Anyone else play the 0% credit card game?

O

old medic

Senior Member
Location
Western NC
For years I hated having Credit Cards... to easy to get caught up in buying stuff at outrageous interest rates....
About 10 years ago we owed a few $1000 to a few companies, and went to close all but our bank CC @ 10%,
and consolidate everything to it. A payment of 5% minimum, its paid in a couple years.... But of course things come up, break, ECT...
Funny thing was the major name companies, not wanting you to close the account, make offers.... like 0% for a year.
So we Consolidated everything to Discover, But the others still didnt want us to close...and offers came in....
So at 11 months... We took anothers offer, and moved the remaining balance, with a 1.5% fee for another year at 0%....
Rinse and Repeat.... LOL... but theres more....
Store cards.... These can be killers... 29% interest is not uncommon... but again they have 0% offers...
Large purchase, this many months, 0 interest IF paid off, but do accrue the interest...so pay it off...
If not its only a few % of the balance to slide it to your 0% balance account....
Of our CC debt... 95% is at 0% interest....
We do have the savings to pay it off today.... but WE are getting more interest on that money than using theirs......
 

Before I found flyertalk website, I didn't want to apply for more than 2 CCs. Then I learned the ropes of manufactured spending and how people met the required spend to earn CC sign up bonuses. That was in 2013 and the yrs that followed were the golden yrs of MS. We were able to stay at high end hotels, travel on biz and first class using hotel points and airline miles, not counting cashback we also earned. Since late 2018, a lot of rules have changed making it hard to meet sign up bonuses. It was the best of times for CC sign ups.
 

I have 1 credit card and I only use it for emergencies mostly. I got it so I could gain a credit score. It helps when something is out of budget range.
 
Don M. said:
We use our credit cards strictly as a "convenience", and Never carry a balance. The last time we paid ANY interest was probably in the mid-1980's when we made our last house payment. About once a year, I check the "cash back" balance, and transfer that to any current balance.
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same here
 
One credit card, no clue what the interest rate is since there is never a balance owed. 5% cask back when card was used to pay the cash balance on the new car my wife wanted. Paid that balance in full.
 
We Mastercarded our house...built it and charged it and paid it off monthly. The tax district was trying to determine value and we dumped out an envelope of master card receipts...yes, this is what we paid fort this big old joint. Of course we built it ourselves...lol.
 
I'm very disciplined when it comes to money so I never charged more than I can pay off each month, even if it's a $1,000, with the exception below. I haven't paid interest on my credit cards for about 48 years. Recently I was able to take advantage of an American Express promotion (I am an existing customer). I made a $3,000 charge last month and AmEx was offering fee free, 0% payments for up to 18 months using their "Pay It Plan It" plan. The promo ended 5/24; I took it for 12 months. I had opened an additional Chase Visa account in January 2019 at the urging of the banker because they were offering 18 months at 0%. At the time I thought I'd be starting the remodeling of my kitchen and getting new flooring but that hasn't happened yet. I never take the 0% balance transfer offers because there are fees involved.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I'm very disciplined when it comes to money so I never charged more than I can pay off each month, even if it's a $1,000, with the exception below. I haven't paid interest on my credit cards for about 48 years. Recently I was able to take advantage of an American Express promotion (I am an existing customer). I made a $3,000 charge last month and AmEx was offering fee free, 0% payments for up to 18 months using their "Pay It Plan It" plan. The promo ended 5/24; I took it for 12 months. I had opened an additional Chase Visa account in January 2019 at the urging of the banker because they were offering 18 months at 0%. At the time I thought I'd be starting the remodeling of my kitchen and getting new flooring but that hasn't happened yet. I never take the 0% balance transfer offers because there are fees involved.
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That's one of those can't pass it up situations. I don't generally carry a balance either, but have one card I use only for high dollar purchases if a deal comes up.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
At the time I thought I'd be starting the remodeling of my kitchen and getting new flooring but that hasn't happened yet. I never take the 0% balance transfer offers because there are fees involved.
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That's actually why we now have so many accounts now... we are basically rebuilding a house for our retirement home. Lowes, Home Depot and others making sure the purchase's meets the 0% criteria....
We mostly pay off the current balance on any interest gaining accounts...
Its kill me that we own 2 houses free and clear, but cant borrow money against them because they are considered of less value than the land there on.... But the Bank offered me $150K+ If id take a construction loan and build a new house on the same land...
 
nothing good about a credit card. paid mine off 4 years ago and closed the accounts. the points, rewards, free shirts, cash back, credit score etc... all gimmicks to get us to use their card and go in debt. debit card or cash works fine.
 
