What do you think credit cards are REALLY good for?

[sendero]

I like using them when doing the dishes, they make great dish scrapers!

[nutsnberries]

1. a nice little straight line.

and i meant a line of pen/pencil on paper... just in case you thought i meant something else.

[leftofthedial]

2. they help republican morans go into debt faster

since money is everything in a capitalist country, the ensuing bankruptcy gets them out of the gene pool faster

[sendero]

18. Yeppers!

Credit cards are doing their part to make innumerate status seekers, by definition mostly Republican, into homeless people. Oh the irony :)

[trof]

3. Money. Back.

EVERYTHING goes on Discover.
I mean EVERYTHING.

Utilities, insurance premiums, groceries, gasoline, EVERYTHING.
I get 5% back on gas, 1 % on everything else.
Around $500 cashback check at the end of the year.
Just in time for Christmas shopping!

[meow2u3]

6. 5% cash back on 30% interest

So you only pay an annual rate of 25%. Whoopie-freakin'-doo!

[trof]

9. I pay zero interest, smart-pants.

Pay the entire bill every month.
Whaddaya think?
I'm stoopid?
;-)

[eyesroll]

10. If you pay the credit cards off every month, it works out in your favor.

I have just about everything (cell, cable, power) automatically billed to my credit union credit card (with no annual fee, 8% apr, and 1% cash back). That saves me from writing stamps, and it also buys a bit of a window when I charge gas and food and such -- I might "buy" on the 1st, but I don't get billed until the 25th; meanwhile, I get interest on that money (I have an interest bearing checking account).

I don't carry a balance, so I come out ahead. (And if I had, say, a giant emergency and needed to carry a balance, the interest rate is very good, comparatively speaking.)

The keys are:
1. Find a card with no annual fee, or an annual fee smaller than the value of the rewards (be they cash back, airline miles, etc.)
2. Put whatever you can on the card (but only stuff you'd buy anyway)
3. Pay off your balance religiously, and on time, every month
4. Profit.

[trof]

13. Bingo, eyes.

You get the "float".
Way good.

[sendero]

11. I do that too..

... got a check for over $300 just a couple months ago. I do love taking CitiBank's money!

[trof]

16. There ya go.

I like discounts.

[Crazy Dave]

4. They make good weapons

You can sharpen an edge on concrete as sharp as a razors edge and do some serious damage with it plus it's legal to carry.

[meow2u3]

5. Picking locked doors

when you lose the key to the house or room. Only works if the door has no deadbolt.

[CornField]

7. Emergency Ice Scrapers

[SoCalDem]

12. They are wonderful for that:)

:)

[Benfea]

8. Getting into debt, of course! -NT

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. Scraping your face

to prove Edge gives you a better shave than foam.

[no name no slogan]

15. chopping up my lines of coke, in a pinch

when I'm out of razor blades.

I don't like cocaine. I just like the way it smells.

[miss_american_pie]

17. Freeing toddlers who've locked themselves in bathrooms

:grr:

[Lefty48197]

19. Scraping the frost off your car windshield

on a cold Michigan morning...