I have to say, I don\u2019t like credit cards. I really\u00a0don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Now you might\u00a0ask,<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy, Eric? Doesn\u2019t it feel good to borrow money now? Don\u2019t you like not having to pay things until later\u00a0on?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n As nice as that sounds, there\u2019s a caveat to that. In other words, nothing can be free\u00a0forever.<\/p>\n Will your credit score go up if you pay in\u00a0full?<\/p>\n By making full payments to your credit card, your score will remain high as long as you don\u2019t have a balance lingering over your\u00a0head.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Having a zero balance (or a small one) ensures you keep your credit score\u00a0high.<\/p>\n There comes a time when you\u2019re going to have to pay off your balance in\u00a0full.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t, your payments will be higher going\u00a0forward.<\/p>\n Eventually, the chickens will come home to roost sooner rather than\u00a0later.<\/p>\n And the bills need to be paid. It\u2019s either now or never for\u00a0me.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what I want to discuss in this\u00a0post.<\/p>\n As I mentioned, I\u2019m not the biggest fan of credit cards. I have two of them, but no\u00a0more.<\/p>\n I remembered getting my first exposure to them back in my high school\u00a0years.<\/p>\n The moment that my mom gave me a credit card (under her and my father) was like giving me another dose of\u00a0freedom.<\/p>\n But unlike most young people, I didn\u2019t just go out and recklessly max it out in one\u00a0day.<\/p>\n Oh no\u200a\u2014\u200aI knew better than\u00a0that.<\/p>\n My mom gave me some key points in mind that you can\u2019t borrow all the time and get away with\u00a0it.<\/p>\n So she gave me that lesson right there, and it\u2019s stuck inside my head for the last 16\u201317 years\u00a0now.<\/p>\n Again, another great thing I learned from my mother about personal\u00a0finance.<\/p>\n She kept household spending under control, and I give her credit for where I\u2019m at right\u00a0now.<\/p>\n After I got my first card, I used it for essential things, such as grocery shopping and filling up gas in my\u00a0car.<\/p>\n My first car was a Dodge Intrepid, which was a gift from my grandfather.<\/p>\n That was the car he drove prior to me turning 16 years old. So I would fill out on the credit card when\u00a0needed.<\/p>\n But other than that, I didn\u2019t use it for anything\u00a0else.<\/p>\n If I did, my mother would notice and probably cut that card out on\u00a0me.<\/p>\n I did pretty well with the credit card when I was in high\u00a0school.<\/p>\n It\u2019s continued to be that way, now that I have one in my own\u00a0name.<\/p>\n I still use one that\u2019s under my parents\u2019 name, as they\u2019re generous from time to\u00a0time.<\/p>\n For example, they may ask me to use the card under their name to fill up on\u00a0gas.<\/p>\n Sometimes, when I travel to see them or other places, they\u2019ll say, \u201cFill up the tank on us. We got you covered.\u201d<\/p>\n So there are times when I use the other card, but for the most part, I primarily use the card under my\u00a0name.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m good at utilizing the credit\u00a0cards.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t like using it for discretionary spending (i.e. personal consumption), but I do see there are good uses for a credit\u00a0card.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the whole idea of having at least one credit card\u200a\u2014\u200ato build up credit over\u00a0time.<\/p>\n With good credit, it gives you the ability to have more borrowing power.<\/p>\n Or in some cases, it gives you the ability to make bigger purchases in the long\u00a0run.<\/p>\n So there are some benefits to having a credit card, so that way your credit can build\u00a0up.<\/p>\n I know it\u2019s made a difference when I applied for apartments in the\u00a0past.<\/p>\n It certainly helped when I applied at the place I\u2019m at right\u00a0now.<\/p>\n Credit score was a big factor in helping me get approved for the apartment I\u2019m at right\u00a0now.<\/p>\n That\u2019s always something to keep in\u00a0mind.<\/p>\n Although I\u2019m not a fan of using it for personal consumption, it helps to put yourself in a better financial position<\/a> for those things you need in\u00a0life.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m glad to have at least one credit card on hand. I have two, but no more than\u00a0that.<\/p>\n I discuss a lot about credit cards in my latest post on my website. I go over some ways I make the most of credit card utilization.<\/p>\n These key points do help, especially when it comes to knowing the right time to use a credit\u00a0card.<\/p>\n I know it\u2019s something I still struggle with at times, but it helps to have a better understanding of\u00a0it.<\/p>\n I go over those points in my latest\u00a0article<\/a>.<\/p>\n Until tomorrow,<\/p>\n -Eric<\/p>\n Credit Cards? Meh- Not My Thing<\/a> was originally published in Coinmonks<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have to say, I don\u2019t like credit cards. I really\u00a0don\u2019t. Now you might\u00a0ask, \u201cWhy, Eric? Doesn\u2019t it feel good to borrow money now? Don\u2019t you like not having to pay things until later\u00a0on?\u201d As nice as that sounds, there\u2019s a caveat to that. In other words, nothing can be free\u00a0forever. Will your credit score […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Yours Truly- Not The Biggest Fan Of Credit\u00a0Cards<\/h3>\n