Just the debit
But, had to show some credit history in order to have a credit rating
We've had zero debt for years

so
Got a CC
Used it

Funny thing, the credit union has this time thing....zero %.....for 21 days (not one month)
So, auto pay doesn't work so well when trying to keep a zero balance

I do use it from time to time, but give myself a note in my 'things to do' notepad
Pay CC by such and such date
I usually just wait a few days until the charge shows up in their system
Hate notes
 
Don M. said:
We use our credit cards strictly as a "convenience", and Never carry a balance. The last time we paid ANY interest was probably in the mid-1980's when we made our last house payment. About once a year, I check the "cash back" balance, and transfer that to any current balance.
Click to expand...
Yep same here, we pay off our cards every month. And each card has "money back %" when you use them. I love getting a check from our different card companies just for using their card!
 
Not having a credit card is a royal pain in the butt. Good luck renting a car or hotel room.

I shred debit cards when they arrive in the mail. Credit cards have much better safeguards against fraud and theft. Plus they provide access to your bank accounts.

From Frank Abagnale, the "Catch Me if You Can" thief
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/27/deb...-expert-and-ex-con-artist-frank-abagnale.html:

Don’t use a debit card
Want to avoid identity theft? Never, ever use a debit card. I don’t own one. I never have and I never will. I don’t recommend them to anyone — not my family, not my friends, not you.
As I said at the Google talk, a debit card is certainly and truly the worst financial tool ever given to the American consumer. Why? It’s simple: Every time you use one, you put your money and your bank account at risk.
Instead, use a credit card. I use one for practically all of my purchases, even when I’m traveling abroad. With credit cards, federal law limits my liability if there’s an unauthorized use of my card.
When I use a credit card, I’m spending the credit card company’s money every day until I pay my bill at the end of the month. Meanwhile, my money is earning interest in a bank account.

If there’s a large data breach (and you know that there will be) and a criminal does somehow get my credit card number and charges $1 million on it, I’m protected and my credit card company will cancel the card and send a new one within the next couple of days.
I won’t be responsible for any purchases made. If the same thing happens and the criminals get my debit card information, however, I could lose the money in my bank account and have a difficult and lengthy time recovering it.

Also, keep your check-writing to a minimum and be vigilant about examining your bank statements frequently.
 
CC paid off each and every month, if I can't afford it I don't buy it. Been down that road and not going back. Did have some fun way back when they printed coupons of a quarter or 50cents in the papers. I would go to the bank and cash them.
LOL , by just cashing them the bank figured out that it was costing the company offering it about 1.75 each time. My small way of fighting back!! 🇨🇦 :devilish::ROFLMAO:
 
Gary O' said:
Just the debit
But, had to show some credit history in order to have a credit rating
We've had zero debt for years

so
Got a CC
Used it

Funny thing, the credit union has this time thing....zero %.....for 21 days (not one month)
So, auto pay doesn't work so well when trying to keep a zero balance

I do use it from time to time, but give myself a note in my 'things to do' notepad
Pay CC by such and such date
I usually just wait a few days until the charge shows up in their system
Hate notes
Click to expand...
Your credit union doesn't have an auto pay system available? I know credit unions don't have quite the same features as banks but it would seem they should at least have that feature. I have a credit union account but no credit card with them. All my credit card companies have auto pay. On a specific date (of my choosing) before the due dates, of course, I set it to automatically take out the statement balances from my checking account. I pay off the entire balances on my cards each month except if there's a 0% interest promo deal. Even then, I don't stretch it out to the max allowable time.
@macgeek Check out @StarSong's reply.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Your credit union doesn't have an auto pay system available? I know credit unions don't have quite the same features as banks but it would seem they should at least have that feature.
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Those were almost my exact words

When I said, you mean it's 21 days after each transaction?
No auto pay to eliminate the interest gouge?

No


and

no

I think it's the only credit union in town

I have a few bucks in savings there, but most my banking is with, well, a bank
 
use 3 CC's pay off each month use the reward point money and call it funny money.....use cash for small purchases and at small mom and pop stores. use cash where there is a discount for cash.
 
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