Credit isn’t really a need for anyone. I just want credit because of the benefits but I doubt I’d miss it if I didn’t have it. I even told the bank once, I don’t care about the credit part I just want the deals.
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I want credit cards purely because I know that most banks don’t want to give me one. The fact that they make it so hard makes me want them even more.
The Fubon one I have has great 3% cashback, but I could live without it. My AMEX has no benefits that are useful to me, still I keep it because the on time payments will boost my credit score, which will help me get the harder to obtain credit cards later.
Early next month I will try First Bank and E.Sun.
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Pretty dumb poll when there isn’t an option for “None”.
A poor oversight on my part. Unfortunately I couldn’t edit the poll after 15 mins.
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I have about 20 and use about 7
The ones I don’t use had large sign on bonuses.
Gotta do that to maximize points.
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That is an impressive haul especially for an ahdogea.
He’s in the US. And he’s Taiwanese American.
I agree though that it’s a lot of cards!
Guy
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well then. but that’s still an impressive amount of cards.
I started “collecting” credit cards because you can get a lot of benefits from them. People who pay only in cash subsidize credit card users, as prices have the 2-9% transaction fee baked into them. Obviously this applies more to the US than a mostly cash-bsed society like TW.
No one “needs” credit cards, but I’ve also never bought anything but my college education “on credit” (federal student loans…). I always pay back the full amount and my credit scores are absolutely fantastic.
Wise advice from my Principals of American Democracy teacher in high school: get a credit card as soon as you get your first job. Use it to pay for something you buy frequently but doesn’t cost too much, like gas (gas was $4/gallon then too you know). Pay it off in full every month. Congrats, you built your credit history!
I didn’t get a credit card until I was about to go abroad in college. I wanted something with a high enough limit that if I suddenly needed to buy a ticket home (I was going to China, after all), there wouldn’t be any delay. Despite having plenty of money ($20k or so), I was denied multiple cards cuz I had no credit history. Had to pay $30/year or something for a “build your credit” card. Not having any credit history is not something to brag about. You get shut out of basic services that way. I’m not saying this is a good thing, but a few people proudly declaring they don’t have credit cards is not going to change the system. (But also, points. I think most cards I’ve gotten I’ve ended up with 200-1000 USD in cash back just for signing up and using that card for all my basic expenses for a few months. And I really don’t spend money.)
Yeah, that probably explains why the US has so many cashback cards and signup offers. No way merchants in Europe would pay these kind of fees just to accept credit cards…
I guess the max is more like 4%, but I imagine Europe is subject to the same fees as the Americas, since it’s all the same few credit card companies everywhere.
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I always need to use the crappy cards every so often or it charges an annual fee, but I still want to keep them open. US and Canadian cards sometimes will close inactive cards.
Nope - the EU has capped the fees:
As a general rule, the Regulation will cap interchange fees at 0.2% of the transaction value for consumer debit cards and at 0.3% for consumer credit cards
Of course, the merchants still have to pay for the terminal infrastructure - but the total is nowhere near 4%.
So if you really hate your bank in the US: Go on a big spending spree in Europe - the cashback you’ll receive might come out of the bank’s bottom line 
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Alright travel rewards cards members! Let’s take advantage of the excellent exchange rates and no foreign transaction fees and screw over the US banks via spending sprees in Europe!! (反正, they’ve screwed the globe over how many times over now?)
I thought I get subsidized by the people who pay interest on their credit balance. That’s like 10-15% annual.
The most outrageous subsidy is for gym membership, as scores of people sign up but never use. I go about 10 times a month, and get my money’s worth just by using the massage chair.
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I second @superking . Lived happily until now without ever going through the hassle of applying for a credit card. Let alone doing it in Taiwan.
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How do you guys do it?
I remember a few years ago (pre-pandemic) when I attempted to pay for a long-haul ticket on Cathay Pacific. Well the amount pushed over my credit limit, so I rang up the Cathay folks and said can I simply stop by your office and hand you cash? The answer was “no.” It needed to be processed with a card.
Guy
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If the ticket is over the credit limit, and the bank won’t increase your credit limit, best to just pay for it with a debit card since that will just deduct from your bank balance directly.
I was able to resolve the problem. But paying with cash? Not an option!
Guy
Never used a credit card before, so I didn’t know that purchases over the limit would be rejected. I thought that that was the purpose of a credit card in the first place 
But back to your question, I think that the two systems (online booking and in-person booking) are handled differently, so you can’t just go to the office and pay cash for your booking. The online channel requires one of the online options (i.e. card). My guess.
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