Ava
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Post by Ava on Dec 4, 2022 22:38:42 GMT -5
I agree with susana1954The truth is somewhere in the middle. Helocs, paying the credit card when the statement closes ,etc. So not everyone who has CC debt lets it accumulate, but we're paying last month's expenses with this month's income. In my case, I use my CC because it gives me 2% rewards, and I pay it when the statement closes and they send me a nice email reminding me the bill is due. Sometimes I'm shocked by the amount, but it includes most of my monthly expenditures, including most utilities, insurance, groceries, etc.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2022 8:19:23 GMT -5
But the trend lines would suggest exactly what happened during travel and all spending during Covid. We didn’t go any place for over a year, nor did I make any flight or hotel reservations, expenses were the bare minimum of what they normally are (no eating out, no activities and less gas) so there was more available cash. When people got out, they started spending more so their monthly balances went higher. During Covid, our normal $2000-4000 monthly Costco charge barely hit $1000, a few times it was under $700. And don't forget that for many, the gubmint gravy train of stimulus payments stopped so there was less disposable income. For those feeling virtuous, how many of you pay those CCs when payment is due as opposed to when the statement closes? You are paying last month's bills with this month's money. Lose your job or have a major expense, and suddenly you can't pay them off. Ditto for those interest-free ones. And Helocs used for stuff other than home improvement are really the same thing as CC debt with better PR. And why would I pay 2 weeks early? Count me in the pay-in-full club and I subtract the amounts I charge out of my checking account balance so it comes out of the income for the month in which it's incurred. (I keep my checking account activity in Excel.) I get a little interest on my checking account and 2% cash back on most purchases (higher for gas, restaurants and travel on my Costco card). In 1979 when my Uncle died suddenly of a heart attack at age 42, my Aunt found that whatever he put on the credit card, he immediately deposited into their passbook savings account and then withdrew whatever was necessary to pay the bill when it came in, earning interest in the meantime. It's in my genes. I get your points, though. I've seen plenty of people get snared in the credit card trap. The road to hell starts the first time you make the minimum payment instead of paying in full. I partly blame the banks, though. I just got an Amex with a credit line of 1/3 what I declared to be my annual income, which was about equal to my Adjusted Gross for 2021. That's insanity.
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susana1954
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Post by susana1954 on Dec 5, 2022 9:22:25 GMT -5
@athena53, I do what you do basically with my CC expenditures--I keep a running total so the $$$ are there when I spend them.
However, I pay when the statement is posted and sometimes the day before because I like $0 statements. The interest earned is negligible--the time frame is too short and the interest rate has been too low to make anything. That may change with interest rates rising, of course.
But my point wasn't really which way was best. I wanted to emphasize that those playing the credit game, no matter what form, should understand how easy it is to get into trouble. I remember posters on this Board looking for 0% CC offers to roll over their current 0% card to.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2022 10:56:02 GMT -5
I wanted to emphasize that those playing the credit game, no matter what form, should understand how easy it is to get into trouble. I remember posters on this Board looking for 0% CC offers to roll over their current 0% card to. That almost looks like a good deal now- my church just got over 4% on a 6-month CD! I just looked at my total available credit over 3 cards- it's over half my AGI. That's without ever calling and asking for a credit line increase. Insanity.
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tallguy
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Post by tallguy on Dec 5, 2022 11:01:21 GMT -5
I'm not sure the point of this post, but I would suggest that it is one of those things that might have an initial "sounds good" appeal but does not bear up to any level of scrutiny. For those who are not idiots with money it becomes almost silly. Whether you pay your bill when the statement comes or when it is due has zero effect on how much you charged. You will still have to pay. Paying earlier will save you a certain amount in interest if you carry a balance. If you don't and regularly pay off your bill in full paying earlier does nothing for you. If you lose your job you will be in the same trouble either way regardless of whether you typically pay your credit card bill three weeks earlier. "This month's money" or "last month's bills" makes no difference. Whatever cycle you choose to use becomes normal to you. I have all of my regular bills automatically billed to a card and both of my cards set up to automatically pay in full on the due date. My accounts and cards are with the same bank, so there is no possibility of delay or error on my part. Payment can never be late because they are responsible for pulling the money. If I am away from home for two months, or if I were to ever be incapacitated for any reason, I don't even need internet access to ensure everything is paid on time. I don't even need to be conscious other than three or four checks per year. I have carried a balance on a card once in my life, many years ago when my wife was paying bills and didn't find a statement so guessed at an amount. Yes, we had a discussion after that. But please, explain to me why putting a lot of effort into doing something every month which benefits me not at all should make me feel even better about myself or my situation.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Dec 5, 2022 11:08:58 GMT -5
I have 13 active cards, 4 that I use regularly. I track spending on them in YNAB so money is there ahead of time (usually). I pay them off several times a month. No idea when the statement dates are on any of them. I don't care about keeping the money in checking until the due date, that's a negligible amount of interest anyhow.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Dec 5, 2022 11:29:36 GMT -5
But my point wasn't really which way was best. I wanted to emphasize that those playing the credit game, no matter what form, should understand how easy it is to get into trouble. I remember posters on this Board looking for 0% CC offers to roll over their current 0% card to. I played this ‘game’ and paid off $30k in credit card debt with no interest, no transfer fees. I’m not exactly sure what your point is here? I got into trouble, and the 18+% was eating me alive. I transferred these cards to other that were 0% for the life of the loan, did not use the cards again, so 100% of what I paid went against what I owed. It still took me several years to pay off, but much less than if I had to pay interest too. So how is this getting into trouble? I dug myself OUT of trouble.
