Some say more people are paying in cash others say credit card use is up.
"I will probably never use a credit card unless it's on the internet because it's required or when you buy airline tickets, it's pretty well required you have a card." Rich Unger and his wife are from Texas and are visiting Traverse City for their wedding anniversary. Rich says he essentially stopped using his credit card a year and a half ago. "Because when I get the bill, the interest rates are way too high and by the time you get the stuff, you're actually losing money instead of saving money." A store clerk at Annie's in downtown Traverse City says in general they are seeing more customers using cash for their purchases which saves them money. That's because credit card transactions can become costly. "Through the bank there would be a processing fee so cash is better," says Denae Neirman, a Store Clerk at Annie's.
But Dave Leonhard, the owner of Streamside Orvis says he has actually seen more people in his store making purchases with a credit card. "Since there are more traveling people, visitors to town looking at fall colors we're probably seeing more credit card business than cash business right now." In fact Leonhard says most of his neighboring businesses have reported increased purchases with a credit card. Green Path Financial Counselor Matt Tarsney says increased credit card use can be risky if people don't figure out what they can spend beforehand. "Where they get into trouble is say they're spending 500 dollars a month on food on their credit cards but they can only afford to pay 100 towards that credit card. So their balance is increasing by 400 dollars every month and they have no means to pay that off."
