Do you bother with cash-back credit cards?

I'll be up front, I don't care of credit cards. The rates and terms generally suck and there is no way I'd carry a balance on one. We have one card that is used for online purchase, travel, etc., but it gets paid off 100% of the time each month. Its a convenience and nothing more. As such, I've generally ignored the different reward offerings as I've figured they offer paltry returns, are a scam, or something of that nature.

However, I read in article Money magazine recently that recommend their use. I then did some web searches and some articles suggest that if you have a relatively high volume of dollars spent via the card (we do) and pay it off each month (we do), that cash back programs can net some bucks over the year.

Anyway, I am curious if anyone bothers with these. Was it worth it? Thanks.

 

I used to hear this, too... but the last time there was an unauthorized charge on my card, I got rid of it. It just wasn't worth the aggravation. Oh, they were great about it, and of course I wasn't liable, but they outsourced the calls (this was one of the biggies, too, not an unknown bank) and I couldn't understand the people that answered although I'm always very good with that. I didn't know what was going on half the time.

The instance before that, a website dialed in (somehow, I don't understand it, but it's what Verizon said) to a *satellite* and charged my card with hundreds of $$$ in long distance calls. Fortunately they knew it was happening and knew it wasn't me making the calls... but again a headache to fix.

I ended up with a Visa "moneycard" that I now use as a credit card for *all* online bill paying, hotel reservations... well, anything I would have used a credit card for. The rates are very low ($3 for a load and $3 a month if you don't load over $1k,) and I load it at WalMart. It's absolutely perfect and there's no need for a credit card.

The best part of it is that the balance is whatever I decide to put on it... and I never have more than a thousand on it at a time. With my credit card, the limit was $25,000 and they often told me they wouldn't enforce it if I want to go over that because of excellent credit. Yikes! I always paid the balance each month, but they would have never caught it! That means anyone stealing the number could have gone over, too. NOT for me... my nerves can't take it!

 

Oooops.... I didn't actually answer your question and I couldn't edit my answer because it had been more than 5 minutes.

To answer your question, my card was a cash back, yes... it really didn't amount to anything near what it would have needed to pay for me to want to keep it.

 

I am with you, I hate credit cards, I do take out loans and I try to just use cash and check. But I hate that they charge the late fees for payments, and it is easy to dig yourself a big whole and very hard to get out of it. So I am totally with you about the credit cards.

 

No, I don't bother with credit cards. I agree that the rates are terrible and they are usually not worth the time of day. I only have one debit card and I barely ever use it. For me, if I have to pay for something, it's usually either with check or straight up cash.

 

This is the way I do things, too. My "money card" for online shopping and hotel reservations and payment is Visa debit, but to be used as a credit card. (I'm not brave enough to tie a bank debit to my bank account, though.)

And check or cash... absolutely. That's how we've bought even big ticket for a few years now... including the car. I didn't want car payments for years and it worked out great.

 

We don't have any credit cards anymore, but if I was going to have one I would probably look into one of the rewards or cash back cards. We have a pre-paid Visa that I use for online purchases because we have already had our bank account compromised once.

 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has made this decision. There hasn't been one place either online to shop or pay bills, or for brick and mortar shopping, that hasn't accepted the card.

One thing people often don't understand is that a prepaid Visa (such as the Money Card that Green Dot/WalMart offers) is *NOT* the same as a Visa gift card bought at the checkout counter.

Sorry to hear your bank account was compromised. I've never connected a debit to the bank account (that's how I discovered the Visa Money Card) for that reason... always too chicken to do that. hehe But I did have unauthorized charges on my Chase Visa while I still had it... and more than once (from having shopped online with it) so I just got tired of that. Chase was great about it each time, but it gets old!

 

Fortunately, it isn't too hard to survive without a credit card. Between a debit card, cheques and cash, you can cover your everyday expenses and almost all of your expenses in general. Credit card companies can be a huge scam, the rates can be horrible, and they have the power to bombard you with fees for some dumb reason or another. I don't have a cash back credit card, if the savings are what you are looking for then perhaps you are better off signing up for store discount cards?

 

I've gotten cash back on my card. I just transfer the money into my bank account. It never really amounts to much. You have to spend quite a bit to get a small amount of money, however, I guess it's better than nothing!