Always spend using a credit card if you can. To people already chasing card rewards, I’m preaching to the choir. However, I still know many people who shun credit cards to their detriment.

Let’s move the obvious benefit of getting cashback and miles out of the way and talk about benefits that are not as noticeable.

When you charge spend to a card, you defer the actual payment until the statement arrives, and there’s usually another 3 to 4 weeks before payment is due after you receive your statement.

Expenses made at the start of your statement cycle is hence almost 2 months of free loan. This is extra time that your cash gets to sit in the bank and generate you interest.

If your expenditure happens to be large – take $10,000 for example – that’s around $30 to $40 of interest