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Comment by watwut | Hacker News Reader

> makes no sense to pay right away when you can pay with no interest 15 days later on average.

Why in a pray tell would you favor late payment? Why would I create myself a chore for an end of a month if I can just pop a card, pay and see the transaction in e-banking right away? If it is auto-charge by the end of month, why not charge it right away?

You are gaining absolutely nothing.

> In an inflationary fiat currency system it's always better to defer payment assuming you can manage your cashflow and you're living hand to mouth

What are you talking about here. We are talking about people paying with euros.

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Say you spend €1000 per month. If you use a credit card, you can earn interest on that for an month and only need the money in your current account on the day you pay.

So at 5% annual interest that’s about €4. So yes it’s not huge, but that’s every month for your whole life and it compounds over time.

The benefit is small (it won’t make or break your finances) but real.

That’s what I mean by “inflationary fiat currency” - you are paying in something that constantly loses value. Therefore rationally, it makes sense to pay as late as possible.

In some sense everything is actually slightly cheaper if you buy it on a credit card and pay it off a month later

> Why would I create myself a chore for an end of a month

Do they not have direct debit where you live?

>If it is auto-charge by the end of month, why not charge it right away?

Because there's no way I'm going to keep anywhere close to that much money on my debit card? Because the credit card won't get randomly locked while I'm trying to pay a 40k euro hotel room bill in Asia? Or if it does, I can switch to another credit card or deal with reasonable customer service.

If you're only making small payments, of course it doesn't matter. If you're regularly spending significant amounts of money, doing so with a debit card will be a huge pain in the ass and an unnecessary risk.

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