As an aside, for anyone using an Apple Card today, a handy way around this is to not make payments via ACH. Use your debit card with Apple Pay to pull money instantly into Apple Cash, then use that to instantly pay your credit card bill. An extra step, sure, but it's instant.
Any tips?
Personally I have a bank account that I use solely for the purpose of auto pay/ach. It’s only funded with enough money to pay creditors.
This is what keeps me from even considering an apple card, I don't need any credit and getting credit registered against my name will make it more difficult to get a mortgage.
If you use debit, you might be leaving 2% of the deal on the table. (But you are helping the merchant, which could be a good reason)
Seems crazy for end users but I understand it from the banks' perspective
My bank told me they definitely favour those who can live their lives without having to take loans at all. Any loans get subtracted from the maximum possible mortgage, this includes credit cards at their maximum authorised credit level(!). Also, we have to pay 20% of a house in hard cash here so anyone looking to buy one is saving substantial money. So you have a decent buffer. There's no point in taking out credit if you can supply your own.
I get ten percent cash back on groceries right now. It is subsidized in a sense, and builds out an advertising portfolio on me - those are questionable - but it is money in my pocket.
I do have a "credit card" because some sites refuse to accept debit ones. But no cashbacks or anything. Maybe it differs by bank (I use caixabank in Spain)
The one thing I do like as a reward is that caixa funds several museums and you can get in for free if you have an account with them. But it doesn't have to be a credit card, a normal account is enough.
In Europe these are legally capped, in the us they are not. So the 2% cash back on US cards is the cards and banks competing for market share by providing kickbacks from these fees to customers.
https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/how-credit-cards-make...
You must share which card is this, I will get one immediately. 10%?
https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/cash-back/it-card.html
The ten percent is a promotion they were doing for getting the card; matching your cash back for a bit. 1% on everything, 5% on a couple of categories, and x2 for only a bit.
If it gets stolen/someone else uses it, all I need to do is tell my bank, and since I have not paid the debt, I am not out any money. It is on the bank. If I was using a debit card, it may take a month+ to be investigated/money returned.
Emergencies/availability having available credit is useful, most of my money is in investment accounts, even if only to get higher money market interest rates. I can transfer to my bank account, but that takes time. Having ~10k in credit available for if I need a last minute plane/hotel/hospital is good in an emergency. Once I'm safe I can move the money around as needed.
Cash back, coming from the USA credit cards give me 2-3% cash back. That is significant considering I use them for all purchases.
I do not believe that credit card accounts have a negative affect on mortgages. They are different types, with credit cards being revolving. As long as you are paying it off and not maintaining a valence, then it should only be a net positive (shows credit history of paying debts).
But if the bank still claims it was you it is still in question and they still want their money back, with interest.
> I do not believe that credit card accounts have a negative affect on mortgages. They are different types, with credit cards being revolving. As long as you are paying it off and not maintaining a valence, then it should only be a net positive (shows credit history of paying debts).
Ah I see, this does definitely not apply here in Europe. The amount you can borrow for a mortgage is reduced by the amount of loans you have, including the maximum spending limit on credit cards (even if you never use said card at all!). This is why I have a card with only 1000 euro spending limit, just for some backwards sites that don't support debit cards (there are still some unfortunately.
A mortgage is credit. And as far as FICO scores go, having high available credit would make it easier to get a loan, not harder.
This is not, generally, a correct statement. Having a history of 1) paying off debt or 2) not using a credit line available to you actually makes it MUCH easier to get a mortgage.
Might be different in other countries but in the US the only way credit lines harm your chances of getting a mortgage is if you don't pay the bill in full every month or take out new lines of credit within a few months of taking out the mortgage.
I, personally, had more than 20 lines of credit open when I was approved for my mortgage at their lowest interest rate. My mortgage was/is actually lower than my available credit on my all my revolving accounts, combined.
Debit cards are the worst of all options. Any fraud means the money is immediately gone from your account. Yes you can often get it back eventually, but eventually takes time.
> I don't need any credit and getting credit registered against my name will make it more difficult to get a mortgage.
If you're planning on getting a mortgage I suggest studying up on this, because reality is the opposite of what you say. An important factor in your credit score is how much credit you have that you don't use. So what you want is lots of credit cards with very high limits to maximize your credit score.