Fee for NOT using your credit card?

[Conan71]

...but I knew less after talking to them than before.

Kinda like talking to a doctor or attorney, eh? 

[DolfanBob]

Please explain to me why do most older people have credit cards they have never used.
I have talked with customers who say they havent even activated the card yet 
The worse card experience I have had was the Sears card.
Sure, pay that low balance due and high interest rate and that 1.200 dollar T.V. will be 2.300 in a year and a half.
American Express. Sir we are a charge card not a credit card, and your balance is due every 30 days.
Try explaining that to a 21 year old who keeps getting the old, hey your pre approved for 5.000 dollar credit line.
It took me some time to get back what my youthful ignorance cost me.

[Red Arrow]

that 1.200 dollar T.V. will be 2.300 in a year and a half.

1.200  =   $1,200  ?

[OpenYourEyesTulsa]

Please explain to me why do most older people have credit cards they have never used.
I have talked with customers who say they havent even activated the card yet 
The worse card experience I have had was the Sears card.
Sure, pay that low balance due and high interest rate and that 1.200 dollar T.V. will be 2.300 in a year and a half.
American Express. Sir we are a charge card not a credit card, and your balance is due every 30 days.
Try explaining that to a 21 year old who keeps getting the old, hey your pre approved for 5.000 dollar credit line.
It took me some time to get back what my youthful ignorance cost me.

Some people just get a credit card to keep in case of an emergency.  I have a few credit cards with no balance that I keep in a drawer.  If you cancel them it hurts your credit score.  If you have over 50% of the balance used up that also hurts your credit score.  You have to read all of the terms before you accept any credit offers.  A lot of places like Best Buy offer 0% interest for 18 months or more but you can never pay late and you have to pay off the total before 18 months or else you have to pay 20+% interest from the day of purchase.

I decided to stop letting credit cards hurt me and have them help me.  I find the best rewards programs and use those cards for all of my bills and purchases.  I pay off the balance every month and usually get $600+ cash back in rewards each year.  But if everyone did this the credit card companies would not make money and stop offering rewards.

[DolfanBob]

1.200  =   $1,200  ?

I was going on what has happened to my stepson with his Sears card that he has had not quite two years.
He bought a 12 hundred dollar TV when he first got it and now his recent balance was a cool 26 hundred.
I have no idea if he purchased other items, but i assume he has.
Me personally. I will stick to my debit card. If it aint there, it dont work.
Thanks for the answers though.

[Townsend]

I'm interested to see what happens with CC balances with the loan for laundry deal coming out.

CC's weren't used much with the cash for clunkers but with the government giving money out to buy new washer/dryer/refrigerator, I'd imagine they will be used quite a bit.

This could be huge for the banks behind sears card, home depot, Lowes card, etc.

[Wilbur]

Some people just get a credit card to keep in case of an emergency.  I have a few credit cards with no balance that I keep in a drawer.  If you cancel them it hurts your credit score.  If you have over 50% of the balance used up that also hurts your credit score.  You have to read all of the terms before you accept any credit offers.  A lot of places like Best Buy offer 0% interest for 18 months or more but you can never pay late and you have to pay off the total before 18 months or else you have to pay 20+% interest from the day of purchase.

I decided to stop letting credit cards hurt me and have them help me.  I find the best rewards programs and use those cards for all of my bills and purchases.  I pay off the balance every month and usually get $600+ cash back in rewards each year.  But if everyone did this the credit card companies would not make money and stop offering rewards.

Well...  note quite correct.  Credit card companies make money off of each purchase you make from the retailer, so the cash back awards really shouldn't affect whether or not they make money.

Cash back cards are the best, and currently, AmerEx Blue is the best cash back card.  It gets rated the highest each year from Money Magazine.

[Red Arrow]

I was going on what has happened to my stepson with his Sears card that he has had not quite two years.
He bought a 12 hundred dollar TV when he first got it and now his recent balance was a cool 26 hundred.
I have no idea if he purchased other items, but i assume he has.
Me personally. I will stick to my debit card. If it aint there, it dont work.
Thanks for the answers though.

Actually, I was checking if you were using a decimal point where most people in the US use a comma.  I know other countries reverse our use of commas and decimal points.

[DolfanBob]

Never was very good with punctuation.
Any chance getting a spell check added on here ?

[nathanm]

He bought a 12 hundred dollar TV when he first got it and now his recent balance was a cool 26 hundred.

Then he either bought some other stuff or doesn't pay his minimum payment. (The minimum is 2-5% of the balance plus whatever interest that accrued in the last billing period)

Cash back cards are the best, and currently, AmerEx Blue is the best cash back card.  It gets rated the highest each year from Money Magazine.

Blue is OK, but there are better cards out there. With Amex you get one MR point per dollar. 10,000 MR points can get you a $100 gift card to many locations. Many issuers (including Amex with Blue Cash) have cards that give you 1% back as a statement credit or check.

Chase and Citi have cards that give you more than 1% for certain classes of purchases. Citi used to have a wide array of them such that you could get 3% on just about any purchase if you had their whole range of rebate cards. They've slowly eliminated all but a few.

Just remember, unless you need new credit, your score isn't really important as long as your file looks OK to an analyst reviewing your credit lines/terms. Therefore, it is usually far better to opt out and close an account from an issuer who is about to ratejack a balance. Although your score will take a significant hit from both the loss of the credit line itself and the fact that you have a balance on a closed card, that's far better than paying 30% interest if the issuer refuses to relent.

[cannon_fodder]

I have had very good luck with Discovery Card and with my BOk debit card.   No issues with Discover.  The only issue I've had with BOk is some frog in Paris stole my # (bought off the web I suppose) and charge ~$900 in two days.  Within a day they restored my balance provisionally and took care of the issue totally within a couple weeks (with me doing nothing but filling out a form).

Generally I don't carry a balance on my card but use the hell out of it.  If it can go on the Discover card, it does.  1% back pays off when you put all groceries, season tickets, clothes, school supplies, etc. etc. etc. on it!