10% Of Americans Don’t Carry Cash Anymore

amdgamer said:
The cash back I got on my American Express for 2013 alone paid for my launch day Xbox One. However it is the security of not carrying cash that motivates me to use electronic payment for as much as possible. I also do not use debit cards because that gives someone potential direct access to my account while a credit card is an intermediate payment service. The two I carry are my Wells Fargo Visa and AMEX because both of those companies are excellent at taking care of you in the case of fraud or something else.
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Agreed. Using my AMEX I get an extended warranty on purchases at no extra charge too.
 
I found the less cash i kept on me, the fewer impulse buys I made, the less I spend.
So... I keep a $10 on me for coffee and use cards for the rest.
Works pretty well most of the time.

As soon as hookers start taking Visa I'm screwed....
 
I pretty much just use cash for church now. Everywhere else it's the right credit card for the right occasion. Restaurant? Chase Freedom if it's the quarter where they give 5 points a dollar, otherwise use Citi Forward (5 points there all the time but the points are less flexible). Cable, internet, cell phone? Chase Ink. Gas? Freedom if it's the quarter where it gets 5 points, otherwise Chase Ink. General spending? Chase Sapphire Preferred (normally, although right now Discover offered me $150 to put $1000 in normal spending on my Discover card so obviously I'd spend on Discover for that). Then you have Shopdiscover.com which typically offers a lot better than Fatwallet and other click through sites. American Express offers great deals from time to time like $10 back on any gas purchase of $10 or more, $50 back on any purchase of $100 or more at Staples (gift cards allowed), etc.

My advice: Never buy anything you wouldn't buy anyway (you aren't saving money if you're spending it just to get points when you wouldn't have bought the item anyway.) Try to find special cards for anything you spend a lot of money on (for me cable/internet/cell phone are big portions of my monthly expenses -- nearly as much as my health insurance premium - so the Ink card really made sense.)
 
To everyone who pays your balance in full each month, you're actually not supposed to do this if you want to improve your credit score. FICO standards want to see about 10-20% credit utilization each month as evidence that you know how to manage your finances. Anyone can buy $5000 worth of crap in a month and then pay it off because they had the cash all along, thats not what credit management is about. They want to see that you know how to borrow money and then properly pay it back when you dont already have the cash in reserves.
 
x3sphere said:
Agreed. Using my AMEX I get an extended warranty on purchases at no extra charge too.
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I used the price protection part of my Chase Sapphire Preferred a few months ago. I'd bought a Droid Maxx off contract (REALLY expensive, but I was tired of having poor battery life, and didn't want to lose my unlimited data plan.) About 2-3 months after I'd bought it Verizon dropped the off contract price about $150. I filled out the paperwork and had a check from Chase in just a few weeks.
 
McFry said:
To everyone who pays your balance in full each month, you're actually not supposed to do this if you want to improve your credit score.
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News to me. I'm sitting a hair under 800 after having done this for years. That's good enough for me.
 
I usually carry around $100 on me though I can sometimes get lazy and just not drive to the bank to reload so I may sit for 2-3 weeks with < $10 in my wallet.
 
McFry said:
To everyone who pays your balance in full each month, you're actually not supposed to do this if you want to improve your credit score. FICO standards want to see about 10-20% credit utilization each month as evidence that you know how to manage your finances. Anyone can buy $5000 worth of crap in a month and then pay it off because they had the cash all along, thats not what credit management is about. They want to see that you know how to borrow money and then properly pay it back when you dont already have the cash in reserves.
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The credit card companies report your balance at the same time your statement closes. Don't prepay (eg pay before your statement date), but once you get that statement you should pay in full (interest will eat up any rewards almost immediately) because by that point the balance has already been reported.

Use a free service like Credit Karma / Quizzle / Credit Sesame and you'll see the balance being reported each month on the same day your statement becomes available.
 
To everyone who pays your balance in full each month, you're actually not supposed to do this if you want to improve your credit score.
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I am at 837 according to discover and I pay off my balance every month in full. I did not use to though. A decade ago I ran a 45 thousand dollar balance although I had the cash to cover the balance all of my cards had 0% apr periods and I shuffled between them.. Back then my FIco score was in the 600s.
 
I carry cash to pay for gas and at shady establishments plus it's always good to have some on you but that's about it.
 
10%'er here as well I guess. I guess I never realized how few people used cash. I use cash for 95% of my purchases except large purchases obviously. I must be one of them there terrorists, according to the NSA.
 
I get $40 every other week or so for small purchases. The rest on the debit card. Large purchases on the credit card.
 
I am surprised it is only 10%...

I rarely carry cash... only if I know I am going somewhere it might be useful like traveling, bars (that I won't be sitting down in), valet services etc

heck even soda machines accept cc now...
 
charold said:
10%'er here as well I guess. I guess I never realized how few people used cash. I use cash for 95% of my purchases except large purchases obviously. I must be one of them there terrorists, according to the NSA.
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ummmm 10% DON'T carry cash...

Though the title is misleading a little... since they also say 50% carry less then $20.
 
Don't want to scare anyone but if we do go to a cashless system...

won't that just potentially play into requiring the sign of the beast to trade and perform transactions as foretold in the Book of Revelations?

Been sooo many years since I read the good book (yes us agnostics have read the bible thank you) so my memory could be wrong.
 
charold said:
10%'er here as well I guess. I guess I never realized how few people used cash. I use cash for 95% of my purchases except large purchases obviously. I must be one of them there terrorists, according to the NSA.
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Then you aren't in the 10% but rather the 49% or 78% group...
 
