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What's your preferred method of payment?

  • Credit

    Votes: 18 27.7%
  • Debit

    Votes: 22 33.8%
  • Cash

    Votes: 18 27.7%
  • PayPal

    Votes: 6 9.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 1 1.5%

  • Total voters
    65
Debit for shops and lots of online,
Paypal for bits of online.

My folks convinced me from a young age to only ever borrow for a mortgage and nothing else. 25 y/o now and I owe nobody nuffink.
 
I like using my Square reader, but that's for Credit and debit cards and only lets me accept payments.

Debit/Credit for me. Paypal's a b*****.
 
Well I have already thought of this. I will just take out a loan from the bank and just pay it off. That will build my credit without a credit card.

Err..what?

That builds your credit score..but you pay huge interest on it. You're paying money to build credit score. Something you can do for free with a credit card (Free credit cards, or even with an annual fee of $100).


I have a debit card (Wasn't old enough for credit), but I am thinking of getting a credit card, just for the benefits (More protection, doesn't deduct automatically, etc). Plus it'll help build my credit score.
 
Cash, I bought all of my computers and other stupid stuff since 2003 with cash, as I am really bad with money, thus if I have it in my hand, I can be sure to really have it and not get into debts.
 
Cash. I particularly like using pounds, Swiss francs or euros where coins are more widely used and have higher denominations.

I'll pay credit at the gas pump or in a situation where paying cash would mean I'd actually have to go get more cash than I usually carry.

I always pay cash when getting my car repaired as the mechanic will give me 5-10% off for not using plastic. :)
 
Not really, please visit www.myfico.com

Do you have a more specific link than that?

My information comes from a successful financial advisor/mortgage broker in Brentwood, who advised us to do very specific things (including what I stated) in order to bring our credit scores up a little bit more. We followed her directions, and our scores did go up (even though at the time, I didn't think it was possible to raise them any further).
 
I use debit or cash for pretty much everything. My debit card had a rewards system up until last month, so I still got the rewards. Now I don't, so I might change it up a little bit. I always carry cash for smaller purchases.

And as someone mentioned above, I use credit only for very large purchases like my mortgage and new car. Some people won't even buy a car on credit, but that's a pretty big pile to dump at once. I paid almost half as a down payment, though, and plan on paying the balance off well before the final due date.

I haven't had credit card debt in many years, and definitely feel lucky for that.
 
First of all: cash is king! And like someone else said above - I only use debit to get cash from an ATM.

Whenever I purchase something on the Internet, I use prefer using credit card (not debit). If something happens, such as technical error that bills me 100x for one amount, worst thing that can happen is that the credit card gets maxed out for a few days. If that happens with my debit card, it means I could be without money until the bank sorts it out.

Also, when I buy airline tickets (or any expensive items), I always use credit card. If the airline goes bankrupt after I have booked the ticket so that I can't travel after all, I won't have to pay for it in the end.

One thing I always make sure of though (when using credit card, that is), is to pay it back before they start charging interest. This is very important. And if I won't be able to do so, it means that I can't afford it in the first place (and then I won't buy it).
 
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I voted Cash, because I don't carry a balance on any cards I hold.

I wish these CC companies didn't have such a strangle-hold on retailers, so they could give an equivalent discount for cash/debit, as is charged by the CC companies.

Seems like a restraint of trade issue to me!! :mad:






;)
 
Just FYI, it's better for your credit score to wait until the monthly bill is generated before paying it off in full.

You are right. It is better because your statement will actually have a balance on it at the end of the month, which represents credit utilization. If you use less than 20% (ideal utilization is around 10%), then your credit is improved.

However, it doesn't hurt if you pay it off early or multiple times a month. In the end, the credit card company only reports your ending balance to the credit bureaus.

I usually have around 10% utilization when the bill comes, but I use about 50% throughout the month. It just happens to work that way since I just pay it whenever I feel like it (never 1 day late).
 

Same here. I been charging everything to my Amex card for over 3 years now and for places that do not take Amex I have a visa card.

Since I pay off my balance in full every month I have never paid a penny of interest on either card.
For me a credit card is the best way to track everything I buy and how much I am spending.
 
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