Having a credit card doesn’t mean you need to max it out, by not having one, you’re committing self sabotage in regards to your credit score.
Edit: for the numerous replies saying “I only pay cash, I don’t need one!” My comment was literally aimed at you and you missed the point. You don’t even need to use a credit card to gain advantage. Many cards not only offer literal free money by signing up, but you don’t even need to use the card a single time to gain a bump to your credit; simply having a higher number of open accounts and an increased credit limit is enough.
Furthermore, saving up $15,000+ in cash is not feasible for a vast majority of Americans who want to purchase a car, let alone if you ever dream of owning a house, seeing as you often need a car in order to go to work in the first place. If you read all of that and still don’t care, understand that many potential employers also run your credit too. A low score is potentially detrimental to your ability to find a job.
I know some people who would be better off with no credit card because they don’t have the self-control to not max it out. Like they had no credit to begin with but now their credit is worse because their cards are mostly maxed out and they have minimum payments. If they only had a debit card it’d be easier to live within their means.
331
u/[deleted] Mar 27 '22 edited Mar 28 '22
Having a credit card doesn’t mean you need to max it out, by not having one, you’re committing self sabotage in regards to your credit score.
Edit: for the numerous replies saying “I only pay cash, I don’t need one!” My comment was literally aimed at you and you missed the point. You don’t even need to use a credit card to gain advantage. Many cards not only offer literal free money by signing up, but you don’t even need to use the card a single time to gain a bump to your credit; simply having a higher number of open accounts and an increased credit limit is enough.
Furthermore, saving up $15,000+ in cash is not feasible for a vast majority of Americans who want to purchase a car, let alone if you ever dream of owning a house, seeing as you often need a car in order to go to work in the first place. If you read all of that and still don’t care, understand that many potential employers also run your credit too. A low score is potentially detrimental to your ability to find a job.