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I have made the "stupid" decision to never get a credit card because I have, in the past, not been great at remembering to pay things off.
Because of that, I have virtually no credit rating.
How dare I choose to not get into credit card debt!
I've never seen the need either, and it's never caused me any problems. I've bought cars, a house, etc., and nobody has told me no yet, so I haven't worried about it.
What do you mean, pay things off? My credit card account is linked to my bank account and it's automatically balanced on the 20th of each month. Do you have to perform manual labour to send money from one account to the other one? Genuinely curious.
It wasn't always like that. Once upon a time, you had to send checks through the mail.
Use to not be able to get a credit card through your bank without having a significant amount in the bank or a home loan
How dare I choose to not get into credit card debt!
Having/using a credit card needn't cause you to pay a cent more than not using one.
If you just put on a credit card what you'd be buying in another way anyway, and then pay off your statement balance each month on your due date, not only do you not spend a single cent more (you'll never get charged interest this way), but you continuously build credit. The only difference will be that instead of paying for stuff the moment you buy it, you pay for all of your month's purchases all at once, at a later date.
I've never paid a cent of interest on any of my credit cards because I've done the above, and my credit score is over 800 as a result, today.
I get that and if automatic payments had been a thing when I was younger, I would have gotten a credit card back then. At this point, it's moot because I won't be working for the foreseeable future as I work with my daughter who is going through online school.
They say that it's better to have bad than to have no credit.
In any case, autopayments are surely your friend, and not just for credit cards.
Everything is on autopay now, but I'm in my 40s and there was no autopay back when I was having trouble remembering to pay bills. Then I was self-employed for years and the money was variable from month to month and I didn't feel like it was a safe bet to get a card if I couldn't be sure I'd have enough in my account to pay it back. And then when I got other jobs, I just never got around to getting a card. Now I'm not working (putting my daughter through online school) and my wife essentially gives me an allowance and it doesn't really make sense to get one.
Thankfully, my wife of 23 years has excellent credit.
I'm fucked if she leaves me.
I've gone through a bit of what you said but never really made enough money to get into real trouble. Things are very stable now and we really don't spend much so our credit has really gotten good over the years.