<p>This is quite an interesting discussion. My cash use has been on the decline for the past 15 years where now I only carry about $10.</p>
<p>When my kids were in car seats, I would only go to gas at stations where you could pay at the pump. It was too cumbersome to get the kids out to pay for gas inside, especially if they were asleep or the weather was bad. I would never leave them in the car while I “ran” in. Now I can’t stand waiting behind a car where the person goes in to pay for gas and then gets coffee and snacks while I have to wait for them to come back and clear out of the pump. I don’t live in a state where they pump the gas for you. Same thing for the supermarket line and those paying with checks. I like the new scan gun where you scan the items yourself and bag as you go and then just scan the card and check yourself out.</p>
<p>I also found it interesting that some of the younger generation in some areas are still just using cash. This is not the case where I am My D has been using her debit card since she started working at 16 and so have her friends and my friends kids. ATM’s charge $3 per withdrawal. They don’t make that much money to make a large withdrawal to justify the fee. She can go to starbucks and swipe the card and keep going. </p>
<p>I pay with cc because it is convenient, I can get rewards, warranty and if there is a dispute, I can go back and prove it and this has happened more times than I care to count. You cannot do that with cash if you lose the receipt and you cannot replace cash if you lose it. I feel bad that the merchants have to take the brunt for this, but for years the US has been moving towards a cashless society. I try to pay cash in local stores but only if the bill is below $30 and I know ahead what I am going to spend. I hope there is a solution beneficial to all eventually. </p>
<p>I also agree with engineer4life that adding line items makes you feel nickeled and dimed. The airlines do this and I don’t fly some of them for that reason because when you add up all the line items, you end up paying more. I also have driven out of gas stations playing this game. I would rather see the real price and get motivated to pay cash than be penalized for not doing so.</p>
<p>We have a debit card that charges refunds ATM fees if you are charged any & also no foreign transaction fees (rarely ever use it). It’s still more profitable for us to use our charge card & get 2% back to us in cash than to pay with cash UNLESS the merchant offers a discount for cash (as a few do). I also pay cash for my mechanic, as described above. Some farmer’s markets & stores in Chinatown are accepting credit cards nowadays too. They have made a business decision that benefits of having folks spend money more freely outweigh the costs from the charge companies, I guess. H & I get $150-$200 apiece each month to carry around for expenses that we pay cash for but otherwise charge most of our expenditures. We never carry a balance & have no objection to earning 2% (or sometimes other things like airline miles, insurance, etc.) for our expenditures–seems like a good deal to us. I understand that for folks who are tempted to buy things they wouldn’t otherwise or can’t afford, credit cards can be an awful temptation, but if you pay off the balance every month, it seems like a good deal to H & me.</p>
<p>I use an REI USBankcard.
1% off all purchases.
5%off all REI purchases.
10% yearly dividend rebate of qualified REI purchases.( everything not on sale- REI dividend is for all members)</p>
<p>1.5% cash back on everything, no limit, if you deposit the cash into your Fidelity account (which you can then immediately withdraw). No annual fee.</p>
<p>Quote: For everyone earning 2% cash back on all of your purchases, mind sharing what card you’re using? </p>
<p>Capital One. We’ve had this card for many years now, so I don’t know if they still offer 2% back on purchases. Another feature that we like is that there is no fee for overseas purchases. We’ve had kids travel abroad so this was important to us.</p>
<p>I use Chase’s Sapphire Preferred
2.14% on restaurants and travel, 1.07% on everything else.
No foreign transaction fee, and no annual fee for the first year.</p>
<p>You can also redeem points into miles or points at a number of airline and hotel programs, and receive a 25% bonus to redeeming airfare booked from Chase. Additionally, you get point multipliers from a huge number of online retailers (Barnes & Noble was 10x points a few months ago). You can downgrade it to a normal Sapphire after 11 months, which has no fee.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for a particular deal though, the Chase (no, I don’t work for them :P) Freedom is pretty nice. It’s 5% on certain categories for 3 months at a time - some people I know use it only during those times and a different card otherwise.</p>
<ul>
<li>Jan 1 to March 31 -Gas stations and Amazon.com</li>
<li>April 1 to June 30 – Grocery stores and movie theaters</li>
<li>July 1 to Sept 30 – Restaurants and gas stations</li>
<li>October 1 to December 31 – Hotels, airlines, Best Buy, and Kohl’s.</li>
</ul>
<p>When I last looked for a simple 2% (or greater ) cash back card I couldn’t find one. The ones that catch the eye with the high rates all had fine print (or not so fine) where the percentage was either tiered or limited or dependent on only a subset of purchases (like restaurants for 3 months of the year, then gas for 3 months of the year), etc.</p>
<p>I had a simple 2% cash back card in the past but they ceased that program after awhile.</p>
<p>^ The Fidelity Amex Card gives 2% cash back with no fee and no limits if you take the reward in your Fidelity account.</p>
<p>Apparently the Fidelity Visa card is 1.5% on the first $15,000 per year, and then increases to 2%. I’ve had mine for awhile and it doesn’t do this. Time to give them a call. :)</p>
I understand that for folks who are tempted to buy things they wouldn’t otherwise or can’t afford, credit cards can be an awful temptation, but if you pay off the balance every month, it seems like a good deal to H & me.</p>