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If you can't manage your own spending habits, use a debit card. If you treat your credit card spending like you would a debit card and pay off the balance in full, there are slew of benefits.

Here's a great credit card offer I recently found: http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/credit_c...

2% CASH BACK ON EVERY PURCHASE, automatically deposited into an interest bearing account at the end of the month, which has an optional checking option providing free checks and full ATM reimbursements, no fees.

If instead you used a lousy BOA debit card, you'd have no cash back, a bunch of fees, and a hell of time fighting any illegitimate charges.



You think that the point of that offer is to make YOU money? No, it's to make the bank money by convincing enough people to use credit cards. If everyone would follow your system, that offer would not exist.

So these 'benefits' you tout are just marketing.


The point of the offer is for the bank to signup new customers. I make money from cashback and save money on ATM fees. The bank won't make much if any money on me, but I'm not the average customer.

Many of the new customers will carry a balance, transfer a balance, and/or invest & trade with them. This makes the bank money. Now if everyone paid their balance in full, this offer wouldn't exist, but of course this doesn't happen.




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