The Upside to Credit Cards

When we turned sixteen, my parents gave my twin brother and myself a car to "share" between the two of us and said they'd pay our insurance for the first six months. After that, we were on our own with insurance and gas and such, which meant we'd better start looking for a job and saving money. 

I'm very thankful my parents never spoiled us. Don't get me wrong, we had everything we needed and a lot of what we wanted but I grew up knowing that you had to work for anything you wanted. I have always been good with money and can always afford anything that may pop up (we'll see how that changes once I finally move out). 

Since I've always been good with money, when I wanted to apply for credit cards or loans, that was never really a problem. Now I get offers in the mail ALL the time from them. Credit cards can be a very, very bad thing. People get so far into debt with them and let it get out of hand. However, if you're smart with them, they can be wonderful. 

If you're just starting out with credit, apply for a department store credit card or something small to get your credit started. Make sure you pay it on time and pay it off if possible, otherwise you'll owe interest and that's just throwing money away. Once you get credit established, you can move on to bigger and better things, such as a car loan or bigger credit card. 

Here's where things get fun! There are hundreds of credit cards out there, and lots of different perks to them. Some with annual fees, some with lower interest rates, double points, bonus points, etc. Find something that interest you and works for you. For example: I love to travel, so I found a credit card that gives me a point for every dollar I spend. In the first three months of having the card, if  I made one minimal purchase I'd get a bonus of 50,000 points! 50,000 points = $500. Now that I've had that card for a few years, I put my major purchases on it, and I'm now up to over 70,000 points and I'm hoping to redeem that in for a $700 gift certificate to Carnival. 

Be smart with credit cards! If you don't have the cash to pay for it, don't put it on your credit card. Simple. Paying for purchases with a swipe of a plastic card and not having your bank account decrease is great, that is until you get the bill. And like I said before, if you don't pay your bill off each month and continue to only make the minimal payment, you're just throwing money away in interest. Let the credit card companies pay you.