Don’t pay interest and plastic is fantastic, Sophie Elsworth says

CREDIT cards get such a bad rap, but Sophie Elsworth has had nothing but good experiences. Here’s why.

FOR more than a decade I’ve carried a credit card in my purse and racked up thousands of dollars a year on plastic.

From shopping to airfares to that dress I didn’t need, I’ve whacked it all on credit with an interest rate of around 20 per cent.

Crazy, isn’t it, a personal finance writer boasting about spending up on a nasty little piece of credit.

Well, maybe not.

For all those years I’ve never paid a cent in interest, except I think once when I didn’t pay my card off in time ... my mistake.

I’ve stuck to having a credit card with no annual fee and never cared about the interest rate because I was diligent in making sure it was always paid off in time, except for that one small mishap.

My latest credit card is so handy, while I can always cover the costs in cash, it’s convenient to have 62 days to pay for expenses not factored into my budget and sometimes just give me a little bit of breathing space.

I’ve even benefited from racking up tens of thousands of rewards points which results in me about once a month getting $10 off my groceries at the checkout.

Free money I say and it’s not costing me a cent.

LIFEHACKS: Why I fill my car when it’s not empty

But unfortunately I can’t say the same for many Australians with more than $32.3 billion of credit card debt attracting interest and making the banks even richer.

So while for the diligent money nerds who pay off their debt each month and avoid fees, credit cards are not a sin, but for those who do pay interest you’re throwing your money down the drain.

Instead, whip out those scissors and get rid of your credit card immediately because it’s doing you more harm than good.

[e-mail]

Originally published as Don’t pay interest and plastic is fantastic, Sophie Elsworth says