Credit Cards and How They Can Be Useful At Times

Once upon a time, I collected credit cards before I became a nanny.  I know silly but hey I had some of the "prettiest" credit cards on the block. I have whittled that list of cards down to four now.  I have been foolish with them at times, but I am in a healthy place with credit cards now.  It took a while but as a banker once told me-you have debt but credit companies don't like you because you pay on time. 


The ones I have now are an American Express Blue Cash and a Visa Fidelity Investments card.  Plus another MasterCard and American Express. These credit cards are paid off monthly.  The balances are not carried over monthly.   I think that if you have to have a credit card you might as well get as "much bang for your buck."


For the Fidelity Investments I receive $75 on my Fidelity Investments IRA  for every $5000 spent on the card. To me this is awesome payback for the times that the place I am using credit doesn't take American Express. I have my health insurance and some other reoccurring bills sent here so that I can reap the "rewards" for my IRA. This card is then paid off monthly. 


The American Express Blue Cash is awesome for all of my purchases that I make throughout the year. I get "cash back" on my June statement. To me it is like a summer bonus.  I get a Christmas Bonus from work in December, a tax refund in March or April and then in the summer the cash back. I get a "payout" of money three times a year. Which is nice. 
  
This brings me to today's Financial Friday. I read STL Mommy post's titled: Credit Card Rewards: How Does Your Card Measure Up?  If you are interested in getting a credit card that has some true financial benefits to you and your credit usage, then check out the post.  Making sure that you use the credit cards responsibly and do not go into credit card debt.  They should be paid off monthly. Kim shares five credit cards that have some great reward programs for using them.


Also STL Mommy is a great blog that shares some great money saving deals daily on various products and services.