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tallguy
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Post by tallguy on Dec 5, 2022 11:30:31 GMT -5
Sounds like an awful lot of unnecessary work....
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Dec 5, 2022 11:43:31 GMT -5
Sounds like an awful lot of unnecessary work.... It takes like 30 seconds to make a payment on the apps. And most of my cards there's one login for all of them (all chase are together, all Synchrony banks are one login).
I don't like seeing any of my accounts in the red so pay them off a lot.
But, if I were to not they're all set to autopay on the due date.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2022 11:54:09 GMT -5
I have 13 active cards, 4 that I use regularly. I track spending on them in YNAB so money is there ahead of time (usually). I pay them off several times a month. No idea when the statement dates are on any of them. I don't care about keeping the money in checking until the due date, that's a negligible amount of interest anyhow. But just out of curiosity- why that many? Did you join for sign-on bonuses? Part of a loyalty program? BF has a lot and I didn't think in his case that it does him any good. I don't know the details and it's not my business but I think he's carrying balances on most of them and the interest charges probably outweigh any discounts or other perks. Two of my cards are straight cash back- I just added the Hilton-branded Amex to get the 80,000-point sign-on bonus and will use it ONLY at Hilton, where the value of the points is worth more than the cash back I'd get from the Costco card. No annual fees at all.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Dec 5, 2022 12:30:30 GMT -5
I have 13 active cards, 4 that I use regularly. I track spending on them in YNAB so money is there ahead of time (usually). I pay them off several times a month. No idea when the statement dates are on any of them. I don't care about keeping the money in checking until the due date, that's a negligible amount of interest anyhow. But just out of curiosity- why that many? Did you join for sign-on bonuses? Part of a loyalty program? BF has a lot and I didn't think in his case that it does him any good. I don't know the details and it's not my business but I think he's carrying balances on most of them and the interest charges probably outweigh any discounts or other perks. Two of my cards are straight cash back- I just added the Hilton-branded Amex to get the 80,000-point sign-on bonus and will use it ONLY at Hilton, where the value of the points is worth more than the cash back I'd get from the Costco card. No annual fees at all. I churn for bonuses. Most are ones that I got the bonus and then didn't close. Occasionally one will give me an offer to get me to use them again. My Choice Privileges card gave me 0% and no payments on all purchases from Feb to Dec this year, so that was nice. Stuck a bunch of stuff on there like Carrot's tuition and and my replacement stove so I wouldn't have to cash in the 9.62% I bonds.
The ones I use regularly: Sam's Club - 5% cash back on gas and 3% on Sam's Club purchases Amazon - 5% back on Amazon purchases Target - 5% back on Target Fidelity - 2% back on anything not covered above. Chase Sapphire Preferred - Keeping it around another year to put the cruise on. Comes with a perks like travel insurance and I'll be able to get 0% for 18 months on the trip.
Chase Marriott - Opened this year and the bonus covered all the hotel stays on our road trip. Not sure I'll renew or not. It's $95/year but comes with a free night stay. Probably will just cancel and re-sign up in a couple years. I've had this card 3X and the Chase Reserve 2X and Chase Sapphire 2X.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Dec 5, 2022 14:40:06 GMT -5
My ex and I were in CC hell back in the 1980s and 1990s. I got out, ironically, via the divorce. We did a second mortgage and paid everything off. My half came out of the equity. For those feeling virtuous, how many of you pay those CCs when payment is due as opposed to when the statement closes? You are paying last month's bills with this month's money. Lose your job or have a major expense, and suddenly you can't pay them off. Ditto for those interest-free ones. And Helocs used for stuff other than home improvement are really the same thing as CC debt with better PR. So be a little less shocked. Could you explain further what you mean? As to your second part, I was broke when I met DH but I had paid off my CC and cut it up. He was carrying a balance. His attitude was I have a good job what do I have to worry about? I explained that life wasn't going to be a bowl of cherries all the time, plus he was paying a crap ton of interest (this was the mid 80s, I'm guessing cc interest must have been in the 20% range). He was supposed to be better at math than I was.
