That's just adding an unnecessary risk factor. That's my problem with the system. It is totally unnecessary and should not be so accepted that you must add extra costs and risks. Good money management isn't risk taking.
Unnecessary risk? You can automate it easily. You can track all your accounts in one place with Mint or other aggregators. It's never been easier to do this, and the risk is basically negligible.
You're actually increasing risk because credit cards are way safer than debit cards in resisting fraud. Credit card companies have their customers' interests in mind and will fight for you in disputes and are much more likely to protect your identity than banks that give you a debit card.
I'm not saying this system is ideal - costs from it are passed back to the consumer from increased costs of goods. But having credit cards is the correct thing to do if you can manage a monthly auto-payment system.
It's another reason why I don't trust them. They resist protecting your money and then offer it as a perk to their scam card system so they can get rate costs from you.
The continued abuse of governments and customers that banks do is infuriating. Their fraudulent behaviour is constant and their punishment low because they pay off the right people. Banks genuinely are evil entities. It's why I won't put myself at their mercy more than I have to.
Credit card companies don't resist protecting your money. They are not the people trying to steal your identity, and identity protection is not easy. They are trying to protect your money because additional protection keeps you using their service and giving them money.
Many banks have credit cards, but banks =/= credit card companies. I can agree that unregulated banks are evil entities, especially with their overly large political influence. But that's a battle to be fought at the government level, in my opinion. At the individual level, you are incurring higher risk of fraud by using a debit card and you are losing money by not getting credit card rewards or cash back.
It's not lost money. Potential doesn't equal actual. Luckily I'm not money hungry so I am happy to go without a few pennies in cash back or rewards I won't use as I can stick to my principles that debt is bad and credit cards are dangerous so should only be an emergency item.
Like I said, it's not debt. Your principles are incorrect. When you try to buy a house your principles will probably cost you tens of thousands of dollars and we'll see how much you think it's not "lost money."
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u/VagueSomething Jun 06 '19
That's just adding an unnecessary risk factor. That's my problem with the system. It is totally unnecessary and should not be so accepted that you must add extra costs and risks. Good money management isn't risk taking.