this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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Ah thanks for explaining! I’ve never actually had any type of credit card as the stories scared me off them (I don’t believe I could be trusted).
Yes. I don’t envy much about America at all, I wouldn’t survive for a second, but I would like being able to stack coupons.
And apparently you can buy a mobile home (trailer) in as is condition for about $3000 USD and it’s yours… the video talking about that was a few years old so maybe it’s inflated by now and the Aussie dollar could have dropped but just imagine. As shitty and small as it was you could buy yourself a stable little place. The dealbreaker would be the safety of the park and the condition of the electrical wiring though. And the residents kept being left without water?
Being wary of credit cards is a very wise thing. I have learned the hard way how much trouble they can be. I find that the way I am using it has been good for me, as I make sure everything is paid for when I buy it buy physically transferring the money into my offset account, and I go through the statement line by line and match it up to the payments to make sure nothing is missed - which also means I catch anything like recurring subscriptions I should have cancelled, or errors in direct debit amounts. I make sure I always have the money in the bank to pay off the full balance at any time - relying on expected money coming in in the future to pay it off can be the start of a cascade of problems if something goes wrong.
Ah, I considered doing that to build good credit but my brain gets so scatty I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
The credit reporting agencies in Australia don't get any information about whether you are using your card or not, just whether or not there are overdue payments. So if you think having that credit record would be useful (and it is much less important here than in USA) you could get a no-fee credit card and not use it. That will give you an ongoing history of having a card with no missed payments.
Good idea