something not everyone has. Making the credit card thing work requires making solid decisions about NOT using it sometimes.
When SWMBO and I got married, we agreed on one very important rule: when you pull the credit card out of your wallet but before you hand it to the clerk, ask one very important question, "When the bill comes at the end of the month, can we pay this off IN FULL?" If the answer is "yes," then go ahead and hand the card to the clerk. If the answer is anything other than an unmodified and unconditional "yes," (like "no", "maybe" or "I don't know") then put the card back in the wallet AND DON'T BUY the whatever-it-is you were about to buy. Then, as follow-up, when the credit card statement comes at the end of the month, pay the full balance like you promised. (Having the full balance automatically paid from your bank account, as shminux says, is an even better idea). In twenty-six years, we have NEVER paid interest on a credit card account.
If you can make the discipline thing work, the way we did it or some other way, then you can go ahead and use the card, and collect the miles or points -- or even better, like with the Master Card from our credit union, take the one percent cash back, smiling all the way to the bank that just gave you a semi-permanent loan of their money. |
