Edit - Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

Rev

No debt doesn't have to mean no credit score. You can use a credit card as a charge card, paying it off each month within the grace period (or even earlier). That won't maximize your score (because it doesn't maximize lender profit) but it will establish a credit report showing a history of financial responsibility.
– Ben Voigt
Commented Apr 8, 2018 at 20:09
Every time you use the credit card, you establish debt. It may be short term, but it is disingenious to say paying it (the debt) off each month is the same as having no debt.
– pojo-guy
Commented Apr 8, 2018 at 20:14
It's a liability which balances an asset, but it's not debt unless net of (assets - liabilities) which are linked together becomes negative. Several forms of linking exist, a secured card has the asset directly in the same account (still not the same as a debit card), but generally having credit card and deposit account in the same accountholder name at the same institution will form such a link (via auto-pay and "setoff" agreements).
– Ben Voigt
Commented Apr 8, 2018 at 20:18
1

I haven't had any issues travelling, staying in hotels, and renting cars in the past 14 years without having a credit card, even internationally. The protections available for credit cards are also applied to debit cards. The "cash back" rewards are in the range of a rounding error on the bank's part. You can often get a better deal by simply waving a wad of cash under the sales person's nose and walking away if they won't reach the deal you want.
– pojo-guy
Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 0:19
1

I also see debt as a moral failure; I simply do not see accessing my funds with a credit card to be building debt.
– Ben Voigt
Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 1:13

| Show 10 more comments

Correct minor typos or mistakes
Clarify meaning without changing it
Add related resources or links
Always respect the author’s intent
Don’t use edits to reply to the author

create code fences with backticks ` or tildes ~
```
like so
```
add language identifier to highlight code
```python
def function(foo):
print(foo)
```
put returns between paragraphs
for linebreak add 2 spaces at end
_italic_ or **bold**
quote by placing > at start of line
to make links (use https whenever possible)
<https://example.com>
[example](https://example.com)
<a href="https://example.com">example</a>

formatting help »
answering help »