Is the interest rate worth the credit history?

[jyoutz]

Yes, there is an advantage. I pay my bills and buy everything with my BOA credit card. It is a cash back card based on the type of purchase, see below. Plus, I get an additional 75% bonus of the base reward due to my BOA Platinum Honors status. I have my Bill Pay set to pay the balance off every month so no interest charges. So far this year I have received $1,152 cash back, last year was $2,200.

My wife uses her Hilton Honors American Express card for all her purchases. It accrues Hilton points based on purchases. Due to the amounts of points we earn every year we are Hilton Diamond status, so we get perks for the stay like free bottled water, faster wifi, access to the Executive Lounge, and usually a complimentary upgrade on every stay. Because we use points, we have not had to pay for a hotel room in years.

View attachment 870538

Yeah I’m missing out on rewards. I need to rethink my strategy.

 

[scootr]

Yeah I’m missing out on rewards. I need to rethink my strategy.

Just about every card company or bank offers a cash back card these days. Read the fine print, some have annual minimum purchase requirements, or changing returns based upon use, limited uses etc.
When they work it's a good thing. I have a debit card with rewards, which means no monthly balance to pay.

 

[CliffordK]

How much is a credit rating actually worth in dollars?

You have the "big three" credit rating companies that never actually talk to the people they're rating. It is all computer generated. Sometimes with incorrect information. You have no control what information gets sent to them, or by whom.

And, a few years ago at least one of the credit rating companies got hacked releasing sensitive personal information.

So, are you willing to pay $1000 to possibly have a better credit rating?

It may help with something like getting a house loan, but it may not.

My first house was 100% my own. Then after several years of payments, I went to buy my second house... NOPE. Had to get my parents to co-sign.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Nice. A lot of big ticket items will not let you use a card. We tried when we bought the 'kid' car. It was about $5k. Dealership wouldn't do it.

The Amish didn't care

 

[CliffordK]

Yes, there is an advantage. I pay my bills and buy everything with my BOA credit card. It is a cash back card based on the type of purchase, see below. Plus, I get an additional 75% bonus of the base reward due to my BOA Platinum Honors status. I have my Bill Pay set to pay the balance off every month so no interest charges. So far this year I have received $1,152 cash back, last year was $2,200.

My wife uses her Hilton Honors American Express card for all her purchases. It accrues Hilton points based on purchases. Due to the amounts of points we earn every year we are Hilton Diamond status, so we get perks for the stay like free bottled water, faster wifi, access to the Executive Lounge, and usually a complimentary upgrade on every stay. Because we use points, we have not had to pay for a hotel room in years.

View attachment 870538

Just about every card company or bank offers a cash back card these days. Read the fine print, some have annual minimum purchase requirements, or changing returns based upon use, limited uses etc.
When they work it's a good thing. I have a debit card with rewards, which means no monthly balance to pay.

Somebody is paying all those credit card rewards programs.
So everything is about 3% more expensive just so that you can get all those rewards.... Or in some cases even more.
Yep, there is the argument that you're just one person, but there are millions of those one persons, all contributing to the problem.

I believe in general that debit card transactions are much cheaper than credit card transactions, although not entirely free.

It isn't as if cash is completely free. People get paid to handle cash. Or a small businessman has to take an extra trip to the bank.

And online, credit or debit payments rule.

Nonetheless, one doesn't have to go out of one's way to contribute to this problem of added transaction fees.

 

[jyoutz]

Just about every card company or bank offers a cash back card these days. Read the fine print, some have annual minimum purchase requirements, or changing returns based upon use, limited uses etc.
When they work it's a good thing. I have a debit card with rewards, which means no monthly balance to pay.

I don’t pay any account service fees on my accounts or cards from my credit union. I do have a cash back rewards card from Costco that is free (as long as I pay annual membership).

 

[scootr]

Merchants are going to pay on average 3% per transaction regardless of anybody taking advantage of the kickback.

 

[CliffordK]

Merchants are going to pay on average 3% per transaction regardless of anybody taking advantage of the kickback.

It isn't all equal. While it is largely built into the pricing structure, one can have a cash discount at certain gas stations. Especially for truck drivers that purchase a lot of diesel at a time.

Credit Card Processing Fees: A 2025 Guide for Businesses - NerdWallet

Credit card processing fees typically cost 1.5% to 3.5% of the transaction total. Here are some ways that merchants can offset card fees.

www.nerdwallet.com

On average, American Express charges about 1% more than other cards.

Tiered pricing
This is based on three tiers: qualified (debit cards and cards without rewards programs), mid-qualified (cards with certain rewards programs) and non-qualified (corporate cards and cards with generous rewards programs). Rates are lowest for qualified cards and highest for non-qualified cards.
Like flat-rate pricing, tiered pricing is represented as a percentage plus a flat fee. With this pricing structure, your processing fees will vary based on the kind of card you accept. It's usually a little less expensive than flat-rate pricing, but it is higher than interchange-plus pricing.

Interchange-plus pricing
Interchange-plus pricing is often the least expensive option. However, it also has the greatest amount of variability since interchange rates change based on several factors, including:

Card network. Visa's rates are different from Mastercard's.
Type of card used. Rewards credit cards cost more to process than non-rewards credit cards, for instance.
How the card is processed. In-person, card-present transactions are usually less expensive than accepting payments online or manually keying in the credit card information.

The cost is very real. Consider a small business that does $10K worth of purchases a day. At 3%, that is $300, or equivalent to the wages of one employee.

Hell, we paid $100k for our pole barn on a credit card. The cash back reward was $1000.

So, you get $1K back. The company building the barn likely lost somewhere around $3K in credit card fees.

A cashiers check is generally free, and a wire transaction is about $30 or so.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

It isn't all equal. While it is largely built into the pricing structure, one can have a cash discount at certain gas stations. Especially for truck drivers that purchase a lot of diesel at a time.

Credit Card Processing Fees: A 2025 Guide for Businesses - NerdWallet

Credit card processing fees typically cost 1.5% to 3.5% of the transaction total. Here are some ways that merchants can offset card fees.

www.nerdwallet.com

On average, American Express charges about 1% more than other cards.



The cost is very real. Consider a small business that does $10K worth of purchases a day. At 3%, that is $300, or equivalent to the wages of one employee.



So, you get $1K back. The company building the barn likely lost somewhere around $3K in credit card fees.

A cashiers check is generally free, and a wire transaction is about $30 or so.

That is their prerogative. Some sellers will charge extra to charge a large purchase. This company did not, that is their business, and mine as a customer, and no one else’s business. They could have refused… I had the cash sitting in my checking account

 

[LittleBill21]

Yes, there is an advantage. I pay my bills and buy everything with my BOA credit card. It is a cash back card based on the type of purchase, see below. Plus, I get an additional 75% bonus of the base reward due to my BOA Platinum Honors status. I have my Bill Pay set to pay the balance off every month so no interest charges. So far this year I have received $1,152 cash back, last year was $2,200.

My wife uses her Hilton Honors American Express card for all her purchases. It accrues Hilton points based on purchases. Due to the amounts of points we earn every year we are Hilton Diamond status, so we get perks for the stay like free bottled water, faster wifi, access to the Executive Lounge, and usually a complimentary upgrade on every stay. Because we use points, we have not had to pay for a hotel room in years.

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I have 5 of these cards, same program, best cash back by far. just paid my taxes with the 2.62 everything.