Wasn’t I just writing that one of the reasons I decided to get a credit card was in case of incidents happening out of my control? Well, last week, I had unauthorized access to my debit card, which is tied to my checking account. The good news is my bank stopped the fraudulent activity instantly, contacted me and nothing was removed from my account. They immediately froze the debit card, so no money was lost! This past Thursday, I went into my local back and signed the ‘hot form’ so I could receive a brand new debit card.
It’s a bit of a puzzle to me how the person gained access since that card has been used at the same places for years, so perhaps one of those businesses had to be compromised? Also, the past few months, I have not used the debit card. I’ve been paying for all of my purchases with my credit card that I acquired in that same month. The credit card is new to me since I haven’t had a credit card in years, not because of poor management, but because I didn’t see the need for one with a debit card.
Credit Card: I don’t spend what I don’t have
I just have one credit card, and as I mentioned earlier I acquired it recently. Before, I hadn’t had a credit card in about thirteen years. I was responsible with it when I did have it back in the day and I only had it for two years. With my credit card, I treat it no differently than my debit card, meaning if I don’t have money in my checking account, well I’m not making the purchase. There’s always money in the account.
I pay my credit card bill soon after making a purchase
But back to my credit card, I pay the amount owed to the credit card the same day or within a few days after the purchase. My final backup was setting up auto-payment so if something happens to me and I’m unable to do what I normally do, it’s still automatically paid in full before the monthly billing cycle. So regardless, my credit card balance will be zero every single month. This is an effective way to avoid credit card debt and eliminate finance charge, because every month I will have a zero balance. No, I won’t slip up and get into credit card debt. I’m wise and disciplined enough to know, what I purchase, I also owe. This again, is one of the areas where I disagree with Dave Ramsey. I disagreed with him even before I acquired another credit card, not everyone is irresponsible or will purchase items with money they don’t have. Come on Dave, give some of us more credit than that. I’m also taking advantage of the ‘points’ that some credit cards companies offer. I’m using those points to acquire free stuff. The beauty of it is that the credit card company isn’t making anything off of me since I pay the credit card of every single month. Lol, I love it and that’s winning with credit cards.
Fun Fact: Credit card companies refer to people (like me) that pay their entire credit card balances off in full each month, DEADBEATS. Because they make no money off of us. Well, in this case, I’m proud to be a deadbeat.
Resources:
WOW! So scary! Glad they were blocked and nothing was taken!
Jennifer Bliss recently posted..Positive Activism