Gas Credit Cards

Gdetrailer wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
My thought about cash back cards is that you're going to buy stuff anyway, why not get a bit of it back. Yeah, maybe sometimes I buy a couple extra things because it isn't "cash", but most of what is purchased would be gotten anyway. I haven't paid a dime of credit card interest in probably 30 years, that's a fool's game.

Yeah, I'll take my $250 check from Costco and enjoy every dime.

The Costco card is what we use for gasoline and diesel. I don't really see how getting a few cents/gallon back doesn't work in my favor. I'm going to buy it anyway, and every little bit helps. Costco gas around here is the cheapest, plus the money back. Win, win. But we only fill up there when we are at Costco anyway.

I "earn" much more than $250 per yr on just 200 shares of stocks that pays a min of $.40 dividends per share per quarter.. That IS real "earnings" unlike the "cash back" credit card scam and I DIDN'T "spend" or lose money in the process.

You don't even have to buy individual stocks, there are "money markets" that also offer quarterly dividends.

CC cash back programs encourage spending, they encourage folks to pile on more on the cards than they would typically spend.. It is a "carrot" being dangled..

$250 per yr boils down to a "reward" of a measly $20 per month and to get that you will have to put $12,000-$36,000 in charges to get it depending on percentage back offered..

Granted, you could put rent, mortgage, car, electric, phone, gas and more bills on it, but now you get slapped around with a single $1,000-$3,000 CC "payment" every month.. Without ever seeing exactly what you spent and on what or knowing exactly where your money goes is a dangerous place to go..

It is too little, too late and too low of a "hanging fruit" to be of any "savings value".

You want real money, there ARE better ways to earn it that can substantially be more than any measly 1%-5% cash back CC.

I have a family member that used the zero percent "transfers" thing for many yrs, hasn't worked out well.. Can't afford to sell his home and move to a better place due to continual remortgaging to cover his bills and has more owed than the value of his home, can't afford a new vehicle, CCs are maxed out all the time, barely able to pay the min payment due so he barely gets by.

He is older than I and yet I have retired as of last yr at the ripe age of 55.. He is out of luck unless some "rich aunt" that I am not aware of dies and leaves here entire estate to him..

I guess I have done things all wrong..

CC cash backs are nothing but a toy, not worth bothering with..

So much of this is just drivel. I don't think anyone ever said that they use a CC as an investment tool. That's ridiculous. If you use a card, pay it off monthly and get cash back or rewards and pay zero in interest, how is that not a win? Especially if you were going to spend the money anyway. I am not following how putting everything on a CC gets you "slapped around" monthly with a bill. You'd have those bills anyway . "without ever seeing exactly what you spent on" - This makes no sense at all. Just about every CC company out there allows you to see not only an itemized bill but charts showing categorization and spending habits and insight into your credit rating. Something you would have to track manually with cash. You are confusing managing debt by credit and rewards on purchases. 2 very different things. And what does any of this have to do with investing in the stock market?