TeeJayHoward said:
I get 1% off everything if I use my card. Why the hell would I carry cash?
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2% here on everything. Fidelity Amex and Priceline Visa. I have other that go higher (5%) for gas, grocery, dining and Amazon. I visit the ATM to put money back so I can get my 2-5%.
 
I rarely have cash on my on a regular basis. If I really need the cash, the closest ATM will always be ~ 5-10 minutes away by car.
 
Little to no cash in wallet... ever.

Too many benefits to plastic money, extended warranties, return policies, purchase protection of all kinds; not to mention cash back.
 
Half the time I don't bother with cash but lottery tickets and fast food are easier with cash. If the credit card machine is down you can just spend the cash, instead of looking for an atm and getting ripped off the service fees. But really if everything goes through my debit card I can keep track of my spending easier by just coping pasting the info from my online banking to my finical spreadsheets. Cash basically has to be written down and then I figure out what it was spent on.
 
charold said:
10%'er here as well I guess. I guess I never realized how few people used cash. I use cash for 95% of my purchases except large purchases obviously. I must be one of them there terrorists, according to the NSA.
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Personally, I don't understand why you bother with cash when it is so much more secure and so much easier to use a debit card. I hate carrying around pocket change, and I don't have to with my debit card. It just takes it directly out of my checking account.
 
I carry a few one's for soda machines, but that's about it.
 
McFry said:
To everyone who pays your balance in full each month, you're actually not supposed to do this if you want to improve your credit score. FICO standards want to see about 10-20% credit utilization each month as evidence that you know how to manage your finances. Anyone can buy $5000 worth of crap in a month and then pay it off because they had the cash all along, thats not what credit management is about. They want to see that you know how to borrow money and then properly pay it back when you dont already have the cash in reserves.
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This is a myth. Pay your cards off every month. I have an 800+ score and carry 0 balance.

http://money.msn.com/credit-rating/7-nasty-credit-myths-that-will-not-die-weston.aspx
 
I keep a $100 tucked away in the deepest confines of my wallet. I haven't touched it in who knows how long. For the utmost of cash emergencies. Otherwise, I carry $10-20, depending on who owed me money for what. I don't remember the last time I willingly took cash out of the ATM just for the sake of having cash on me.

I run ALL transactions as credit, and pay off my balance in full every month. Definitely the best way to go overall, with rewards, security, and whatnot.
 
My wife always questions where I got money from, apparently I'm not allowed to have any.
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Mine is Korean so she always makes sure I have a few hundred in my wallet in case we need to pay cash at a restaurant or something. She knows how to make the man look like he's in charge. She then promptly fills it back up when we get home and no, I can't just run around buying whatever I want with it. We have CCs for everything else and she knows the deal when it comes to cash back. We pay for almost everything with the CC.
 
lcpiper said:
Mine is Korean so she always makes sure I have a few hundred in my wallet in case we need to pay cash at a restaurant or something. She knows how to make the man look like he's in charge. She then promptly fills it back up when we get home and no, I can't just run around buying whatever I want with it. We have CCs for everything else and she knows the deal when it comes to cash back. We pay for almost everything with the CC.
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This...this is awesome. She sounds great man.
 
StormUP's right. Besides, you don't even need a good credit score. Just save your money and buy what you need when you have what it takes. It's worked for me for everything and I own three homes to prove it.
 
dgingeri said:
Personally, I don't understand why you bother with cash when it is so much more secure and so much easier to use a debit card.
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LMFAO. "Secure". I used my debit card for three years, and after the second time some dickhead overseas charged hundreds of dollars of shit to it, however he got it, I got a credit card. Now assholes can't take money directly out of my account with my stolen card number, and even if they make charges, I just call up Visa and *poof* they're undone.

Using a debit card for anything other than ATM withdrawals is asking to be robbed.
 
the drive-thru window will occasionally only take cash if the CC network is down.
 
McFry said:
To everyone who pays your balance in full each month, you're actually not supposed to do this if you want to improve your credit score. FICO standards want to see about 10-20% credit utilization each month as evidence that you know how to manage your finances. Anyone can buy $5000 worth of crap in a month and then pay it off because they had the cash all along, thats not what credit management is about. They want to see that you know how to borrow money and then properly pay it back when you dont already have the cash in reserves.
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Carrying a balance is stupid though. I am not going to pay some absurd interest rate on a card just so I can achieve a higher credit rating.

But then again, logic is not allowed.. right?

My rating is in the high 800s and There are very few months when my card is not paid off in full. I've been doing it this way for years.
 
Carrying a balance on a CC is alot like working to get a large refund from the IRS. Either way you are giving up a ton of your money.

Just like paying off your full balance every month, you should also plan to write a modest check to the IRS every year. Why give Uncle Sam a free loan when you can take a small loan for free every year?
 
dandirk said:
Don't want to scare anyone but if we do go to a cashless system...

won't that just potentially play into requiring the sign of the beast to trade and perform transactions as foretold in the Book of Revelations?

Been sooo many years since I read the good book (yes us agnostics have read the bible thank you) so my memory could be wrong.
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I would say that cashless is only a small part of that.

From what I understand of it, and what most people think about that, it that it will either be a bar-code type thing on your forehead or wrist area. More likely would be an implanted chip (like the ones they use currently in animals for locating them, records keeping, etc.) or some other type of biometric setup.

When the chip is removed from the person it stops working. If GPS capabilities were in the chip or if there were tracking scanners everywhere, this would be a very bad thing, but will be accepted by the masses in exchange for a little bit of extra "security".

Those who trade liberty for security deserve neither. And in the end they will have neither.

It has to be something that is able to track you very easily. Credit/Debit cards are not necessarily always used by the person who is the owner.
 
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