflix and other subscriptions, but keep these to an absolute minimum. Keep a calendar of your bill due dates where you can easily access it and schedule time into your routine to pay bills twice each month when they are generally due. There's nothing wrong with paying a bill before its due date.

Credit Card:
Having two cards is ideal. Do not have more. Keep low interest. The creditors will want to raise your credit limit the longer you have the card and this is fine but don't be tempted to spend more. Schedule time to call them every 3 months to demand that they lower the interest rate.

Keeping a balance on the lowest card, as long as payments are made on time, will boost your credit score. You must be very sharp to stay on top of this. It's best to do that when you need a boost on your credit score, like if you are preparing to finance a car or mortgage a home. For every other time, never purchase anything with a credit card that you do not have the money available to pay for that day.

If you're wondering what the purpose of having a credit card is when you can do the same with a debit card, it's to build a positive credit history and have some purchasing power available to you in the case of an actual emergency. But there are plenty of people who get along just fine without the credit card.

Paypal:
Paypal is not a bank. They are not required to adhere to any banking laws. They can do as they please with your money, including holding it without cause for extended periods of time and charging fees for services that any actual bank provides for free. It is best to avoid using Paypal.

I hope this helps.

editing typos as I see them.

I wouldn't refer to it as "owning a credit card". It's more like "a credit card owning you". If you want a credit card for the sole purpose of making purchases online, you would be better off getting a checkcard" from your bank. It's basically a standard ATM card with a Visa (or some other card company) logo on it.

If you want to build a credit history, etc., get a credit card and be cafeful with it. I have two cards that I use regularly, and for both of them I never go anywhere near the credit limit and have both set up for automatic payments so I do not have to worry about late fees, writing checks, etc.

My Amazon is my main one. I also have a PayPal one but I only use it for PayPal/eBay stuff. Only got it because PayPal kept my bank account selected as my default payment method & I had to manually change it every time to use my Amazon card & I was worried that I might forget to select my Amazon one. PayPal card is my default payment method on PayPal now. I don't keep a balance on em; I schedule the payments to be made online a couple business days before they are due; I get interest on my checking account so I rather wait.

I ran up a lot of debt on my Amazon one a few years ago because I didn't feel safe working a job due to a tremor disorder & I tried to get it treated but 1st med made me sick. My SSI was cut off due to my income rite before I got sick & I had to wait a few months for it to start up again. Had to pay money upfront to see docs & I had to pay $300 a month for health insurance that I had through a former job that I was continuing under COBRA. The company I was working at last started doing a credit-card thing through US bank & I was approved rite before I got sick. After a couple month of running up a lot of debt on my Amazon one; I got something in from US bank about how I could transfer a balance to em for a fixed rate of 3.99% for the life of the balance. I decided to quit seeing docs because the meds kept making me sick & I payed off all the bills with my Amazon card & I had about 5 months left on my health insurance that I payed off as well. I transferred the balance to the US bank one. I still owe 44houndred but the balance was about 95hundred when I transferred it. Amazon was charging me about 20% for interest. The offer from US bank saved my a$$. I've always paid at least the minimum payment every month before it was due. The moral is that credit cards can be very helpful if you are responsible & lucky.

I would also recommend setting fraud alerts on your credit after you get it. I do a lot of stuff online & I got calls a couple times because they noticed some suspicious activity on my Amazon card. I didn't have to pay for those charges. i also have a LifeLock membership but you can set the fraud alerts yourself for free every 90days

Sure. Just make sure to keep your credit utilization ratio low to maintain a high Credit rating. I actually increased my credit rating by 150 points by opening another credit card just for the sake of expanding my available credit (Thus lowering the credit utilization ratio), and now my credit offers are tending towards 12.99% instead of what was usually 24%.

So basically, it's fine to have a credit card if you don't use it.

Some companies reduce your credit if you go a while without using it. If you only use a card 1ce a month or less & you have more than one; you should alternate em. It's easier to use a credit-card than it is to rite out checks so I keep my cards in my wallet & never carry my check-book. I pay my cell & cable/net bill online with em to. Pay the statement balances before they are due. Only debt is on that US bank one which I'm slowly paying off; about the only time I use that is when I go shopping at that store because I get more points there but I very seldom go there & I use it every couple months or so if I'm busing something cheap online off a site that doesn't have other cards saved; just so it would get used

But that's not a problem if you never use it anyway.

It might make a difference in the future if you need to take out a lone for something like tring to buy a house. I heard employers can check potential hiries credit-scores

Credit rating isn't the same thing as the balance on a credit card. Credit card companies don't lower people's credit rating for not using their credit cards, do they? I don't think they can.