What is the advantage of keeping a store credit card active? Like when you have to make a purchase so it will stay active.
We sometimes open a store card to get the new card promotion. Then pay it off the same day (or as soon as it gets through the system far enough) and put it in a drawer. That way, it falls off the system. Then the next time we buy something there, we get that promotion again.
Otherwise, we have one card for general use, one card for both backup and internet use (internet use because that card has a super low credit limit in an attempt to minimize our risk), the medical card, and Kohls (probably should drop that but haven't bothered to change it since all the kids were home, growing out of their clothes at an abdominal rate).
We don't do credit. We don't consider paying with a credit card to be credit. It is a form of transaction in the same bucket as checks, cash, or money transfer. It is a little more hassle because of the two steps to complete paying it but is a little safer from identity theft or mugging and avoids some other kinds of hassle.
Enough places around here are charging the credit card transaction fee that it is well worth asking if they do. I prefer they don't; then I usually choose not to pay it. The places that don't charge the fee separately, roll it into the prices so I have to pay it even if I pay with cash.
