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###Credit cards protect against theft

###Credit cards protect you against bad businesses

###Credit cards are convenient

###Credit cards can help you to keep track of your expenses

##Should you get a credit card?

Credit cards protect against theft

Credit cards protect you against bad businesses

Credit cards are convenient

Credit cards can help you to keep track of your expenses

Should you get a credit card?

If someone steals your credit card from you it's a nuisance, but only a nuisance. Credit card companies won't charge you for fraudulent purchases made on your card. By contrast if someone steals cash from you your out of luck, and even a stolen debit card or check book can often leave you liable for any purchases made by the person that stole from you.

However, with credit cards you have a simple option, just tell your credit card company that you were cheated and they will give you the money back! Effectively they will refuse to actually pay the company you made the purchase from if they believe you have a legitimate claim that the company did not deliver what they had promised you. It helps that credit card companies give you the benefit of the doubt on such claims; for low-cost items they often take your word that they company did not properly deliver on your agreement without asking for any significant proof. I've only used this feature twice in my life, but it's still nice to know you have options if someone tries to cheat you when you buy with a credit card!

Paying with cash is slower then credit and requires you to carry around cash, or worse coins (which I refuse to ever deal with nowadays). Credit cards are just a more convenient way to make a purchase in most cases. Sure, a debit card can duplicate most of this convenience, but even with debit cards you usually need to enter a pin where for small purchases you can just swipe a credit card and go.

If you have any doubt about your ability to use a credit card responsibly I would suggest erring on the side of not having a card and not risking temptation, as the harm of misusing a credit card is far larger then the rewards for responsibly using one. However, if you're confident in your own financial responsibility and ability to pay your bill in full at the end of every month then I strongly encourage you to get one as soon as possible and start reaping the many advantages!

If someone steals your credit card from you it's a nuisance, but only a nuisance. Credit card companies won't charge you for fraudulent purchases made on your card. By contrast if someone steals cash from you you're out of luck, and even a stolen debit card or check book can often leave you liable for any purchases made by the person that stole from you.

However, with credit cards you have a simple option, just tell your credit card company that you were cheated and they will give you the money back! Effectively they will refuse to actually pay the company you made the purchase from if they believe you have a legitimate claim that the company did not deliver what they had promised you. It helps that credit card companies give you the benefit of the doubt on such claims; for low-cost items they often take your word that the company did not properly deliver on your agreement without asking for any significant proof. I've only used this feature twice in my life, but it's still nice to know you have options if someone tries to cheat you when you buy with a credit card!

Paying with cash is slower than credit and requires you to carry around cash, or worse coins (which I refuse to ever deal with nowadays). Credit cards are just a more convenient way to make a purchase in most cases. Sure, a debit card can duplicate most of this convenience, but even with debit cards you usually need to enter a pin where for small purchases you can just swipe a credit card and go.

If you have any doubt about your ability to use a credit card responsibly I would suggest erring on the side of not having a card and not risking temptation, as the harm of misusing a credit card is far larger than the rewards for responsibly using one. However, if you're confident in your own financial responsibility and ability to pay your bill in full at the end of every month then I strongly encourage you to get one as soon as possible and start reaping the many advantages!

Credit cards protect against theft:

If someone steals your credit card from you it's a nuisance, but only a nuisance. Credit card companies won't charge you for fraudulent purchased made on your card. By contrast if someone steals cash from you your out of luck, and even a stole debit card or check book can often leave you liable for any purchases made by the person that stole from you.

Credit card's protect you against bad businesses:

If a company charges you for an item or service and doesn't deliver on what they promised you have little options if you pay with cash. While there are technically always legal options to seek compensation in practice it's not worth the effort or cost to try to seek legal action against a company if they didn't ship your 50 dollar video game to you as promised, it's just easier to write off the money as a lose.

However, with credit cards you have a simple option, just tell your credit card company that you were cheated and they will give you the money back! Effectively they will refuse to actually pay the company you made the purchase from if they believe you have a legitimate claim that the company did not deliver what they had promised you. It helps that credit card companies give you the benefit of the doubt on such claims, for low-cost items they often take your word that they company did not properly deliver on your agreement without asking for any significant proof. I've only used this feature twice in my life, but it's still nice to know you have options if someone tries to cheat you when you buy with a credit card!

