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Comment by nfriedly | Hacker News Reader

My wife and I stopped using credit cards for most things because we're fed up with the whole system. We use cash for groceries and such, the bank pays all of the bills automatically, and we use debit cards for retailers that we trust online (mostly amazon). Credit card use is fairly rare in my house these days.

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How do you build credit history? Also, isn't it easy to dispute credit card transactions as opposed to debit card because with a debit card money is immediately removed from your account.

Why would you need a credit history if you don't use credit?

Credit score effects your insurance rates (in the majority of states) and your ability to rent an apartment.

Getting a mortgage is the big one.

That said, I think people worry too much about credit histories. And every foreigner I've met who moved to the US as a pharma scientist with a 6 figure salary has been able to get a mortgage despite not having a credit history in the US. A good credit history (vs. having none) generally seems to matter when you are getting a mortgage close to the limit given your salary.

Some employers will run credit checks on prospective hires.

Hasn't been an issue in my case.

I've had my credit checked as part of background checks the last two times I've changed jobs. AFAICT they aren't interested in my (abysmally low) credit score, but are rather using it as a signal that I am who I claim to be - which is essentially what the background check is for in the first place.

A very low credit score doesn't stop me renting an apartment either, probably for similar reasons. Although it did mean I couldn't rent in the presidio

These days we don't worry about it much. We pay all of our bills on time (including the mortgage that usually gets some extra to principal) and we do occasionally use credit cards, so I expect that there's some good history there. But I don't plan to ever need it again.

In my experience, I've had to cancel one credit card and one debit card due to fraudulent charges. With the debit card, you're right, some money did disappear for a few days, but the bank put it back as soon as we signed and notarized a form.

For the credit card, they dropped the charges right away without me ever paying for it, but the merchant (ebay) sent my info to a collections agency, so it ended up being more of a hassle then the stolen debit card.

They traced the debit card theft back to a string of thefts at a department store we had shopped at (presumably one particular employee), but we now use cash for essentially all shopping, so that isn't a risk anymore. (Although I do try to watch out for card skimmers on ATMs.)

Having a larger percentage of your total credit unused gives you a better score... and the older your credit accounts are also improves your score... I don't think that using your credit cards increases your score (check out creditkarma.com, they give lots of insight as to how your credit score is calculated)

You sound to be pretty responsible when it comes to money. If you're paying bills on time, why not take advantage of the cash/travel rewards from credit cards?

I'm against rewards cards on principle. I think it's basically a legalized bribe.

But, when I said I pay my bills on time, I actually meant that my bank pays my bills on time. All of my regular bills are paid automatically through my bank.

For travel, airfare and hotels do go on credit cards, but more often then not, we drive and stay with family or friends. (Excluding work travel... but my job pays for that.)

Since the retailers are required to charge the same to credit card customers as to cash customers, when you use cash you are subsidising all the people who are using credit cards.

If my local retailer thrives it is marginally beneficial for myself as well. If some remote payment processor thrives.. not so much.

My point is that when you use cash, some of that cash is still going to the remote payment processor, since your cash is subsidising the card fees.

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