Emergency Cash On Hand - Credit Card or Checking?

[heydude]

When my fridge almost went out, I realized I have no emergency cash on hand ready and able.

If I transfer from my online savings account, it takes like 3 business days or something.

That is not going to work if I have to book a flight to a sick relative or buy a fridge or whatever.

So, how should I store, say $1000 that will be ready at any time?

Get a credit card and keep all my emergency fund safe in a savings account? But I hate the hassle of dealing with a credit card company.

Just put the 1000 in my checking account and forget it is there? But then I don't earn interest on it?

What do you do?

[Wildflower]

Credit card, then pay if off immediately. This is what we have been doing the past 10 years. Have never paid any finance or interest charges yet. This might not work for someone that has a problem with using credit though...

[ToomuchStuff]

It has been years, since I paid interest on a cc. When I first got one decades back, I used it when I found a bargain on stuff for house projects. Then I paid them off and did the project and would watch for bargains for the next one. My credit union, switched card providers the month mine expired and I went for years without one. Cash in a local savings account, that you can phone or online transfer to checking is the option I used then. I am not real worried about interest on "insurance" money, it is "just in case funds". Now I have a cc again, and use it mostly for ordering stuff for work. I know going back at least three years, there has been no interest paid. (can't remember past that)

[rosarugosa]

If I needed to quickly replace an appliance, I too would use a credit card and pay it off at end of the month. We were really glad to have credit when we had that unexpected $1500 car repair expense on vacation. We have several cards and never carry balances, but we use them for reward points, etc. We pretty much never have to "deal with" credit card companies, we just pay the bills when they arrive.
I'm also a fan of having some cash on hand as well.

[Jilly]

Admittedly, I am dumb,, but I cannot figure out what the issues of dealing with a credit card company means.

What does that mean? :)

[SteveinMN]

I cannot figure out what the issues of dealing with a credit card company means.
I'm guessing it means dealing with a monthly statement and the cross-marketed (e)mail and getting new cards every few years. Maybe an annual fee, though it should not be hard to work around that. If that's not it, I have no idea and would like to find out.

I vote for the credit card, too. Far more service providers and merchants accept credit cards than checks. If the charge is paid within the month, there is no finance charge. And buying on a credit card sometimes is helpful in dealing with a provider/merchant who has not kept their promises (CC company can get involved). Some cards also offer benefits like doubling warranties on some purchases, and so on.

[awakenedsoul]

I keep $500.-$1000. in an emergency fund. I keep $100.-$200. in cash at home. The rest of my savings is in an ING account. Dave Ramsey says that most emergencies cost around $500. or less.

[artist]

I have mine in a money market account. I have a debit visa attatched to that account so If I need to do a major car repair or home repair I can do so with the card instantly. If it's something I know is coming I transfer the money.

[jp1]

I keep about $7,000 in an ING savings account and about $1,500 in cash at home. After getting stuck in Hoboken NJ on 9/11 (I lived in NYC at the time) and none of the ATMs or credit card machines at businesses working I've been careful about having enough actual cash on hand to deal with an emergency of that type. This money is both emergency fund and living expenses if I get laid off or something. Since we rent we're not likely to have an expensive home related emergency, short of the building burning down or something. (of course I guess the cash at home won't be of much use if the building burns down...) The most likely crises I expect are death/serious illness in the family requiring plane tickets and earthquake requiring leaving San Francisco for some period of time. In both cases I'd charge it on the CC I pay off each month and just transfer in the money when the bill comes at the end of the month.

[Tiam]

I had gotten up to 1400 in cash at home.....but had to use some and have reached my 500 dollar bottom. No more can come out. So that's my minimum house fund. I have a high yield account that has 8000. and a regular savings that fluctuates between $100 and a $1000. depending on how things are going. The cash account is the household emergency account.

[RosieTR]

We have a credit card that we pay off each month and a good chunk in a checking account, that's linked to a savings account where we could transfer more if necessary. I think we have a few hundred $ in cash in the house too, just in case. An appliance replacement on the fly might be able to be done by opening a credit card at a big-box home improvement or department store, then canceling the card when it's paid. I don't know how prevalent "instant credit" is these days, however. I would keep a credit card too, because of the reasons Steve mentioned. We use a rewards card all the time which is useful for tracking purposes and for many types of purchases like airplane flights and gasoline. After reading the blog on Katrina (http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/) we decided to keep a little more cash on hand than we had before. My brother was light fingered so the idea of cash around kind of bothers me, and I probably should carry a bit more. I would say to at least keep enough for filling up whatever vehicles you have from empty on hand, plus at least $50 of supplies. Something like a credit card would be more useful for the more likely scenario: car or house problems, or family issues that require immediate large purchases.

[heydude]

Yes Steve! All that junk! I just want to be off the grid so to speak sometimes. Why do I gotta have all that paper work and marketing and annual "we value your privacy, here is how we share your information" booklet and ohhhh be sure to check your credit report to make sure we reported this account accurately! and all that junk!

This thread also has me thinking of keeping some cash at home.

To the people that do keep cash at home. What is your address so I can drop by? hehe