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susana1954
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Post by susana1954 on Dec 5, 2022 15:01:25 GMT -5
But my point wasn't really which way was best. I wanted to emphasize that those playing the credit game, no matter what form, should understand how easy it is to get into trouble. I remember posters on this Board looking for 0% CC offers to roll over their current 0% card to. I played this ‘game’ and paid off $30k in credit card debt with no interest, no transfer fees. I’m not exactly sure what your point is here? I got into trouble, and the 18+% was eating me alive. I transferred these cards to other that were 0% for the life of the loan, did not use the cards again, so 100% of what I paid went against what I owed. It still took me several years to pay off, but much less than if I had to pay interest too. So how is this getting into trouble? I dug myself OUT of trouble. Yes, but you are a YMer. I suspect many people start at 0% and DON'T get it paid off.
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susana1954
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Post by susana1954 on Dec 5, 2022 15:22:59 GMT -5
My ex and I were in CC hell back in the 1980s and 1990s. I got out, ironically, via the divorce. We did a second mortgage and paid everything off. My half came out of the equity. For those feeling virtuous, how many of you pay those CCs when payment is due as opposed to when the statement closes? You are paying last month's bills with this month's money. Lose your job or have a major expense, and suddenly you can't pay them off. Ditto for those interest-free ones. And Helocs used for stuff other than home improvement are really the same thing as CC debt with better PR. So be a little less shocked. Could you explain further what you mean? As to your second part, I was broke when I met DH but I had paid off my CC and cut it up. He was carrying a balance. His attitude was I have a good job what do I have to worry about? I explained that life wasn't going to be a bowl of cherries all the time, plus he was paying a crap ton of interest (this was the mid 80s, I'm guessing cc interest must have been in the 20% range). He was supposed to be better at math than I was. Money I spent in December should be paid off in December. That's the simplest version. Otherwise, I can end up in trouble if money doesn't come in at the end of the next month because of job loss, etc. The clearest example would be the private school I used to teach in. I was gone by the time they closed. But they collected tuition for the next year beginning in June, but they used that money to pay the teachers for the previous year their summer paychecks. Those summer paychecks are earned during the August-May time frame so the money was due to the employees. But then one June they had to close the school. There was no money to pay those employees the money they had previously earned because no new money is coming in. Yes, it was a pyramid type structure when you think of it. And if you use January money (which to me is money received on Dec. 31) to pay for December (holding it until January due date), you are doing pretty much the same thing. If you have a good buffer in your bank account, it doesn't matter. It matters to me. This is pretty much the premise of YNAB although they express it differently, I think. Really, I was just trying to explain how it can be easy to slide into CC debt.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2022 15:49:19 GMT -5
He [DH] was carrying a balance. His attitude was I have a good job what do I have to worry about? I explained that life wasn't going to be a bowl of cherries all the time, plus he was paying a crap ton of interest (this was the mid 80s, I'm guessing cc interest must have been in the 20% range). He was supposed to be better at math than I was. The crapton of interest is the killer. I think that's how most people dig themselves into a hole and can't climb out of it. I wish they'd show these debt statistics separately for rotating balances and an average calculated only per account carrying a balance. Some months my balance would look pretty awful until I pay the bill but I'm not paying interest. The average interest paid on rotating balances by households carrying balances must add up to hundreds of dollars per month. What a waste.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Dec 5, 2022 16:25:25 GMT -5
I played this ‘game’ and paid off $30k in credit card debt with no interest, no transfer fees. I’m not exactly sure what your point is here? I got into trouble, and the 18+% was eating me alive. I transferred these cards to other that were 0% for the life of the loan, did not use the cards again, so 100% of what I paid went against what I owed. It still took me several years to pay off, but much less than if I had to pay interest too. So how is this getting into trouble? I dug myself OUT of trouble. Yes, but you are a YMer. I suspect many people start at 0% and DON'T get it paid off. This was before. I lurked a LONG time, and didn’t tell anyone until after it was paid off because I saw how people got raked over the coals. I did not do what was recommended, I chose the pieces that worked in my life, for my position and job and worked from there. Even after, I chose to use the 0% for XX months because I could.
