PAYMENT OPTIONS

In general one can pay in cash, credit card, barter or exchange of some asset of value, wiring services, or crypto-currency. 

CASH

Cash is the easiest if you feel comfortable carrying cash.  But the idea here is to not have records which the government can find for any reason of theirs or yours.  But this may make records keeping problematic along with warranties, etc. unless you have a good records keeping solution.

BARTER OR PROPERTY EXCHANGE

This is not common but do whatever you think will work for you.  It is not a topic for me at this point.

WIRING SERVICES

There are various tools for transferring money such a PayPal but again this is not a topic for me at this time.

CRYPTO-CURRENCY

In general crypto is a way to protect your transactions from the government.  This too is beyond the scope of this website at this time.

CREDIT CARDS

This is the key topic of this page.  So let’s get started.

It is extremely important that you understand the terms of your agreement with the credit card company, the benefits, obligations, and so forth.

CREDIT CARD CLOSING DATE

Every credit card has a closing date during the month 1 to 31st when the credit card company closes the transaction for the month and sends you a statement along with another date which is usually around a month when you have to pay all of the money due or some part of the balance due which is usually equal to or above the minimum balance.  If you do not pay the minimum balance you may get hit with penalties and interest charge and worst of all negative information posted to the credit union which control your credit rating which impact your ability to borrow money.  

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

I recommend that you take a sticker of some sort and write the closing date on it and affix it to each credit card.  Then try to do you purchase  right after the closing date so you have as much time as possible before they send you your statement.  This can buy you almost 30 days until you get your statement and another 30 day approximately before you have to pay it.  So you end up with almost 60 days of interest free loan before you pay up or incur subsequent interest charges.

WHICH CARD SHOULD I PAY FIRST?

In general it is best to first pay the highest interest cards and use the lower interest cards trying to get the most free money or almost free low interest for as long as possible.

SPECIAL BENEFITS

There are credit cards which give special services on certain items.  Once I was going to travel and rent a car.  Many credit card companies provide free insurance with a rental car.  But I was about to travel to a country which was excluded from the free insurance on almost all cards.  I called one credit card company after another and after a long list I almost gave up.  Then I found one of my cards which was a “world card” and they were the only ones who gave free insurance on rental cars in that country.  So be persistent and don’t give up if you hear “no” too many times.  Keep trying until you achieve what you want or run out of cards.

CREDIT CARD BALANCE TRANSFERS

Periodically we get balance transfer offers to move an active balance and get no interest or low interest for some period of time.  The credit card company is hoping to get your business and that you will forget about the arrangement and when it expires the rate jumps dramatically and they have you on the hook.  So as in general if you manage you financials you can win.  If you are not on top of your game, they will win.  

GOLD AND PLATINUM WARRANTY PROTECTION

I have not used this in some time but I know that Gold and Platinum cards I had used to double the manufacturer warranty up to an extra year.  This means that if you bought an item with a 90 day warranty you would get 180 days of coverage.  If you bought an item with 2 years of warranty you would get an extra year bring the total warranty period to 3 years.  I did use this several times and got expensive computer repairs done for free.  Please check out your term of your cards to see if this is applicable.

FIGHTING FRAUD

In many if not most cases the credit card company is also there to protect you.  This means if a company tries to scam you that you can show the nature of their scam and get the charge cancelled and refunded.  But you must really be on top of your game to succeed because the scammer are looking to steal your money by outsmarting you.  Please see my SCAM PROTECTION PAGE.

RECORDS KEEPING

It is a good idea to use a credit company with very good records keeping along with you have a good record keeping strategy.  One example is end of year transaction summary to find all of your tax deductions and credits easily.  You may also note if the credit company can provide you a good lucid PDF document or a CSV, comma separated value, excel importable file or something that can be imported in Quicken or another accounting financial management tool.  And finally I try to always write my milage when I fill gas on my receipt.  In my case I don’t drive much so I can lower my auto insurance by providing milage information or use the information for my tax return auto expenses.

CREDIT CARD SUMMARY

Credit cards are a great tool if used wisely.