I know what you’re thinking already. Is this guy nuts? Have I gone bonkers? But before you form your own conclusions about me, you may want to listen to what I have to say.
If you drive your own car, one of the things that will be of most interest to you is the skyrocketing gas prices. Have you seen how much a liter of gas costs nowadays? P39. On average. That’s up P2 from a week ago. But do you know how much I’m paying per liter? P37.05. Yep that’s a 5% discount per liter. All because I use a credit card to purchase my gasoline. Try paying with cash and see if you can get the same deal.
Most credit cards nowadays have gasoline rebates. My credit card gives me a 5% rebate every time I use it to pay for gas. Pretty sweet isn’t it? In these hard times, we need to take advantage of every opportunity we are given. And having a credit card is one of those opportunity.
If you’re like most careful people you may want to check out which credit card suits you best. You may even want to do a little credit card comparison just to see which is perfect for your needs. However, the only real thing that you should be doing is to ensure that month in and month out, you have to pay the full amount of your credit card bill on time. I can’t overemphasize this. If you just pay the minimum amount, you lose your advantage over the credit card company. And it is an advantage. Imagine having to use their money for a full month and then giving it back at no interest after a month? Where else can you get that?
But like I said, you have to be very vigilant in monitoring your credit card usage and very disciplined in ensuring that you pay everything on time. Otherwise, instead of saving money, it will become your downfall. But you know what, even if you can’t trust yourself, you can still do this. The solution? Prepaid credit cards. These are like prepaid cards where you put in money and then you just use it until the funds you put into it is fully utilized.
Whether you go for this type or for a full blown credit card is up to you. Just remember, as in most things, discipline is the key.
Photo from Lotus Head
