Why I Use Credit Cards During my Debt Free Journey

Now, I know this probably sounds totally crazy. This girl is in massive student loan debt, $127k right now to be exact, and she’s going into more debt?! And I know, I am a Dave Ramsey follower, and I do follow the baby steps that he outlines, I’m currently on baby step 2. But even those, I don’t follow exactly because I can’t give up the compounding interest I’ll benefit from by starting my investments now, even if they are small. So no, I don’t use the envelope system he preaches, and maybe that doesn’t make me a true DR follower, but when I tell you my reasons, I think it is more than justified.

Why I Use Credit Cards During my Debt Free Journey

Of course, I follow a very strict budget each month, one of which includes paying my credit cards in full each month. This is the only time using a credit card is beneficial. If you ever pay any interest on your cards, you’re losing money. No matter how great your rewards are, if you pay interest, it’s not worth it. The habit you are developing of not paying your card in full is much worse in the long run. Set it to auto pay in full and never turn back. When you don’t pay interest on your cards and only reap the benefits of a rewards credit card, it is totally worth it to use them instead of an envelope system. Currently I use my rewards strictly as cash back that goes directly to my student loans. I earn FREE money just for using the card because I am paying my card in full each month. Just using this strategy alone, I’ve applied $400 in cash back to my student loans in the last two years. I’d say that’s worth it, but I also never even think about carrying a balance.

Why I Don’t Recommend This to Everyone

This strategy will absolutely not work for everyone and I don’t recommend this if you are working to pay off credit card debt. My only debt I have is student loans and I’ve never had credit card debt, except the amount I pay each month. If you are someone that is working your way out of or have had credit card debt in the past, then I absolutely don’t agree with you using any type of credit. If you know you have had issues with credit cards in the past, it is a horrible rabbit hole to fall down again. You definitely don’t want to open yourself up to potentially getting back into debt or increase your current debt.

This won’t work for everyone, and of course it is not recommended for people that strictly follow the Dave Ramsey model. But, this works for me and has been a great tool to pay off a chunk of my debt. So, where do you stand on using credit cards?