Credit don'ts?

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Originally Posted by reediculous

4. Is there anyway to build credit without using credit cards, or will you always need to use them?

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It's a myth, perpetuated by the credit industry, that credit is even necessary.

I have no credit cards, and have nearly paid off all my other debt. Once finished, that will be it for me. The only "livable" credit for me, is a mortgage, and in reality, having a great credit history for a mortgage loan is less important than most think. Length of time at a job, current income etc, outweigh a good credit score any day of the week.

As for using credit cards for an emergency, that's a dangerous situation. Ideally, you should save 3-6 months of income and THAT is your emergency fund.

There have been a serious of interviews with the millionaires across the country, and the overwhelming majority say the primary reason they have remained millionaires is by staying out of debt.

Im gonna hit this from a different angle... Ive had CC's since I was 18(5yrs) and have pretty much had CC debt since. I've never been late and never missed a payment... thats a #1 with CC... the second you miss a payment or dont pay the min. balance your screwed... Always pay your balance in full if you can... Thats not always possible so try to get a card with a low apr in case you cant make the payment... my lowest is 8% and on like 1000$ its like 10$ or something small so its not that big of a deal... My father pays everything with his CC and leaves his money in the bank... once a month he makes a payment from his bank to his CC paying it off in full... This way your $$ is in the bank gaining interest and the less transactions you have with your bank the better... Try to only have a card or two and carry a 0$ balance... Also if your looking into getting a new card look for one with 0% interest... I just bought a clown with a CC that has 0% for 1 yr... gives me a yr to pay this off without having to worry bout getting interest up the arse as long as you pay atleast the min. every month on time... You miss a payment or are late... buh-bye 0% interest and hello default 24%... I went to buy a car a yr ago and had no problems getting a good interest rate bc i had good credit from having cards and paying them every month. In the end theres always a way around interest... when 0% is up... you can close the account... balance transfer to another card that has 0% for another yr... youll get hit with a transfer fee but its nothing more than 75$ usually... I just closed like 6 CC's i had open but never used... stupid ones like best buy, kay jewlers... other small credit cards... Everytime I apply for a card I get accepted on the spot usually with a base credit limit of 5k... Credit cards are good as long as you know what your doing and use them wisely.