I wonder if this is a country thing as much as an age thing. In Australia, I don’t think people use credit cards for small amounts, say less than $10. I use cash mostly. When I was in the US last year, I noticed that people use cards much more in America than they do here for small items. Other Aussies may disagree - I am late 50s, and maybe it is age.
Debit and I pay most of my main bills online. I keep a few bucks on me but really never need to except at the library and the Town Hall. It’s so much simpler. No stamps and checks just hit pay bill and it’s done.
Almost all cash. It’s not like I have much of it! No point in putting it in the bank just to take it right back out. I have a debit card but it’s been so long since I used it I don’t even remember the PIN.
I don’t have any credit cards. I learned a long time ago they are no good for me.
I put everything on the credit card, it’s rarely under $3,000 and often over $5,000. But we pay it off every month and haven’t paid any interest in 10-12 years. Every 3-4 months I cash in my savings by having it applied to the card.
I write maybe 5-6 checks a year and generally carry around $50-300. We do almost all of our bill paying on line.
When the wallet gets down low I’ll stop by the bank (never used an ATM and don’t have a debit card) and restock. It takes a couple of months usually before I hit the refill point.
I’m 63.
All credit card for cash rebate.
My wife does the vast majority of the paying around the house, and since “spouse” wasn’t an option I voted “other”.
She does most everything by check or cash.
Cash for the vast majority of purchases (mostly food-- Lunch every day, and grocery shopping). Anything bought online is debit card (I don’t have a credit card), and for large face-to-face purchases, check. Occasionally I find myself with insufficient cash for groceries, though, or without my checkbook for something like rent, in which case I’ll use the card for that, too.
It depends. Weekly grocery shop and major purchases: debit card. Insignificant one-offs: cash.
Daughter uses a debit card pretty much all of the time, “doesn’t like” to use cash, that is soooooo old fashioned. This new fangled habit doesn’t prevent her from begging for handouts of that dirty, old-fashioned actual money, though. When one has to choose between cold hard cash and a plastic card, possibly with nothing behind it but a zero balance plus a $35 per transaction overcharge fee…
Do people still have cheque accounts?
Technically it’s my debit card, but I prefer it ran as a credit card in the machine. It’s more reliably fee-free and shows up on my account with better information on its source.
For amounts that small, it’s about half and half – credit cards and cash. Kind of depends what I reach for first. And there are still a few places that don’t accept credit cards.
Yes, I still have a checking account. I use it as my primary bill pay account, which means that for the most part I use it for electronic payments. But I still write a very few checks. For example, my house cleaning lady expects me to hand her a written check when she shows up at my house.
Credit cards, cash, and on-line bill payment. The number of checks we have written has dropped dramatically since we established online payments to allow us to pay our bills when we were in Europe for a month last year.
We get cashback on our credit card, and never carry a balance, so it is a better deal than a debit card. In any case, when you pay by debit card you have to remember to enter it in the checkbook, and since I balance it I get to fix things up when we forget to.
AmEx Blue Cash. I want the cash-back.
a) Credit Card
b) Cash
c) PayPal
d) go online and tell my bank to send them a draft
e) ask my partner to dig around in the box of stuff we don’t use any more and see if she can find a paper check and write one for me, and I’ll pay her back
I’m 42 and my wife is 33. She pays the bills, usually on-line, using her ATM/Visa as a credit card. Any purchases I make are on the same type of card, linked to our joint account. We use it as a credit card because we get points back that way.
Do you get points or cash back with your credit card? For me, it’s the equivalent of a 1%-2% discount on every purchase, for instance. Sure, on a $5 purchase, that’s only five or ten cents, but why not?
For me, in rough order:
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Online banking. All bills, plus sending money to people via Interac* Email Transfer.
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Debit card. Carries the Interac brand. Most moderately-sized purchases in stores, and a few online retailers that take Interac Online.
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Cash. Smaller stuff, mostly, plus money owed to nearby people.
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Credit card. Online purchases of varying sizes, from $1 iTunes songs to rare major purchases like my computer.
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Cheque. Mostly rent payments, plus a few auto debit services dating from the time before I got a credit card when my credit was bad.
[sub]*In Canada, debit cards have not been available under the Mastercard.Visa system until very recently; there is a well-developed online system of debit cards under the Interac brand. Funds are transferred immediately; no need to wait for MC/Visa transactions to post. Interac extends to cash withdrawl at ATMs, payment at point-of-sale, money transfer with notification via email, and even a few online services. Most online stuff is done via MC/Visa/Amex though. [/sub]
I’m 56. I pay for everything I buy in person or online with a credit card for reward points. I pay all bills online.