Why a Personal Finance Expert Recommends Credit Cards ...

In the book 7 Money Rules for Life?: How to Take Control of Your Financial Future, author Mary Hunt tells why she recommends her readers use credit cards:

The truth is that a credit card -- the right credit card -- used smartly by someone with a modicum of financial intelligence can be a useful financial tool that can also contribute to a high FICO score.

She also has a lot of qualifiers as you might imagine. Things like only buy items you have budgeted for and never carry a balance. The same sorts of caveats I make.

Her recommendation might surprise you because she was once herself in deep credit card debt. From her website:

It took us 13 years to pay back more than $100,000 in unsecured debt, plus all the penalties and interest. Had I known then what I know now, we could have paid it back in six years or less. But, that's not important now. What matters is that we did it...we persevered and we are so much better for having gone through it.

The same reason she recommends credit cards is the same reason I recommend them -- if used correctly they can be great financial tools. And the same caveats she lists are the same ones I list. If you can't handle credit cards, you need to stay away from them. That said, I do take it a bit farther as I actually try to maximize my credit card earnings (almost $2,300 in earnings last year.) Why not earn a bit extra to boot? ;-)

Of course on the opposite side of the credit card debate is Dave Ramsey who is 100% against credit cards in any way for any reason. I understand where he's coming from, both personally as well as for those he advises, but to me there are too many benefits of credit cards to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Use them in a way that benefits you financially and keep them from harming you in any way, and credit cards can provide a nice boost to an overall solid financial plan.

Source: http://justfinance.org/2012/why-a-personal-finance-expert-recommends-credit-cards/

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