Financial issue? In a good way

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Im still old fashioned, when i think of "cash back" its green folding money in my hand. Don't even have a credit card. What your doing makes sense but i have never tried.
I was the same for a very long time, thought that I was much better off not carrying any debt at all and that credit cards were all debt and used for buying things you really couldn't afford. I travel with my work and in the beginning just carried whatever cash I thought that I might need with me. I was robbed at gunpoint by two guys once outside of my truck with my pistol stuck in the crack between the seats in the truck. I decided then that I didn't need to carry near as much cash around with me.

I got a bank card that was drawn on my bank account and used that to get whatever I needed while on the road. Worked fine until my account got hacked using the card number. The bank caught it and returned all of my money but at the same time, they locked the card and mailed me a new one. I was in LA, the card went home to Arkansas. I was out there for 3 weeks with no way to get any money until my wife wired me some cash by a Walmart wire transfer.

After that, I started researching credit cards, I learned a lot about how they worked and figured out that they only charge interest on balances that are carried from one month to the next. I got around that part easy, just paid the entire balance by bank draft before it came due every month. No one had my actual bank account information accept for the credit card company that way. As was said above, I had no credit history because I always paid cash, wasn't a bad thing but getting a credit card wasn't hard without it as long as you have no bad credit. After using this method to pay for things for a year or so and paying the entire balance before it is due every month, I started getting offers for a cash back cards. They basically give you a credit on the account, you can spend it or you can deduct it from your balance when you pay your bill. I just let it ride and build up and use it for what I want personally as in the muzzleloader. It depends on the purchase but my wife buys groceries with a card that pays 4% back and restaurants do as well, Most all purchases are at least 2% including any equipment rentals or our utility bills.
 
No one should travel with one card, debit or credit. I don't even keep cash and cards all in one spot when I travel.

My expense accounts regularly ran around $3-5K a month when I traveled for the O&G company. It was not uncommon to hit $10k and my highest was $15K. We would book hotel rooms a month at a time so as not to loose them when it was really booming. It was all done with debit cards. I was one of the few not in a panic at the end of every month trying to see when the check was going to hit my account.

It's all about what you are willing to set your mind to do.
 
If i have a credit score i have no idea what it is. Seems to be a big deal to many people so it must be important.
If i bought a small farm tonight for $100,000 i would send a text message to one of the bank board of directors and he would ask if i need more. Then say get it tied up and come by the bank one day. Still old fashion i guess.
yea I deal with the bank president and he just always tells me to "just bring the contract"

I think i'm going to sell this place, next place will be an all cash purchase - probably going to downgrade to around 350-400 ac since the kids don't seem to want to do anything with the place. that will be easy for me to manage and give me enough land to be away from people. No reason to work non stop. all by myself doing everything is getting kinda old and my body is starting to tell me to slow down.
 
I'm not sure how many CC's I have but I know I have a lot. I used to have over 10. now I think I have around 6. Got rid of the ones with low limits under 30k. If I wanted I can pull a quarter mil from CC's.
 
I'm no spring chicken, on cash is important to me. We paid off crazy debt in short periods of time just to find out paying off debt doesn't help credit score. Paid cash for last two places but then needed to move closer to dhs work and wanted more land and that meant higher mortgage. Go to get mortgage and I don't qualify because I have zero credit. Lol doesn't matter how much I've paid off, what I own , there were only two places that would offer land loan and though my names on the cards, they considered them dhs score so I couldn't even be on house or land mortgage. He has credit score of 800 plus. I have no history.
So I got another business card in my name only to pay off monthly bills and now I'm offered everything because i have 870 credit 😝. I hate playing games, especially when I had 5 other cards.
Ccs are great as long as you pay them off. Research shows most people spend 30% more per month than worth cash. I've started businesses with credit card offers ( watch those transfer fees), my dad made thousands with free offers and 70 different cards.
But most people spend more than they should and end up 20% interest when things are tough and it feels like free money. I've got in-laws with 70-100,000 debt on cards. Really easy to do when the cards keep upping your limit.
630 credit score needs some work - having too many you don't pay off, and having cards you don't use it don't use high enough reduces credit score. If you want to play the credit score game it's good to pay attention to what affects it. Or find places that realize credit score is pretty crummy way of determining how good a bet you are. But it's what banks here go on. Even local credit Union does it.
 
There are several businesses here who have gone to charging more if you use a card. It amounts to more than the cash back you get. They include restaurants, gas, and hardware store. Probably others that I don't know about.

I've seen that before, but not around here.

In those cases I would pay with cash or debit/check.
 
There are several businesses here who have gone to charging more if you use a card. It amounts to more than the cash back you get. They include restaurants, gas, and hardware store. Probably others that I don't know about.
Im seeing that here some, at our local stockyard the charge is 3%. The auction company i work for occasionally is also 3%.
 
I'm no spring chicken, on cash is important to me. We paid off crazy debt in short periods of time just to find out paying off debt doesn't help credit score. Paid cash for last two places but then needed to move closer to dhs work and wanted more land and that meant higher mortgage. Go to get mortgage and I don't qualify because I have zero credit. Lol doesn't matter how much I've paid off, what I own , there were only two places that would offer land loan and though my names on the cards, they considered them dhs score so I couldn't even be on house or land mortgage. He has credit score of 800 plus. I have no history.
So I got another business card in my name only to pay off monthly bills and now I'm offered everything because i have 870 credit 😝. I hate playing games, especially when I had 5 other cards.
Ccs are great as long as you pay them off. Research shows most people spend 30% more per month than worth cash. I've started businesses with credit card offers ( watch those transfer fees), my dad made thousands with free offers and 70 different cards.
But most people spend more than they should and end up 20% interest when things are tough and it feels like free money. I've got in-laws with 70-100,000 debt on cards. Really easy to do when the cards keep upping your limit.
630 credit score needs some work - having too many you don't pay off, and having cards you don't use it don't use high enough reduces credit score. If you want to play the credit score game it's good to pay attention to what affects it. Or find places that realize credit score is pretty crummy way of determining how good a bet you are. But it's what banks here go on. Even local credit Union does it.
I just bought a new car and since I wanted to drive it home and the cash would take 3/4 days to show up in the bank they ran my credit score and required me to take out a loan for what actually took 6 days before the car was paid off. About two years ago I had no credit rating because I was paying cash for everything using a debit card. So I got one of those 2% back credit cards and have been using it and now my credit score is over 800. And yet the bank that I have the card through and I used my debit card to pay for half the car... refused to do the loan. To be honest, I'd never do business with the bank except they are all over the country. I like my local bank much, much, much, (Did I say how much yet?) better than WF.
 

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