.Why I Buy Everything on Credit Cards
Why I Buy Everything on Credit Cards
The Almighty Credit Card
Credit cards are a supremely convenient and secure way to carry money and make purchases and payments. With credit cards, you never have to worry about losing money – even by theft. In addition, credit cards offer many attractive benefits.
In addition to the reward programs such as cash back and frequent flier miles, most credit card purchases also come with extended warranties, insurance, and transaction history. Plus, the ability to cancel a transaction gives you power over the vendor in a customer satisfaction dispute. For all of these reasons and more, I make nearly all of my purchases and payments on my credit card.
Benefits That Typically Come Free with Credit Card Use
Loss Prevention
When I was ten, I rode my bike with some friends to the new toy store that had opened in a nearby strip mall where we spent the afternoon examining the offering. I finally decided to buy one of those cool disc guns that shoots plastic discs the size of a penny. Those guns were so cool. They must have shot a lot of eyes out, because you can’t buy them anymore.
As I stepped to the counter, I was horrified to find that my money was no longer in my pocket. I searched my other pockets and even my socks, but the money was gone. I could not believe that I had lost an entire $3.
I’ll spare you any further anguish on my behalf, and just say that even though this whole situation made a lasting impression on me, I did find the money. There it was, lying nicely folded in the parking lot. I still can’t believe it went unnoticed for so long.
All this is to say that losing money is a real drag. Actually, I’m sure I have been a net finder of lost money. There was that $50 lying on Main Street in Park City, Utah and another $50 on the floor at Subway in some small town in Washington. Let me know if either of those was yours.
The point is, I have very few opportunities to lose cash, because I don’t carry much of it. If you lose a credit card, you won’t lose any money, as long as you report it lost. Even if you didn’t realize you had lost your credit card, you would of course, realize it had fallen into the wrong hands as soon as you started seeing transactions pop up on your Personal Capital app.
Security
Even if I am robbed, the most I could really lose (other than my life) is the $20 I typically carry. When a credit card is stolen, the thieves will immediately run to the nearest big box store to purchase gift cards before the card is reported stolen and declined. Even these charges (especially these charges) are refunded as fraudulent charges.
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