Had a chat with my dad about his old credit card habits

He was telling me how he got his first card in the 80s and just paid the full balance every month without thinking about rewards or rates. It hit different because he said he never even knew his credit score until he was 50, but he always had perfect payment history. Made me wonder if all the points chasing and rate shopping we do now actually helps or just complicates things?

2 comments

2 Comments

davidkim7d ago

Honestly people act like picking the right credit card is life or death these days. Your dad's approach sounds boring but it worked fine. My buddy spent weeks comparing cash back rates and sign up bonuses and still ended up paying interest one month because he got too cute with a balance transfer. Meanwhile my uncle just uses whatever card his bank gave him in 1995 and his credit score is higher than all of us. Maybe not knowing your score keeps you from obsessing over the wrong things. Is all the extra effort really getting us better outcomes or just making us feel smarter?

phoenix_lewis7d ago

Save yourself the headache and just automate it. Set one card for recurring bills you know you can pay off every month, and don't even look at the balance until the statement hits. All that micromanaging rewards and categories just leads to mistakes. I've seen too many people chase a few hundred bucks in cash back only to blow it on a single late fee. Keep it simple, pay on time, and you'll come out ahead without the stress.