do you have a credit card for emergency situations?

[AnnieW625]

I am sure the resounding answer will be no, but after having to put $850 total on the card last month for an unexpected car repairs and having to buy a new range hood (because our old one finally bit the dust) I think we need we an emergency option. We currently have a $2000 credit card bill this month I am thinking that we should have something that has no interest attached to it (I am thinking of the Citi Simplicity or True Balance card, one has 21 months of interest free, and the other has 15 months and 1% cash on purchases, and 1% cash on payments made).

To get us out of our current predicament DH and I decided we would pay half the bill this month and half next month and avoid using that card until the end of the current billing cycle (8/9), but I wonder if having one just in case might be a good benefit.

I don't want a lecture about having an emergency fund or finance guru X says you should do AbC followed by XYZ. Other than this issue right now the only debt we carry is a car loan of about $13k, and our mortgages. We treat our credit cards like cash and pay them off monthly.

[egoldber]

My concern would be that the maximum balance on those cards would be too low to make them really useful in an emergency situation. When you get a new card, typically the max allowable balance is fairly low.

[georgiegirl]

Our credit cards have high credit limits, so we could use it for an emergency if needed (if we didn't have cash available). We do have an emergency fund. Lol at your credit card bill..,ours are often very high because we out everything on the credit card (plane tix, gas, groceries, clothing), but we pay it off every month.

[hillview]

We pay off completely every month but sure we have a credit card that we could use in an emergency. It seems like a good idea.

[khm]

I am sure the resounding answer will be no, but after having to put $850 total on the card last month for an unexpected car repairs and having to buy a new range hood (because our old one finally bit the dust) I think we need we an emergency option. We currently have a $2000 credit card bill this month I am thinking that we should have something that has no interest attached to it (I am thinking of the Citi Simplicity or True Balance card, one has 21 months of interest free, and the other has 15 months and 1% cash on purchases, and 1% cash on payments made).

To get us out of our current predicament DH and I decided we would pay half the bill this month and half next month and avoid using that card until the end of the current billing cycle (8/9), but I wonder if having one just in case might be a good benefit.

I don't want a lecture about having an emergency fund or finance guru X says you should do AbC followed by XYZ. Other than this issue right now the only debt we carry is a car loan of about $13k, and our mortgages. We treat our credit cards like cash and pay them off monthly.

Are you saying you want to get a new credit card w/ a no interest teaser in case you have an emergency? I just doubt the timing would work out. The next emergency would surely happen right after the teaser rate expires! I'd be loathe to keep opening new cards "just in case" all the time.

A month or two of carrying interest isn't a huge deal in this case. I wouldn't sweat it in the case of one credit card bill that needs to ride for a short time something like you talk about here.

[gymnbomb]

We pay off completely every month but sure we have a credit card that we could use in an emergency. It seems like a good idea.

Same here. We have one with a high credit limit that we usually only use for daycare and plane tickets (to get the extra airline miles) that we could put 10K+ on in an emergency.


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[sste]

Not sure if this out of the bounds of what you are looking for, but is a home equity line of credit an option??

[AnnieW625]

Are you saying you want to get a new credit card w/ a no interest teaser in case you have an emergency? I just doubt the timing would work out. The next emergency would surely happen right after the teaser rate expires! I'd be loathe to keep opening new cards "just in case" all the time.

A month or two of carrying interest isn't a huge deal in this case. I wouldn't sweat it in the case of one credit card bill that needs to ride for a short time something like you talk about here.

Yes this what I was thinking of. I was thinking of small emergencies so we don't have to always raid our small savings account. Or we could shop around for better appliance deals instead of just shopping at Sears (although I have no complaints about the Kenmore branded products we bought there because of the 0% offers they run).

My DH has a 20k limit on his Amex card, and I do qualify for a small personal loan through my credit union as well. I have a $5k limit with my current no frills Citi Diamond Preferred card and I was already looking at potentially switching that card within the Citi family of cards to at least something with a cash back option.

I am also going to investigate Visa offerings since Costco is getting rid of Amex (as is Jet Blue, and those are our two Amex cards).

[scrooks]

We pay off completely every month but sure we have a credit card that we could use in an emergency. It seems like a good idea.

Same here. We have our main credit card and a backup. The back up came in useful when I misplaced our main one on vacation a couple of years ago (we called the bank and had to order new cards).....we wouldn't have had a credit card to use if the back up card didn't exist.

[Simon]

Yes, we have an AmEx card that we use for months where there is a cash flow problem, mostly because of surprise bills (emergency repairs, etc.). Its not ideal but the alternative is much worse.