I estimate costs of 1 minute per month and benefits of 1.5% back on living expenses. If you value your time at $60/hr, then 1 minute per month is worth $12 per year. If you were going to spend over $800 in a year on living expenses, then using a credit card is worth it.
What are the costs of making a mistake? Suppose your plan is to spend 1 minute per month doing the credit card magic, but when the day comes, you forget, or you are on a hike in a forest with no internet signal, or your internet provider has an outage… Would making two or three mistakes a year eliminate the profits?
I think the obvious answer here is AutoPay—this should hedge against situations you are describing.
The costs of making a mistake are certainly high, since it’s a permanent hit to your credit report. I am not super knowledgeable of how late payments affect credit score (other than that it has a negative sign), this is an interesting question.
It’s not permanent. Late payments stay on your credit report for up to 7 years, but they have very little effect after a year or two (assuming it’s a one-time thing). There are also ways to get late payments removed from a credit report, especially if you pay the bill as as soon as possible after realizing it’s late.
What are the costs of making a mistake? Suppose your plan is to spend 1 minute per month doing the credit card magic, but when the day comes, you forget, or you are on a hike in a forest with no internet signal, or your internet provider has an outage… Would making two or three mistakes a year eliminate the profits?
I think the obvious answer here is AutoPay—this should hedge against situations you are describing.
The costs of making a mistake are certainly high, since it’s a permanent hit to your credit report. I am not super knowledgeable of how late payments affect credit score (other than that it has a negative sign), this is an interesting question.
It’s not permanent. Late payments stay on your credit report for up to 7 years, but they have very little effect after a year or two (assuming it’s a one-time thing). There are also ways to get late payments removed from a credit report, especially if you pay the bill as as soon as possible after realizing it’s late.
https://www.creditkarma.com/credit-cards/i/how-long-do-late-payments-stay-on-credit-report
I agree that anyone using a credit card should have autopay enabled though.