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I tried emailing Dave’s column with my question but couldn’t make it go through. Maybe someone else here has some suggestions. I’d covet the opinions of fellow freepers—you guys are the best (if the toughest).

I’m a lady on the high end of middle age. Just sent the younger of my two kids off into the world as a US Marine, so I’m on my own now. But it’s been very, very difficult raising these kids on my own with my health problems and theirs, so I have no savings.

As Dave recommends, I don’t have credit cards or credit card debt anymore—if I don’t have the money for something, I don’t buy it. Recently my old beater of a car broke down rather expensively, and it turns out that without a credit card, I can’t rent a car to get me back and forth to work. No, there is no public transportation between my job and my home, nor a rideshare program in the area.

Car rental companies are not interested in debit cards, checks, or cash. The car rental places want to be able to put a hold on your card in case you run off with it or wreck it or turn it in late. I’m starting to think there might be reasons to have a credit card in a drawer somewhere, to be used for emergencies.

What is the sense of the forum on this?

to have a credit card in a drawer somewhere, to be used for emergencies.

Yup. I think it's a good idea. If you're conscientious enough to ask, you're certainly conscientious enough to have one for emergencies. If you get one, look at all of the perqs that come with it. Not all the 'cash back' and 'points' nonsense, but the stuff in the fine print. Purchase Protection, Rental Car Insurance, and the like. Lots of good stuff in the details. ;-)

I've read about people who don't trust themselves to carry CC's, but want them for emergencies. So, they keep them frozen in a block of ice in the freezer. Good idea as any, sez me.

I was given the option of renting a car from Dollar over spring break using my debit card. They simply wanted to know it up front, so they could (presumably) block off a charge on it had I chosen to use it. I didn’t end up using it as I have a work Amex with aut rental coverage that exceeded, far exceeded, the coverage my own insurance company would have offered. But I had the opportunity to use my debit card.

In my humble opinion, some people should keep credit cards, and some people shouldn’t. I had a credit card, and I actually did keep it in a drawer, as you said. As a matter of fact, when I was young and single, I did use it as collateral for car rentals whenever I traveled. That was the only time I used it. My credit record was excellent.

After I married, the credit card sat in a drawer, and I practically forgot about it. However, as I eventually discovered, my now-estranged husband was using it secretly. As I said above, some people should have credit cards... and some shouldn’t.

You sound like the type of person who could keep a credit card without being tempted to go into debt.

I have a couple of credit cards (a Visa and a Mastercard, so they don’t charge annual fees), and I use them depending on how close it is to the end of each card’s monthly period. I pay them off at the end of the month, every month, so since I’ve had them I have paid $0 in interest or late charges. They basically allow me to walk around without much cash and get stuff that one can’t get without a card (such as rental cars).

So, while I’m a big fan of Dave Ramsey, I would never say that people should avoid credit cards—I think that they should avoid credit cards if they can’t trust themselves to pay them off completely at the end of the month. In your case, you have proven to yourself that you will not spend money irresponsibly, so you can trust yourself to get one.

As for renting a car, you should do it if you need it to get to work, but you should look aggressively to replace your non-running beater with a beater that works. Car-rental payments will add up quickly, even if you rent a wreck.

Good luck, ma’am.