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Comment by Sohcahtoa82 | Hacker News Reader

> It is the biggest scam ever, I give them money and they charge me obscene amounts of interest to spend my own money

Are you not paying off your card every month?

I spent about $3,000/month on my credit card and pay $0 for the privilege. In fact, I earn money from it because my credit card company gives me 1-3% back depending on what I'm buying.

If they're charging you "obscene amounts", then you're either living beyond your means or have a really shitty credit card provider. Any decent provider gives a 30 day grace period on purchases before they start accruing interest, so if you're paying off the card every month (Really, I pay mine off twice a month each time I get my paycheck), you'll pay zero interest.

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Well, don't forget the 2.5 - 3 percent that the merchant has to pay to the MC/Visa network. That's how they get to build the tall buildings. (Higher for people using "award" cards that abuse the rest of us via higher prices.)

But otherwise, you're correct. Pay it off. I note that the Apple credit card has features that help you pressure yourself to do so. Good on Apple.

yeah but where i live they cannot have different prices for credit card vs other forms of payment so they just include those in the product price..

some places if you ask they will give you a discount if you pay with money\debit but that is not always the case..

so for the places were i will pay the same amount either on money\debit or credit i might as well pay with credit and get cashback...

Tell me, which debit card in your wallet is not also Visa/Mastercard?

My discover card gets a lot of usage, especially when they have PayPal or digital wallets as a quarterly category.

Apparently they want to see you hold a balance, but not too much, to get in the good graces of the credit agencies.

And my issue with them is more philosophical than practical, I have to play their silly games to get a VA loan, which I believe I’ve fully earned, but nobody said I have to like it.

> Apparently they want to see you hold a balance, but not too much, to get in the good graces of the credit agencies.

Needing to carry a balance to improve your credit score is a myth.

Besides, your credit card balance is sent to the credit reporting agencies only once per month. If you're using your card for all your purchases, then unless the balance is sent on the day you paid off your card, a balance will be reported, so even if the above is not a myth, you're still fine.

> And my issue with them is more philosophical than practical, I have to play their silly games to get a VA loan, which I believe I’ve fully earned, but nobody said I have to like it.

For a VA loan, yeah, I agree. Theoretically, you've earned the right to a loan because of military service.

Other than that, though, I fully support the credit reporting/scoring system as-is. Banks need a way to know if they can trust you to make payments on a loan. Without it, banks would need to charge everyone much higher interest rates because there would be even more fraudsters taking out loans they have no intention on repaying.

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