Poll:Using credit cards for monthly spending

[harley]

We have (as most here probably do) the full amount automatically paid from our checking account each month. We would have to go out of our way to "let it slide."

I don't do autopay. I like to see what I've charged, so I have all my CCs set up with due dates somewhere around the 20th of each month. I have a reminder that pops up on my laptop in the first week of each month to pay the cards. I haven't missed a payment in pretty much forever.

I've noticed while traveling in greater Chicagoland that some filling stations have different fuel prices for cash and credit. Whether the difference matches the reward my card offers, I'm not sure.

In the places I've seen the cash price is usually 5 cents/gal cheaper, which only works out to around 2%. I can usually beat or equal that with the appropriate cashback card. And I don't have to go inside to pay.

 

[SpinDoctorTX]

We use our Chase Freedom for almost everything- all set to auto pay. Usually 3% cash back & on certain categories 5% quarterly (you have to activate that which is silly).

I wish they would take it at the car dealership- I'd love the reward for a 15-20k purchase (or more by the time I buy a certified used again). I guess they don't want to pay the merchant fee .

 

[Accidental Retiree]

I haven't seen many places that offer a discount for cash, so even though we may all be paying for it out of our other pocket, at least we are getting some of it back using these cards.

We were in one our favorite small towns in Texas, and I was surprised to see a note at the cash register saying that there’d be a 3.99% surcharge for credit card payments.

That was a new twist. We paid cash.

 

[COcheesehead]

We were in one our favorite small towns in Texas, and I was surprised to see a note at the cash register saying that there’d be a 3.99% surcharge for credit card payments.

That was a new twist. We paid cash.

That’s why Texas is a whole ’nother country. That ain’t happen’n many other places.

 

[Cobra9777]

We were in one our favorite small towns in Texas, and I was surprised to see a note at the cash register saying that there’d be a 3.99% surcharge for credit card payments.

That was a new twist. We paid cash

That’s why Texas is a whole ’nother country. That ain’t happen’n many other places.

I've never seen such a sign, but evidently it became legal recently. Here's a story in the Dallas Morning News from November of 2018:

Texas law banning surcharges for credit card payments was overturned. Now you’ll pay more

Previously, it was OK to offer a cash discount. But illegal to add a surcharge for using credit.

However, Texas is not alone by a long shot. The story also says this:

A study by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, a Washington, D.C., law firm, reports that 42 states allow credit card surcharges. Six states ban them: Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts. California and New York have ongoing court cases that will probably bring the same results we've seen in Texas.

 

[Katsmeow]

I said I used it for all my spending but really I was use for all possible spending. There are a few things that simply require payment from the bank account (local water/garbage bill) and there is simply no credit card option. There are some situations where there is no credit card option or a fee is charged that is exorbitant. We are doing some remodeling and that work is almost entirely done by check.

But for everything else:

1. I use the Amazon Prime Visa card for purchases at Amazon and Whole Foods

2. Everywhere else that I can, I use American Express Blue Cash preferred.

 

[mountainsoft]

For many years I paid "most" bills with our non-cash-back credit cards, paying off the balance in full every month.

Earlier this year I switched to a Citi 2% Cash Back Mastercard and everything now gets billed to that card. Of course, I still pay it off every month.

The only thing we use our debit cards for is gas, since the gas stations charge an extra 10 cents per gallon with credit cards. Or the few rare times we make a cash withdrawal. I've had the same $20 bill in my wallet for the last couple of months, I almost never pay with cash.

 

[rk911]

all of our routine monthly bills are ACH debited from the checking account. i receive e-mail from the vendor indicating the amount and date and add that to the Quicken register. credit cards are set to also auto pay from the checking acct but again an e-mail alerts me that a statement is ready which i use to reconcile the acct. onr annual bill still requires a paper check as does the housekeeper, lawn guys, snow removal guys, etc. semi-annual auto insurance, property tax, fed and state quarterly taxes are also debited from checking but i have to set each up as the e-bill comes in. only takes a few minutes a day.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

Well, darn, they don't take it at the car dealerships??
And here i was hoping to use one of mine within the week to buy a used car.

I actually thought I saw a post recently from someone who did just that

 

[DrRoy]

I use:

Amazon VISA for Amazon purchases: 5% back at Amazon and Whole Foods, 1% all others

Costco Citi VISA for Costco purchases: 2% Costco, 4% Costco Gas, 3% restaurants, 1% others

+1

IHG card at HI
Delta card for tickets

 

[steelyman]

Regarding possible surcharges when paying by credit card: it may be short-sighted to do that in light of disappearing brick and mortar stores.

 

[DeborahB]

I have my utilities, mortgage and credit card bills paid out of my checking account at Ally. It simplifies my life. My SS and other income go into that account. But I use credit cards for all my purchases, for convenience. I pay everything off when due. If I can pay with PayPal, I do, and it is funded by Amex. Then the Amex bill is paid by Ally. Everything is on autopay, but I get paper bills. I discovered I can’t track electronic bills - I forget to look at them. So I gave up.

 

[Car-Guy]

I didn't vote since none of the categories really fit my spending habits. I do use my cash back CC's for most (but not all) of my on-line bill paying.

I pay most (but not all) of my in store purchases over ~$25 with a cash back CC. Less than ~$25 and I'll usually just pay cash.

In all cases, I pay the CC off each month. Almost never use debit cards.

