Doing Vegas with only Debit card?

I can't imagine life without credit cards. If you don't spend more than you can afford on them, and pay them off each month you pay no interest at all. The perks you get with them, especially with some leg work are HUGE! Most of my flights were completely free last year from using my SW credit card. I rack up serious RC's when I use my TR Visa at CET properties, and currently have a couple free round trip Delta flights from a newly acquired American Express Card. That is just a few of the perks I use or have received. Credit cards if used correctly are AMAZING!

 

Because I have been a victim of debit card theft and had thousands of dollars taken from my account and one hell of a time getting it back. A credit card is WAY easier to deal with if you have unauthorized transactions charged to it.

 

That's nuts! I would never have imagined that. Both Dream Exotics and Royalty Exotic Cars took my Visa debit for rental deposits, holds / damage deposits, and payment, no problems. I realize that's not a viable alternative for someone wanting cheap/basic transportation, but I find that hilariously ironic.

 

And while this has happened to me too, I have also been the victim of someone stealing my checks for my account and then using them fraudulently for over 5k. Luckily, we were able to get all that reversed but that sucked while it was happening.

 

Also, Sixt will take a debit card but their holds are insane. For a high end premium car the hold can be as high as 1k.

 

Easily done.....pay the balance off every month.
You already have the balance in your checking account to cover the debit card.
You might as well get the benefits of using the CC.

 

I switched over to using the credit card some years back for airline points. It works out well, as I pay the balance on a weekly basis. I just use it in place of cash. I use it for everything like groceries, gas, restaurants, etc. In the event that I need the credit card for something that can't be paid off at the end of the week (e.g. auto repair), that can be put on a different credit card. My debit card hasn't been used for a purchase in ages. It's a combination Visa/debit/ATM card, so I end up using it to withdraw cash and that's it. It'd be tough for me to think in terms of just using the debit card, given that there is nothing coming back my way (benefits / points / etc.).

 

i’ve done numerous Vegas trips with only a debit card, as others have said the main things to look out for is the hold/deposit can be rather large and some rental car companies are pretty resistant to them although I think Alamo/Budget both take them. Those holds do help keep my gambling bankroll to the budgeted amount I have told myself I would spend though so that can be helpful with resisting the urge to splurge too much.

 

Either I do not understand your comments, or you do not understand how it works. Could be either way. I do not understand why anyone would have to make two payments.

If your billing cycle starts on June 1st, that means everything prior to that is on a bill you get around June 5th - I guess. You have until June 25th, give or take to pay the entire balance. One payment only. If your previous bill was paid in FULL, there would be no interest on those June charges. BUT - if you previous month was not paid in FULL, then you are totally correct. Lots of people get sucked into that and pay interest. Yes, it sucks. But since you have the option to pay each bill in full and have 20 or so days to do it, then it works out just fine. In our case, we travel ALOT - so every single one of our 20+ cards are all set to auto pay in FULL around a week before the due date. We never pay late fees, or interest charges.

Again, if your bill was paid in full before the next bill comes out, then no interest. Maybe I am missing something in the explanation above. And do not understand making two payments. Not trying to argue - just trying to understand.

 

wow, and I thought I went a little overboard with 15 cards! (still haven't decided if I should get the Stations rewards card, hopeing Boyd comes out with one soon

 

I said in another comment I might have misunderstood but there was contradictory language in their contract when I read it back in January. One place said the grace period for accruing interest is 25 days "from date of purchase" and another part said they don't charge any interest as long as paid in full within 25 days of the bill date. I think the former is actually illegal now and might have been a typo and meant to say for purchases or ??? but I'd read just that part when deciding whether or not to apply and thought they were charging interest on some purchases before they even billed it, which at least used to be a scam credit issuers pulled. I learned from my bad prior experiences also that most credit card companies are pretty willing to make policies that violate laws and include in their user agreements that the cardholder voluntarily waives his or her right to protection under those laws etc, which according to my attorneys doesn't necessarily hold up in court but that's a little bit of a tangent, and the main point is when I read their actual contract in January, there was language in the agreement that stated interest would accrue 25 days after purchase, not 25 days after billing.

 

Thanks for adding that.

With that said, I really doubt any "normal" credit cards charge any interest if the account is paid in full before the due date. Charges made after the bill is cut will go on the next bill. So, for just about any credit card I have ever heard of, you have 20-25 days to pay the bill (more like 30 if checked online) and not pay any interest at all. Though we have 20-30 active cards, we only use a few on our daily spending. Sometimes one has a 5% back for a quarter, so we then use that one. 100% of Amazon and Whole Food purchases go on the Amazon card since it gives back 5% of everything at both places. No annual fee either. I applied $142 of cashback towards our bill just the other day from past purchases. Always nice to pay LESS.

By the way, if there is running balance on many cards, interest starts running the day you buy something. Since we do not carry a balance, I can not tell you if there is any grace period on that, but I am guessing not.

 

I’ve always treated my cc just like a checking account. I log on and completely pay the balance due once a week. No interest charges but get the benefits of using the cc, points, etc.

 

According to the site Wallet Hub:

"The number of credit cards from the four primary credit card networks (i.e. VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) is 636 million.
(Sources: Visa.com, MasterCard.com, AmericanExpress.com, Discover.com, 2015)"

[https://wallethub.com/edu/cc/number-of-credit-cards/25532/]

I don't think card issuers are trying to pull a fast one.

 

I wasn't using a credit card when I went to Las Vegas in 2006 after many years of being away.
I quickly found out that it was harder to rent a car with a debit card. Plus coming home with all
those receipts and entering them into Quicken was a pain. I quickly got a credit card after that
trip and I pay it off at least 3X a month. I never pay interest fees.

 

CC v. debit comes down to discipline. Sure, we hear it, we see it here often even, people saying, "But I don't need/I'm not interested in _______ benefits, so I'll just use my debit." If you have discipline that's just like burning Jacksons and Franklins. OK, fine, the GM VISA doesn't do you any good if you don't want a GM; the Marriott AMEX doesn't do you any good if you don't stay at Marriott. But there is something you use with frequency and there will be a partner card. Not doing so, using one of my favorite phrases, is your stubbornness making you step over a dollar to pick up a dime. Still don't "need" a tie-in to any hospitality or service provider? Fine. Would you say "no thanks" to cash rewards? Those cards are out there, too.

It just takes discipline.

 

According to a well known media financial guy Dollar Car Rental now takes debit cards.

One thing that deserves mention is if something really really bad happens while you're travelling it's good to have a credit card with a high limit. Think "air ambulance" or another 9-11 which could strand you far away. My credit card numbers have been stolen many times and I don't want some crook draining my account(s).

 

The rewards, etc. of CCs are nice, but the fraud protection is the #1 value for the avg. person.

 

Some people may not keep enough in their account to cover the holds.

And others may not like the idea of some random company holding on to three or four figures worth of their checking account balance.

 

this is not how any CC works that I've ever had. You charge things. They send you a bill at the end of a billing cycle with a due date. You pay by that date. No interest is owed as long as you pay by that due date.