Very impressed that you counted number of words per line. Well done.

I’ve had the card for over 2 years now, and I get $150 plus a year cash back. Never had a problem. I pay it off every month. Yeah, not everywhere takes Amex, but that’s why you carry a VISA or MC as well. The benefits DO, in fact, outweigh the costs. There are no costs. Buy stuff. Pay off your balance monthly. Get money back.

Just because fire has the potential to burn a person does not mean that in any and all situations fire should be avoided. Fire is an incredibly useful tool that when used correctly, gives huge benefits to man. Likewise, credit cards, when used properly can be very beneficial. Until Uncle Sam starts giving me money to use cash, I’ll stick to using credit cards and get some money back for purchases I have to make anyway.

Personal credit cards have consumer protections in place, by law, that make them a very great choice for consumers who use them wisely if there’s ever a dispute.

Business credit cards are a different animal, like business bank accounts. You are a business, so you are expected to behave like a business and are held to the same rules that a business would be. So you likely won’t have chargeback or dispute rights if there’s a problem you have with something you bought on your card. If your card is stolen, you may not have the same protection that a consumer would in that same scenario. So do read the card agreement carefully.

There are many benefits to having a business credit card (or several), but if you’re looking for the protections that come as part of consumer cards, then get a personal card.

Did you notice the part where it says you can use the card only for business expenses?

Is this true? How do they know if it is a business purchase or not?

That said, I’d love to be able to use an AMEX - they’re Blue Cash is unlimited, whereas my Chase Rewards card Visa is capped at $300 a year. However, in podunk mid-Michigan, AMEX can’t be guaranteed to be accepted everywhere, so that makes it annoying.

One place looked at me kind of strange, then the salesperson sneered at me, and made a big deal of answering questions when I asked them (hey, I did one year of pre-Law at uni, but I know NOTHING about contracts!). needless to say, I neither singed the agreement, or ever used their services again.

Good on you, and good luck getting through it all!

I guess since I get 1% on my debit card and because I’m an Executive Costco member and get rebate, I guess that is consolation enough.

Credit cards are tools. Nothing more. If you don’t have the cash to back them up, though, you’re asking for trouble. I see more people get in trouble when they use the credit card to supplement their income. That’s a mistake.

But when you are using the cards for cash back (and other kinds of rewards), I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Personal responsibility is the name of the game.

A responsible person can easily reap the rewards with little risk. I’ve been using rewards cards similar to this for years without ever having a problem (I always have enough in my bank account to pay off all my balances ahead of actual charges; my spending doesn’t vary much). And using rewards cards wisely gives a person a serious advantage; I usually get back $100-$150/mo from Amex and Chase. Of course, this comes out of the merchants’ pockets thru transaction fees, not out of credit card issuer’s, but it’s a dog eat dog world

I should point out I also play the credit card arbitrage game with no problems as well. I’ve been shifting $10,000 around for almost 3yrs now and have yet to pay a penny of interest.

You CAN beat finance companies at their own game, provided you’re an educated and responsible consumer. Generally, it’s the irresponsible or deliberately ignorant people (or in a teenie number of cases the extremely unfortunate) who get burned.

If you have the personal card it only returns 3%, but you can also use it for household purchases at Costco were you get another 1%, in addition to the 2% already being returned by your membership. Not as good as the business card for gas, but still a nice return on what is generally the best buy anyhow.

Funny. I never know any of my card’s interest rates either.

I’m like you JD, for anything more than a stupid software program I just can’t sign up without reading the entire agreement. It can suck sometimes!