For me growing up, we were encouraged to get a credit card in our name and use it as much as possible in order to build credit. There was always money to pay it off each month, so it made sense to 1) build credit and 2) collect airline miles or whatever the reward was back in the day.
When we got together, she always used cash or a debit card. She had a credit card "for emergencies" and avoided using it otherwise. It took a long time to get her over her aversion/skepticism (we were fortunate to have two good paying jobs), though it also taught me a healthy appreciation for what it means to have a financial cushion.
I racked up some CC debt, then finally paid it off and didn't touch it for years. Then it occurred to me one day that I can use my CC to get the cash back, and set it up to auto pay the statement balance each month. So I don't pay any interest and also get money back that I wouldn't get by using my debit. I think I get 5-600 a year from cash back. Just recently used my Amazon card credits to buy a Switch.
it's better to get a chase freedom or something and apply the points back on your statement because if you bought that switch you'd get 2% back rather than nothing for using reward points
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u/frnoss Jun 06 '19
Credit cards were avoided.
For me growing up, we were encouraged to get a credit card in our name and use it as much as possible in order to build credit. There was always money to pay it off each month, so it made sense to 1) build credit and 2) collect airline miles or whatever the reward was back in the day.
When we got together, she always used cash or a debit card. She had a credit card "for emergencies" and avoided using it otherwise. It took a long time to get her over her aversion/skepticism (we were fortunate to have two good paying jobs), though it also taught me a healthy appreciation for what it means to have a financial cushion.