Comments on: American Express Blue Card: Our Everyday Credit Card

By: Mister Miser

Mister Miser — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:16:07 +0000

I’ve followed the FD blog from afar and this is my first comment. I appreciate FD’s approach, and used wisely, his method can work for a fiscally disciplined household. I personally was tettering on the edge of bankruptcy just five years, but I opted to pursue credit counseling to pay my debts. Five years later, I own a home, I own my household’s vehicles, and I have FICO scores near 800. During my years in CC, I learned how to live on a cash only budget. I learned a ton about credit during those lean years and once I was debt free, I knew that I could make credit work for me. I’ve been using rewards credit cards for the past couple of years and making decent returns on them. The bottom line is you must still view your life as a cash-only deal, stick to a budget, and only charge what you normally would. Between my Amex Blue Cash, Chase Freedom Signature Visa, Discover More, and Penfed Travel Visa, I’m raking in hefty rewards and never pay a cent of interest. I have over $30K in available credit and I’m never tempted to spend it. Those lean, cash-only years was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Take charge of your financial life and beat the banks at their own game people.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:58:07 +0000

@Ari Herzog
I only use my credit card for utilities that take credit with no hassles. My water company was the only hold-out and is automatically debited from my checking account.

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:01:43 +0000

Danger aside, I’m curious if you had to deal with any hoops for your utilities to accept credit card payment. I thought most utilities prefer checks and there’s usually costs for credit payments, no?

By: rod

rod — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:39:12 +0000

It’s also worth noting that a credit/charge card also makes fraud prevention a little easier. If you use a normal debit card then the money leaves your account instantly, something which happened to some people I know. On the other hand with a credit/charge card you get a little time to check it over before the payment leaves your account. This is a great benefit if you are having to pay lots of restaurant bills and you have no idea how trustworthy the establishment is. Also for Forex payments abroad credit cards often work out cheaper than debit cards, as many debit cards level a fee just to process the transaction plus a % of the amount. These fees can soon add up if you make a lot of purchases. As I said earlier though, payment in full every month is the only way to go.

By: Valerie

Valerie — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:15:43 +0000

We use a budget, and use the CC for what we have planned to spend. At the end of the month, we pay off the credit card from the checking account. This means less balancing of the checkbook, and less chance of us overdrafting since all non-budgeted money gets transferred to a higher-yield savings account. I am a fan of anything that saves me time. The added credit history and cashback rewards are bonuses.

However, I’ve heard that the best way to automate bill pay is to set it up through your bank. This way your bank pays the biller, and the biller isn’t requesting money from your bank. Of course, you would lose the CC cashback rewards and credit history, but the idea is that it is more secure. Is that true? I have read this on other personal finance blogs.

By: rod

rod — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:00:38 +0000

Initially mentioning credit cards again to someone who has had problems with them in the past may seem like a bad idea, however it all depends on the method of paying them off. If like me you have in the past spent too much on them, then you will know its no fun paying them back over months or years – equally important though is sound cash management which avoids the payment of any overdraft bank interest. This is where a credit card can save you money, especially if like me you travel a lot for work and cannot get all of it in advance. Provided you set your credit card repayment to “in full” every month then they are a very useful and good cash management tool and usually do away with needing to borrow short term money from the bank.That said I would ONLY recommend credit (or charge cards) to people who use the pay in full model otherwise they are there only to create problems.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:57:30 +0000

Statistically You Spend More With Credit – A Dunn and Bradstreet study stated that if you pay with a credit card, you will statistically spend 12%-18% more on your purchases as opposed to paying with cash. When you pay cash, you feel the money leaving you and it hurts; with credit cards that’s not the case. If you use a credit card, you will spend more money whether you realize it or not. http://www.discoverdebtfreedom.com/2008/04/02/ten-facts-credit-card-companies-don’t-want-you-to-know/

1%-5% Cashback rewards, what a deal! You cannot beat the CC companies. Even after your reward, you’re still spending 7-17% more than if you just carried cash.
(The only acception would be frugal dads proposal of just paying the household fixed bills with the card. But many other posters have praised their intelligent use of CC for all expenses.)

By: No Debt Plan

No Debt Plan — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:00:47 +0000

Intelligent people responsible credit card use cash back (we use AMEX Blue Cash) = financial win.

Highly approve.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:39:26 +0000

I should mention that I have never had credit card debt. Ever. I was brought up and taught that if you don’t have the money to pay for it you: A: don’t buy it, or B: find a way to earn some extra cash first. As a result, I have always used my credit card only to the extent that I have the cash already available to cover my purchases. For me it is convenience only.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:57:44 +0000

I just got the AMEX gold card as my everyday card for the rewards, and it has a yearly fee. I’m curious what the differences are.