At some point in our adult lives, we have experienced having no cash at all. Maybe we do but we don’t have an extra stash for our splurges. The next best thing we can probably think of is to just put it on our credit cards. That way, we can avail the item without giving actual money.

Credit cards are not all evil. It can be beneficial in some areas of our lives. Even financial advisors will approve of getting a card if we know how to handle it. Swiping here and there is the culprit, not the credit card. This is probably the reason why we fear having to receive our monthly bills from our banks. Because we know by heart what will reflect in those statements. But billing days should not be scary all the time. To make sure that it’s a tolerable experience, here are the things that we should never ever pay with our credit cards.

Mortgage payments

Not all companies will allow us to pay our mortgages through credit cards. Because of its convenience, some banks and third-party companies will allow this activity but it comes with a price. Banks usually charge us with a fee if we chose to use our cards, and that is because today, not even convenience comes for free. With the fee and interest that will be added up to the principal amount, we are just simply paying them more by having less for us.

This will also apply to any products with interest, like phone bills and housing loans. It’s always best to pay these bills in cash so we won’t be spending more money just to pay those fees and interests.

Booking plane ticket online one of the best purchases we can do with our credit cards

Hospital bills

Health is wealth and that is because medical care is so expensive that it can deplete our entire life savings in one day. Paying our hospital bills with credit cards is one of the mistakes we should never commit. This is because bills can be very expensive and pay it through a card with an interest rate can get our finances hit rock bottom. One of the alternatives we can do is set up a payment plan with the hospital so we can still avail the care we need without crashing our finances.

Indulges and wants

This is where most of us fail in terms of handling our credit card. We go into a mall and suddenly forget that we have a credit limit, or worse, we don’t have money to pay for it. Retail therapy and our everyday want like coffee, when added up can bring chaos into our budget. Most people pay through credit cards because of convenience, because unfortunately, bringing cash is too much of a work for others. If convenience and paper-less transactions are the reasons for this, then getting or paying through debit card can be a great fix to that. This way, we only spend the money that we actually have and we can have ourselves monitored.

Cash advance

Some credit cards let their holders withdraw money from the card itself, providing that the amount being loaned will not exceed the limit. Most people do this, especially when they run out of cash and paying through credit cards all the time is not very possible. This may sound like a total score but good things always have a catch. When we get money from our cards, which means we have to pay an extra fee for the transaction. In short, we are paying an interest for our cards and we pay another interest on the loaned money.

Wet markets are one of the places where we can’t make use of credit cards

Online shopping

Let’s address the elephant in the room, not all online purchases are equal and there are definitely transactions that we need to pay for our cards. Booking a plane ticket is an example of that matter. But other online shopping, especially to the sketchy and unsecured ones should always be a no-no. Technologies can now skim through our cards and hack it. It’s always best to protect ourselves from these online scams. There are third-party companies like PayPal that makes a more secure route for online transactions and shopping. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.