SOCIAL: credit card

[Dave Snyder]

Palak,

Call me conservative, but I don't think credit cards are appropriate  
for actual borrowing. Not at the typical 18% interest rate! I use  
credit cards all the time for convenience but I always pay the bill in  
full at the end of the month. (Well, sometimes I forget, even though I  
pay online, and once in the early 90s when I was unemployed I did have  
to borrow money from credit cards, but it cost me hundreds of dollars  
in interest and once I got a job I borrowed money from a friend and  
paid off my credit cards so I could pay her back with no interest,  
except for my gratitude and taking her out to dinner now and then.)

I have mileage credit cards, but if I were starting new I might get a  
"do-gooder" credit card. Various environmental and social justice  
nonprofits issue their own branded cards and get a percentage of the  
charge. While it's hard to rack up miles on the cards, you usually get  
a nice 10,000-mile bump when you first order.

Also, you can negotiate with the issuers more than you think. After  
one card's first free year expired and I got an annual fee on my bill,  
I called them up to cancel the card and they offered me a card with  
only 1/2 mile for every dollar but no annual fee ever. That's a good  
deal.

Oh, and if you don't have car insurance already, you should make sure  
the card offers collision insurance on cars you rent with the card.  
Most do.

You sure got alot of advice on this question from this list, didn't  
you!?

Dave




On Mar 25, 2008, at 3:29 PM, Jennifer Seuferer wrote:

> Hi Palak,
> For awhile now I've always gotten a credit card through my bank. The  
> advantage to this is you can easily check your balance online  
> through your bank's website and with Bank of Amer, you can pay your  
> credit card by transferring money from your savings or checking  
> directly to your credit card. This makes paying it on time very easy.
>
> good luck!
> Jennifer
>
> On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 3:05 PM, Amandeep Jawa  
> <deep at deeptrouble.com> wrote:
> Hi Palak -
>
> I have a United card & it gives me miles on it which is nice.  I'm  
> glad you are not a big fan of credit cards - they are very useful  
> and very helpful - but many many people get carried away when they  
> first get one & end up in real trouble (I did!) - so it is good to  
> make sure you always pay them.
>
> The basic rules are something like this:
> 	- If you think you will always pay them back, get whichever one has  
> features you like (like miles) - but make sure you pay them back on  
> time!
> 	- If you think you will mostly pay them back, but some times may  
> slip, or could slip for months at a time - get ne with the lowest  
> interest rate you can find & ignore special features
> 	- If you don't think you will pay it back on time very often at  
> all, get a different type of loan!
> 	
> Anybody else have good advice?
>
> 'deep
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 25, 2008, at 11:26 AM, palak joshi wrote:
>> Dear Social,
>>
>> I am looking to get a unsecured credit card now that I can. I am  
>> not a big fan of credit cards but i need to have atleast one. I was  
>> thinking due to my ok score i can get a good one. Have been going  
>> back and forth between rewards and miles and cash back and this and  
>> that. I am feeling very small to venture out in this world of  
>> credit cards all by myself so i am looking to get some advice from  
>> you folks. I am very disciplined to paying back and stuff just dont  
>> know which ones to get its a big cc world out there!
>>
>> Do you have credit cards that you recommend and more importantly do  
>> not recommend? if you want to send me direct emails at palak.joshi at gmail.com 
>>  it would be fine or to the group, whatever you feel comfortable  
>> doing.
>>
>> thanks and have a good day.
>> palak.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Social mailing list
>> Social at lists.deeptrouble.com
>> http://lists.deeptrouble.com/listinfo.cgi/social-deeptrouble.com
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------
> Amandeep Jawa
> ----------------------------------
> deep AT deeptrouble DOT com
> 937 Valencia St.
> San Francisco, CA 94110-2320
>
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>
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