Understanding credit cards

JimmyTheWig

Refeuh wrote: »

But so far it always seemed to me that the cost/benefits ratio made them mostly unattractive.

Do you mean cost in terms of hassle? Or potential to mess it up?
Or do you mean cost as in how much money it will cost you?

Because if you mean the latter than there is no cost assuming that you pay the balance off in full every month.

tonymalbert

I think Molerat explained pretty well. Another thing that credit card is better than Debit card is purchasing power. You can shop more than your balance and up to your credit limit. Credit cards help you in emergencies where debit card could fail in some cases.

Maestro.

Refeuh wrote: »

Thanks for the input, that's all very useful !

I guess I'll have to watch more closely the credit card offers and the benefits that come with them...
But so far it always seemed to me that the cost/benefits ratio made them mostly unattractive. I might have been looking at the wrong products.

Thanks

A surprising number of people who don't have credit cards and don't know anything about them, seem to be under the impression that they cost you money to run, or that they can't be paid off in full forcing you to accrue interest, etc. I think that's probably why they get such bad press, because a lot of people wrongly associate "credit card" with "irresponsible spender".