 

[Chuckanut]

I hope people realize this cash back is just coming out of your other pocket. Service providers charge merchants more for cash back cards, and guess who the merchants pass that along to, yes, you. tanstaafl

Perhaps. My understanding is that those who carry a balance and pay interest are shouldering most of the burden.

 

[FreeBear]

Well it's fairly apparent that the CC is the way to go. I've just been worried about overspending due to the ease of "letting it ride". Don't know why I worry about debt so much (because we have none I guess). Just seems less stressful to pay as you go.



I'm going to try going the CC route for a while and see if our spending habits change.



Hard to move from the savings mode to the spending mode

We also use rewards credit cards as much as possible, with auto pay on everything. As for spending too much, we have a yearly budget based on our target SWR and monthly guidelines. We track spending by rolling up CC and checking statements. If something gets out of hand, we adjust. We know exactly we’re the money goes. We’ve greatly reduced restaurant spending, except when traveling, since we weren’t getting full value. Guess we’ve become decent cooks!

 

[euro]

Well, darn, they don't take it at the car dealerships??
And here i was hoping to use one of mine within the week to buy a used car.

I actually thought I saw a post recently from someone who did just that

This varies from dealership to dealership. For my last two cars, I was able to use my cash-back credit card for the first $3000, and $10'000 respectively. The rest I had to cover with a check (or, I suppose I could have financed it).
I have heard of other dealers who didn't take ANY credit cards at all, so you'll need to check you own situation.

 

[pb4uski]

^^^^ In line with my understanding.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We do not use or own Debit cards as they are really the least safe of all the plastic. Initially Debit cards were for those who did not have enough credit to get a proper credit card. Yes they have morphed to be more main stream, and are often used like credit cards by their owners, but we cannot think of any logical reason to even own one, especially when one has $25 - $75k credit available on 2 or 3 credit cards. Seems like false economy, just pay the credit card off every month like most of us do. 1 or 2 less cards to carry.

 

[FreeBear]

Nah.... I pay the same as the person paying cash or by debit card or check or even by a credit card with no rewards.

Yes, since most merchants just roll the CC fees into the price everyone pays, i feel I incurred a 1-4% “fine” whenever I fail to pay with a rewards CC

 

[gwraigty]

We do not use or own Debit cards as they are really the least safe of all the plastic. Initially Debit cards were for those who did not have enough credit to get a proper credit card. Yes they have morphed to be more main stream, and are often used like credit cards by their owners, but we cannot think of any logical reason to even own one, especially when one has $25 - $75k credit available on 2 or 3 credit cards. Seems like false economy, just pay the credit card off every month like most of us do. 1 or 2 less cards to carry.

It's extremely rare for me to be someplace that doesn't accept credit cards, but it has happened. Just a couple of examples. Last year I was at a buffet reception after a funeral with a cash bar that wouldn't accept credit cards for purchases under a certain amount. (Yes, the food was free, but I wanted a cranberry ginger ale to have something to drink with my meal.)

Several years ago, I had a cart full of groceries at a local chain that only accepted one credit card at the time. That day, the credit card terminal was down. Nothing like that had happened before or since at any store I shop at. But, obviously not impossible. (Sure, I could have walked out, left the employees to restock everything in my cart, and shopped all over again at the higher priced grocery store down the street. Nope. I withdrew cash from the in-store ATM to pay.)

Most places have an ATM on premises to circumvent the rare issues like this, so I believe it's prudent to have at least one ATM/debit card.

About safety: my young daughter didn't have a credit card at the time. She was on an extended stay with friends. She used her bank card as a debit at 2 places. It hadn't left her possession during the transactions. Shortly afterward, her bank contacted her about a suspicious debit. Someone had tried to buy $160 worth of groceries. They cancelled her card and mailed her a replacement immediately. At no time was she out any money.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We use bill pay for our bills from our checking account. We only use CC’s for big purchases. We use cash or debit cards for everything else. I don’t want to bother to go through CC bills every month to make sure the purchase is legitimate. What a pain for a bunch of small expenses. My sister is the total opposite buying a coke at Macdonalds with her CC.

 

[Chuckanut]

About safety: my young daughter didn't have a credit card at the time. She was on an extended stay with friends. She used her bank card as a debit at 2 places. It hadn't left her possession during the transactions. Shortly afterward, her bank contacted her about a suspicious debit. Someone had tried to buy $160 worth of groceries. They cancelled her card and mailed her a replacement immediately. At no time was she out any money.

Many if not most banks protect their customers against fraudulent use of debit cards. But, unlike credit cards there are no legal requirements to do so. Credit card protection under Federal law in the USA is much more robust than bank policies.

 

[brydanger]

We use cc for everything we can... in return for either cash back or travel points.
Much of our recent travel is at remote islands, which means cc not an option, but certainly anytime there's a card reader we pull out the card. Why not get a little something back as a bonus??

 

[Go-NoGo]

I hope people realize this cash back is just coming out of your other pocket. Service providers charge merchants more for cash back cards, and guess who the merchants pass that along to, yes, you. tanstaafl

Perhaps. My understanding is that those who carry a balance and pay interest are shouldering most of the burden.

or those who pay by cash..
The credit card transaction fee is already baked into the cost of the merchandise, if you are paying cash you are effectively paying more

 

[travelover]

We do not use or own Debit cards ............ but we cannot think of any logical reason to even own one, ...........

I usually keep about $20K in my checking account. My credit union pays 2.5% bonus if I have 12 debits a month. I can generally accomplish this with minor purchases at the local store for incidentals. Worst case, I'll buy a couple of Amazon $1 gift cards.