Credit Cards

Credit is a tool you can use to build credit and move more quickly, and credit cards are the easiest way to do this. With a big caveat: credit cards have an insane interest rate, and you should NOT use them unless you are confident you can pay them off.

TL;DR: Don't spend money you don't have!

That said, if you can pay them off (e.g. you have enough cash flow that you are a living off of last month's income), you can use credit cards with specific reward incentives to get a ton of benefits. The churning reddit[1] has a great flowchart for cards you can use to maximize rewards; though they are pretty aggressive, you can use this info to leverage your position.

Ethics

Any card that gives rewards or cash back is better than not using them when making large purchases or paying for stuff like utilities or rent (if they don't charge the extra processing fees). But also note that these processing fees hit small businesses extra hard, so be mindful of who you are using your cards with. The goal is to not leave money on the table, but while also not hurting our community. I understand that there is no such thing as a free lunch here, and that these rewards come from a lot of icky places (i.e. people defaulting on their debt or paying high interest, banks loaning money to shitty corporations, etc.), so consider if this is worth it to you.

References

Last modified: 202607141904