what's your favorite credit card

[alison]

So, we have CCs, but--back to the original question--my favorite CC is the one on which I have no debt.

I agree! My dh is German, and I know that many of Germans don't even have credit cards. My FIL and MIL carry around thousands of dollars in cash to pay for cars, appliances, and you name it -- in full.

When they came to visit, they'd withdraw hundreds of dollars in 20s from the ATM.

[GrayMatterWife]

I agree! My dh is German, and I know that many of Germans don't even have credit cards. My FIL and MIL carry around thousands of dollars in cash to pay for cars, appliances, and you name it -- in full.

When they came to visit, they'd withdraw hundreds of dollars in 20s from the ATM.

I relate!! The first car we bought, years ago, cost $14K or so (it was so awesome--almost brand-new Ford F-150 supercab--I miss that truck). I didn't think anyone would take a check for a car (I later learned that it is common to pay for a car by check). And I thought it might raise all sorts of red flags if I walked in with $100 bills (why I thought this, I have no idea). But, to any degree, I went to the bank, took out the money in $20s, and put the $20s in a ZipLock bag, and tucked the bag in my purse (this ugly, old $15 purse).

When the closer girl asked how I wanted to pay, I said, "Oh, with money."

And she told me who to make the check out to.

And I said, "No, I mean with cash."

She looked shocked, and said, "Oh, Ok! Uh, we take cash."

And we sat down at the closing table, and I took out the bag, unzipped it, and started counting, "$20, 40, 60, 80 ....", making little $100 piles. The closing girl called for a store manager, for security. People from all over the store came to stare. My husband was so embarrassed, he tucked his head down and whispered, "I told you we could have written a check! They think we are drug dealers!!"

We use Delta Amex and American Airlines Mastercard. They get lots of use. Flying to Florida first class free this week on points from them. Totally rocks!

[Vishenka69]

Abigail, my DH is totally like you. He also wakes up in cold sweat thinking how we're going to pay the mortgage and his loans, even though that's the only debt we've ever had. Growing up in NYC, I never felt comfortable carrying too much cash on me and still don't. We use credit cards for the benefits they offer, like cash back or upgrading to first class. I also know that if there's ever a problem with a large purchase, Amex will take care of it. Plus when using credit cards, I don't have to keep receipts for taxes or tickets or anything else that can get lost. I just find them more convenient.

[HouseofWool]

The one that someone else pays.

I relate!! The first car we bought, years ago, cost $14K or so (it was so awesome--almost brand-new Ford F-150 supercab--I miss that truck). I didn't think anyone would take a check for a car (I later learned that it is common to pay for a car by check). And I thought it might raise all sorts of red flags if I walked in with $100 bills (why I thought this, I have no idea). But, to any degree, I went to the bank, took out the money in $20s, and put the $20s in a ZipLock bag, and tucked the bag in my purse (this ugly, old $15 purse).

When the closer girl asked how I wanted to pay, I said, "Oh, with money."

And she told me who to make the check out to.

And I said, "No, I mean with cash."

She looked shocked, and said, "Oh, Ok! Uh, we take cash."

And we sat down at the closing table, and I took out the bag, unzipped it, and started counting, "$20, 40, 60, 80 ....", making little $100 piles. The closing girl called for a store manager, for security. People from all over the store came to stare. My husband was so embarrassed, he tucked his head down and whispered, "I told you we could have written a check! They think we are drug dealers!!"

LOL! I thought I was the only one. I have seen close family members go into debt over credit cards, so I have never owned one. I bought my first car in high school with my hard earned waitress money. My dad drove me out to the house of the guy selling the car, I pulled out $6,500, $20.00 bills and less. My dad was SOOO embarrassed. This was also the same time my town had a bunch of fake $100.00 bills going around, so I was afraid the bank of all places would give me a fake bill. I had it in my mind that I was going to get that car. I always wondered what the man thought when I left his house with a pile of 1's, 5's, 10's and 20's.

I still do not own any Credit cards, only debit. Maybe someday.....

[Meenah]

"I told you we could have written a check! They think we are drug dealers!!"

My first belly laugh of the weekend, and coffee all over my keyboard!!!

[bokelley]

We use Discover! I love the cash back, we put everything on it, bills, gas, groceries. We pay it off each month and just collect the cash back, at the end of they year we get like 400-500 cash back. Merry Christmas to us!!!

Oh and I have had great security protection from Discover, when someone took our CC number, they called and took care of everything. It was so easy.

[radwife]

I have an Alaska visa that I use fairly regularly and have some monthly charges that hit it (e.g. cell phone bill). The $75 fee ends up paying itself off with using the $50 companion fare. I pay the balance off monthly and I am really good at using the airline miles I accumulate.

We also just got an amex through costco that gives you 3% back on gas and restaurants, 2% on travel, and 1% on everything else.

[Amiens]

We have had a Toys R Us card that for regular purchases we received 2% back and for items purchased at Toys R Us and Babies R Us we received 5% back in the form of gift cards to use at TRU and BRU. It helped many a time, as that is how diapers and Christmas were sometimes afforded during residency. We manage to pay it off each month.

Currently, we use a Chase Blue Sapphire card, that we have been really happy with. It gets paid off each month, but we use it because like the flexibility of the rewards. We can redeem our points for anything- cash, airline tickets, gift cards, products, etc.

[peggyfromwastate]

We get tons of rewards with our Chase Toys R Us card-- 4% back for purchases at R Us. We only use it there, but I keep getting reward certificates sent to me b/c I use it too much.

We have a Pentagon Federal Credit Union mastercard that is awesome for everything else. It is a cheesy bank, bad customer service, but really low rates. I think it's for federal employees, but I think there's a way to get in if you're not a gov't employee... Anyway, 5% back at gas, 1% everywhere else, unlimited rewards...

We have other cards, too. Too many cards, but that's how it is... Those 2 are my favorites. I've found Discover isn't accepted in many places and it's really hard to close your account (they make it hard), and I pretty much use the AmEx for Costco only-- the executive membership is linked to the card.

[ladymoreta]

I'm glad you said that about the Toys R Us card! I signed up for it to get 10% off our crib, matress, and dresser, but I was planning on paying it off and cancelling it. I think I'll hang onto it, and use it more. I should have paid more attention when I signed up for it!

[Amiens]

I forgot to add about the TRU card, when we signed up 10 years ago it was 2% back and 5% back, they have since changed it to 4% and 1%. We only use it at TRU during the holidays.

We have this one too; however, we were not required to have any kind of minimum to open the money market account. In fact, the only money sitting the account is our cash rewards. We also have AmEx which gives us 5% cash back on gas and grocery after you spend an annual amount of $6500. We think the Schwab card is better, though because 2% is a decent return on a credit card and we recieve it monthly as cash (rather than a credit to our account). We also pay our cards off each month.

We both use this card as well. There was no minimum to open the account. Considering we each spend about $1000 each on the card, with 2% cash back, that means we're earning a total of $40 a month to just use our card for everyday purchases--we just pay it off every month. It's great!