The Dollar Stretcher

I've seen variations of these credit card commercials too and consider them a form of peer pressure.  You wouldn't want to be the uncool person who, gasp!, uses check or cash instead of a credit card!

    I can clearly understand what you are saying as I have been in pretty deep credit card debt three times!  I was just recently able to get out of the deepest debt  I've ever been in.  Fortunately my credit cards were at low interest rates.  

    I hope I can be of help to others when I explain this.  I had a total of 5 credit cards but chose to charge only on one of them.  I called that my "mad money" card.  My husband charged on his business card and most of the time paid it down when a job he was working on was finished.  A few charges that mounted up were  repair work on his vehicle, but he pushed at getting them paid off as quickly as he could.

    We were fortunate to get some real low balance transfers for the life of the loans and then never charged on those cards.  The reason being that when you charged on those, the lowest interest rate balance was paid off first and in the mean time the higher rate kept growing until the lower was paid off.  Be very careful of those types of deals and use the card to pay off your balance first before ever charging on them.  It's a trap you don't want to get caught up in!  You will be paying a low interest rate along with a higher interest rate at the same time.

    I find my best bargains on the internet and it is handy having a credit card or debit card used as a credit card.  Using the debit card would definitely limit your use according to what you have in your bank account.

    But nevertheless, keeping your spending at what you have on hand is the best advice anyone can give you and one we should all consider first!

    Mildred

How about using a debit card or,better yet, a gift card that can be filled with a set amount.

That way you control it and still have the convenience. It works for me.

Sadly the commericals sum up our societies expectations of the "Instant Gratification" era.  

We love playing a game of how not to use the credit cards.  If you slow down and think about your purchases you won't believe the ideas for a purchase that will fit your lifestyle and budget.  Do what it takes to keep to your budget not the instant gratification game.

What works in our household budget is that we know before we leave home if we will be making a large purchase (over $100) and do use debit/credit card or checkbook for those purchases.  Otherwise it is cash for everyday purchases under $100.  

I remember when I was young my Dad always used to encourage me to wait at least one day before making most purchases. During that time I often found that there was something else that I had that could prevent the purchase. Other times my desire had disappeared.

The advice is still good today. You'd be surprised how many purchases you'll avoid if you just wait 24 hours before spending the money.

I've seen this ad - but, if you watch it again, you'll notice that it's not for a VISA credit card - it's for a VISA check card which is another word for a debit card.  

    I felt like commenting a second time on the problems of credit card debt because it is so close to my heart!

    I mentioned in the second comment on this subject on the different ways I was able to pay off my debts but I neglected to share with you the even greater joy I have of seeing my credit cards paid off!  

    There's nothing like the feeling of a weight being lifted off of you when there is no debt!  The three times (including this last time) my debts were paid off by inheritances I received by the death of a loved one.  Just think how I could have used that money if I would of been out of debt?

    Be careful in deciding whether or not you really need what you are about to put on your credit or debit card!

    Mildred

Thanks KyDonna. I didn't notice that. You're right, a debit card does do less damage than a credit card. And, even though I was distracted by the game, I do wonder if Visa cares that much if I took the commercial as encouragement to use my Visa CREDIT card. I should have caught that, but I'm probably not the only one to miss that distinction.

One trick we like is to use our credit card as a debit card.  We charge the purchase, get the airmiles, then come home and pay it out of our savings account.  This really helps to avoid those end of the month surprises, we get to use the credit card convenience and we know exactly how much we've spent.

I do use a credit card for almost everything.  I don't like carrying cash. BUT I pay it off in full each month and get back 1-5% on my purchases.  I think  a debit card is more dangerous because they tie up extra cash in the checking account.  That would confuse me and possibly lead to problems.

The real key to all of this is to plan purchases and resist impulse buying.  I keep a list of things I need or want and wait until I see a really good price before I buy.   Seldom is anything needed immediately.  

This gives me time to think about whether I really need or want the item and to research the best version of it.   When I buy, I get a good price and I know i can pay my credit card in full at the end of the month.

The one exception is when offering cash or a check will get me an even better price.  Credit cards cost merchants money. I recently saved $300 by offering cash for a new heat pump.  I also got a new setback thermostat thrown in for free.   The merchant and I both came out ahead.

The bottom line is that planing is the key to managing debt.  It doesn't matter how you pay if you don't have the money in the first place.

BJ

I've seen this commercial many times, and it is for a debit card. Obviously, you have to be careful with a debit card, as you would with cash or checks.  If you have a choice between a check and a debit card in a busy store, and weren't planning on using cash, I do believe that those in line behind you would appreciate that you use the faster payment method. Record it in your ledger immediately, as you would with a check.  I don't know about all areas of the country, but in the city where I live, the lines in discount stores give PLENTY of time to think!  

As someone who is very frugal, we always use our credit cards for purchase, because we receive money back, that is better than the tiny interest we receive in our checking account.  Next month we will receive $600 back on our Visa.  We have always paid our credit cards back in full each month.  We always key in every single purchase into our computer money program, and know exactly where we are.  If the checking account gave us money back, or if we got a discount using cash, we'd do that instead.  

In the Dollar Stretcher, 1/28/08, someone mentioned that a debit card purchase would not go through if there is not enough money in the account to cover it.  That may be in some cases but not all.  Some banks are more than willing to let a purchase go through in such a case .... they get to charge an NSF fee on the purchase, just as if it were an NSF check.

It's come to my attention that debit cards are somewhat "predatory" in that the banks get young people to use them.  But it's never explained to the young that whenever you go over your limit and have no savings to back up the mistake you are charged $20 for each infraction.  Also, it's not explained that some of those charges won't show up right away, like a credit charge that doesn't show up til two months later...so if you call the bank for your balance, that is not what is available in your own account if you don't take into consideration that there might be outstanding purchases....  As a result of one of those one of my kids lost a $300 bonus to a series of $23.00 lattes!