Credit Cards

Guest post

I know way too many people who abuse their credit cards, and then end up accumulating debt that is way more than they are able to handle. Thankfully, I was taught fiscal responsibility at a pretty young age, and think I have a good handle on my bills. This does not mean that I don't use my creditcard, in fact, the opposite is true. I use my credit card for most of the purchases I make. The difference between what I do and what others do is that I do not buy anything outside of my means just because I have a credit card that can delay the payments. I only buy things that I would be able to pay for in cash or using my debit card. I choose to use my credit card because, this way, I am able to accumulate points that I can use towards paying off my balance, gift certificates, hotel reservations, or even airline tickets. I always make it a point to pay off my balance in full each month, so I am never accumulating interest, which is really just a death sentence in the credit card world. This is not to say that I haven't accidentally developed a bill that was much higher than I anticipated. I always know that, even when I am really not happy about it, I have enough money to cover it somewhere. Generally I have enough in my checking account to pay the bills, but in those unfortunate circumstances where I do not, I can always transfer money from my savings account to cover the difference. I even have it set up so that if I forget to go on and pay the bill it automatically deducts from my checking account. I can see how sometimes you start to rack up your bill quickly if you are not carefully monitoring your spending, but I also have a hard time understanding how people make huge purchases that they know they do not have the money to cover with their cards. I have seen very few circumstances where that has ended well for the buyer, and I hope to avoid ever having to do that with my credit card.