Credit cards are convenient

Paying with cash is slower then credit and requires you to carry around cash, or worse coins (which I refuse to ever deal with now of days). Credit cards are just a more convenient way to make a purchase in most cases. Sure a debit card can duplicate most of this convenience, but even with debit cards you usually need to enter a pin where for small purchases you can just swipe a credit card and go.

Credit cards can help you to keep track of your expenses

If you regularly pay everything with a credit card then each month you get a nice report of everywhere you spent money, and most credit card companies will even give useful tools for visualizing how that money was spent. This can be useful for tracking how your spending money, determining if your spending too much or what the biggest expenditures are etc; making it easier to generate and follow a budget. Though admittedly debit cards offer similar features.

Should you get a credit card?

Having said that if you don't use a credit card responsibly, including paying it off in full every month, it can be very costly to have, as the interest charges and assorted fees add up very quickly! Credit cards can also increase the temptation of buying something you don't really need, or can't really afford to purchase at the moment, due to how convenient they are and how easy it is to swipe a card without thinking about how much something actually costs. A shockingly large number of individuals struggle with using credit card's responsibly, I have many good friends who have told me they will never get a credit card again because they have seen that they can't use one responsible.

If you have any doubt about your ability to use a credit card responsibly I would suggest erring on the side of not having a card and not risking temptation, as the harm of misusing a credit card is far larger then the rewards for responsibly using one. However, if your confident in your own financial responsibility and ability to pay your bill in full at the end of every month then I strongly encourage you to get one as soon as possible and start reaping the many advantages!

###Credit cards protect against theft

If someone steals your credit card from you it's a nuisance, but only a nuisance. Credit card companies won't charge you for fraudulent purchases made on your card. By contrast if someone steals cash from you your out of luck, and even a stolen debit card or check book can often leave you liable for any purchases made by the person that stole from you.

###Credit cards protect you against bad businesses

If a company charges you for an item or service and doesn't deliver on what they promised you have little options if you pay with cash. While there are technically always legal options to seek compensation, in practice it's not worth the effort or cost to try to seek legal action against a company if they didn't ship your 50 dollar video game to you as promised; it's just easier to write off the money as a loss.

However, with credit cards you have a simple option, just tell your credit card company that you were cheated and they will give you the money back! Effectively they will refuse to actually pay the company you made the purchase from if they believe you have a legitimate claim that the company did not deliver what they had promised you. It helps that credit card companies give you the benefit of the doubt on such claims; for low-cost items they often take your word that they company did not properly deliver on your agreement without asking for any significant proof. I've only used this feature twice in my life, but it's still nice to know you have options if someone tries to cheat you when you buy with a credit card!

###Credit cards are convenient

Paying with cash is slower then credit and requires you to carry around cash, or worse coins (which I refuse to ever deal with nowadays). Credit cards are just a more convenient way to make a purchase in most cases. Sure, a debit card can duplicate most of this convenience, but even with debit cards you usually need to enter a pin where for small purchases you can just swipe a credit card and go.

###Credit cards can help you to keep track of your expenses

If you regularly pay everything with a credit card then each month you get a nice report of everywhere you spent money, and most credit card companies will even give useful tools for visualizing how that money was spent. This can be useful for tracking how you're spending money, determining if you're spending too much or what the biggest expenditures are etc; making it easier to generate and follow a budget. Though admittedly debit cards offer similar features.

##Should you get a credit card?

Having said that, if you don't use a credit card responsibly, including paying it off in full every month, it can be very costly to have, as the interest charges and assorted fees add up very quickly! Credit cards can also increase the temptation of buying something you don't really need, or can't really afford to purchase at the moment, due to how convenient they are and how easy it is to swipe a card without thinking about how much something actually costs. A shockingly large number of individuals struggle with using credit cards responsibly; I have many good friends who have told me they will never get a credit card again because they have seen that they can't use one responsiblly.

If you have any doubt about your ability to use a credit card responsibly I would suggest erring on the side of not having a card and not risking temptation, as the harm of misusing a credit card is far larger then the rewards for responsibly using one. However, if you're confident in your own financial responsibility and ability to pay your bill in full at the end of every month then I strongly encourage you to get one as soon as possible and start reaping the many advantages!