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What's your way of paying?

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Originally posted by: E equals MC2
Credit all the way. As long as you pay off every month, why not take advantage of FREE fraud protection, FREE cashback, FREE purchase documentation and so on?

If I find myself having excess cash ($50+), I even deposit it to my bank so that money is ultimately spent earning above things via CC.

[edit]
Oh yea, recently I had a very VERY bad experience at a fancy restaurant where I took my gf to. I spent about $170 and the whole night was terrible... bad waiting, horrible food, they even forgot my valet which we had to wait additional 40 mins for just to leave the damn nightmare restaurant.

So next day I called up Chase, the CC I used for the restaurant, and complained. They said they'll look into this and investigated with the chef a week later. Chase's finding was that the restaurant has agreed to take the charge off and Chase did just exactly that.

Had I paid using debit or cash that night, above would not have occurred or I would've had to go through many hoops myself wasting my time.

i hope you don't plan on going back there
 
Originally posted by: E equals MC2
Oh yea, recently I had a very VERY bad experience at a fancy restaurant where I took my gf to. I spent about $170 and the whole night was terrible... bad waiting, horrible food, they even forgot my valet which we had to wait additional 40 mins for just to leave the damn nightmare restaurant.

So next day I called up Chase, the CC I used for the restaurant, and complained. They said they'll look into this and investigated with the chef a week later. Chase's finding was that the restaurant has agreed to take the charge off and Chase did just exactly that.

Had I paid using debit or cash that night, above would not have occurred or I would've had to go through many hoops myself wasting my time.

I'll suggest that in the future, if you have a bad experience at a restaurant, you talk to the manager of the restaurant while you're there. Chances are you would get your meal free plus an invitation to return for another complimentary meal. Worst that can happen is the manager ignores you, and you still have the credit card option to fall back on.
 
I use my credit card even for drive-thru fast food these days. Don't have to go to the ATM as often and 1% back > 0%.
 
Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
For those extolling the virtue of credit cards, I could care less about the perks. I've never had a problem paying for anything with my debit card (online or not).

Great for you! My house has never burned down but I have insurance anyway.
 
Cash for pretty much everything, other than ordering stuff online (debit).

Under no circumstances will I ever use a personal check for anything.
 
I actually used cash last night. Apparently it had been so long since the checker had dealt with it, he forgot the change dispenser at the check stand was broken and would not dispense the change automatically at the end of the transaction.
 
Originally posted by: Ns1
credit 99%

consumer protection, cash back, and usually faster than cash

Credit. Or Cash.

Track all your purchases, and pay them all off at the end of the month. The money isn't gone until you send the check.

I still don't understand the use of debit cards. Instant $ out of your account. No self control?

 
My wife and I used to pay for everything with debit or cash. Now we have a hotel rewards card and a high interest online savings account.

We buy everything on the credit card and earn a free hotel stay about every other month and pay the balance off in full. The money to pay the card sits in a savings account until the date is due, then gets transfered out for payment on the card.

We end up earning about 6 free hotel stays plus ~$150 in interest annually when we used to get nothing with the debit card.
 
Originally posted by: Modelworks
debit.
If I don't have the cash in the account, it doesn't get bought.
credit=evil, evil I tell you !

Credit is evil only if you are stupid enough to carry a balance. My cash sits in an account collecting interest, while my cc balance floats for a month with no interest.
 
Electronic Funds Transfer (Bill Pay) for all bills.

Cash for all other except gasoline (Debit).

My credit is already good.
 
we like to put everything on credit card for expense tracking purposes (and pay it off of course). i agree with the others. keep liquid cash in high interest MMA until it's needed to pay off the floating credit card.

i like getting a yearly credit card statement with fancy pie charts that show me my spending 🙂
 
Credit for cash back and perks. I haven't written a check in my life and the only time I use my debit card is to withdraw cash. Never had to pay a cent on CC interest in the 3.5 years I have had a card and have gotten about $1k in rewards. My financial model of "don't buy shit you can't afford" has work tremendously well.
 
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