[olliej]

If you’re on the bottom rung I’m guessing your interest rate is >20%, (the max is apparently 29.9%). Divide by 12 and one month of interest rate is as much, if not more, than 1.5% cash back.

Using debt to save money depends on starting with a reasonable amount of money.

[ac29]

> put the $400 on the card (and pay it off before paying interest)

Depending where you are in the credit cycle, it could be ~30-50 days before incurring any interest.

[olliej]

that "without interest" bit is not dependent on where you are in the cycle: it's 30-50 days from the last point of zero balance.

And of course 30 days without interest is basically "you pay it off in a months time".

I realized that another part of my problem with this column is of course that "using debt" for many people means a payday loan, which seem to be forever relabelling their "service" to avoid being called a 30%/week credit line.

[robjan]

When you pay your credit card, it clears the balance on a first in first out basis. So if I spend 1k today then 1k in 30 days time, I only have to pay 1k to clear the statement balance and avoid paying interest.