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What are the benefits of using a CC for large in-person purchases compared to small?

by jb775 7y ago

catalogia 7y ago
Primarily: walking around with $50,000 of cash makes me feel a lot more nervous than walking around with $100. There are other ways of paying for things than credit cards or cash of course. My point is mostly just that I understand cash isn't necessarily ideal for all circumstances.
- jb775 7y ago
  Yeah that's way more than what I thought you initially meant. I recently bought a car and the max I could pay with a given payment source was $7,500. So even if I wanted to pay cash for the whole thing they apparently wouldn't have allowed it. I guess they wanted to spread out their risk. A place that allows a $50k all cash payment might actually be somewhat hard to find. My main point is that the finance companies don't provide enough value to warrant a % of every dollar I spend. Not to mention that the % is most likely already baked into the price of everything I buy, so that charge is actually being paid by me the consumer, rather than by the retailer. I don't think there's ever been a time throughout history where finance companies have been paid on so many separate occasions throughout a single product purchase lifecycle: e.g. finance charges trickled throughout the supply chain before it arrives at the retailer, finance charges paid to/from retailer vendors, the % collected being discussed here, the extra % charged if the purchaser doesn't pay their CC bill on time, etc. The best and easiest way to begin taking power away from these companies is to simply start paying cash at all times, especially for the more expensive items considering they charge a percentage. Then switch to paying with personal check once your cash-holding-amount discomfort exceeds your retailers-will-have-my-personal-info-and-might-use-facial-recognition discomfort.
bonestamp2 7y ago
Most CCs will automatically give you an extended warranty, price protection, return protection, accidental damage protection, etc. So, there definitely are some useful benefits that go along with giving up some anonymity when it comes to larger purchases.

What are the benefits of using a CC for large in-person purchases compared to small?

by jb775 7y ago

What are the benefits of using a CC for large in-person purchases compared to small?

Primarily: walking around with $50,000 of cash makes me feel a lot more nervous than walking around with $100. There are other ways of paying for things than credit cards or cash of course. My point is mostly just that I understand cash isn't necessarily ideal for all circumstances.

jb775 7y ago
Yeah that's way more than what I thought you initially meant. I recently bought a car and the max I could pay with a given payment source was $7,500. So even if I wanted to pay cash for the whole thing they apparently wouldn't have allowed it. I guess they wanted to spread out their risk. A place that allows a $50k all cash payment might actually be somewhat hard to find. My main point is that the finance companies don't provide enough value to warrant a % of every dollar I spend. Not to mention that the % is most likely already baked into the price of everything I buy, so that charge is actually being paid by me the consumer, rather than by the retailer. I don't think there's ever been a time throughout history where finance companies have been paid on so many separate occasions throughout a single product purchase lifecycle: e.g. finance charges trickled throughout the supply chain before it arrives at the retailer, finance charges paid to/from retailer vendors, the % collected being discussed here, the extra % charged if the purchaser doesn't pay their CC bill on time, etc. The best and easiest way to begin taking power away from these companies is to simply start paying cash at all times, especially for the more expensive items considering they charge a percentage. Then switch to paying with personal check once your cash-holding-amount discomfort exceeds your retailers-will-have-my-personal-info-and-might-use-facial-recognition discomfort.

bonestamp2 7y ago

Most CCs will automatically give you an extended warranty, price protection, return protection, accidental damage protection, etc. So, there definitely are some useful benefits that go along with giving up some anonymity when it comes to larger purchases.