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nidena
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Post by nidena on Dec 5, 2022 16:35:30 GMT -5
Why does the perspective seem to be that if you pay any interest or don't pay off your balance each month, you're "in trouble with credit cards"?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2022 18:51:48 GMT -5
Why does the perspective seem to be that if you pay any interest or don't pay off your balance each month, you're "in trouble with credit cards"? My own opinion- it just seems to be something very hard to undo unless you have a lot of discipline and no bad breaks. Last month I accidentally underpaid my cc bill by $19 (keyed in the wrong #) and of course it was a month when I'd charged the balance on an expensive trip early in the billing cycle. They tacked on $99 interest and with encouragement from this group I called and got it reversed. Someone carrying balances can easily rack up over $1,000 in interest charges during the year. That's money that can be used for so many good purposes. I can see using a credit card to cover an emergency such as a new HVAC system or major car repair but then not using that credit card for new purchases until you pay it off since interest accrues on the average daily balance including new purchases. I don't think most people operate that way, though.
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nidena
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Post by nidena on Dec 5, 2022 19:05:51 GMT -5
Why does the perspective seem to be that if you pay any interest or don't pay off your balance each month, you're "in trouble with credit cards"? My own opinion- it just seems to be something very hard to undo unless you have a lot of discipline and no bad breaks. Last month I accidentally underpaid my cc bill by $19 (keyed in the wrong #) and of course it was a month when I'd charged the balance on an expensive trip early in the billing cycle. They tacked on $99 interest and with encouragement from this group I called and got it reversed. Someone carrying balances can easily rack up over $1,000 in interest charges during the year. That's money that can be used for so many good purposes. I can see using a credit card to cover an emergency such as a new HVAC system or major car repair but then not using that credit card for new purchases until you pay it off since interest accrues on the average daily balance including new purchases. I don't think most people operate that way, though. But, again, paying interest isn't "trouble with credit cards". NOT being able to pay minimums or being able to pay ONLY minimums...yeah, I can see that as trouble. But, someone accepting paying interest each month isn't "trouble". It's just not how *you* and others on these boards might spend their money. I spend a lot of time on the povertyfinance sub on reddit and there are some real challenges with debt, for sure, but interest =/= trouble.
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dondub
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Post by dondub on Dec 5, 2022 19:24:16 GMT -5
Wonder why no one can pay their student loans they are too busy paying their cc debt. Hell while the govt is at it lets give every cc debt holder 10k to help ease their burden too. People are so damn irresponsible, but why should they do any different when the govt does the same damn thing. Before the bashing starts as far as govt I mean govt on both sides of the isle. . What is your solution to paying off the Federal debt?
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pulmonarymd
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Post by pulmonarymd on Dec 5, 2022 19:27:18 GMT -5
Wonder why no one can pay their student loans they are too busy paying their cc debt. Hell while the govt is at it lets give every cc debt holder 10k to help ease their burden too. People are so damn irresponsible, but why should they do any different when the govt does the same damn thing. Before the bashing starts as far as govt I mean govt on both sides of the isle. . What is your solution to posting off the Federal debt? You shouldn’t have taken them in the first place. She makes no allowances for the possibility that bad things may have happened to derail their plans
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Dec 5, 2022 21:13:47 GMT -5
Yes, but you are a YMer. I suspect many people start at 0% and DON'T get it paid off. This was before. I lurked a LONG time, and didn’t tell anyone until after it was paid off because I saw how people got raked over the coals. I did not do what was recommended, I chose the pieces that worked in my life, for my position and job and worked from there. Even after, I chose to use the 0% for XX months because I could. I think that I remember some of the first posts that you made. Sadly, you were probably right not to tell us too much about it until the debt was pretty much gone.
A lot of the board seemed much more interested in how you got into credit card debt than strategies for getting out of it or whether those strategies were working.
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scgal
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Post by scgal on Dec 6, 2022 6:20:09 GMT -5
Wonder why no one can pay their student loans they are too busy paying their cc debt. Hell while the govt is at it lets give every cc debt holder 10k to help ease their burden too. People are so damn irresponsible, but why should they do any different when the govt does the same damn thing. Before the bashing starts as far as govt I mean govt on both sides of the isle. . What is your solution to paying off the Federal debt? I wish I had one. To be honest if the gove took in more money than they budget and pay off their debt they would screw it up. We are getting to the point of disaster and all I see is more spending. Oh its just this amt and that amount whatever
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scgal
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Post by scgal on Dec 6, 2022 6:24:42 GMT -5
. What is your solution to posting off the Federal debt? You shouldn’t have taken them in the first place. She makes no allowances for the possibility that bad things may have happened to derail their plans Nope I was young and dumb had approx 35k in cc debt. Took years to pay off then again spent little, worked crazy hrs you know learning to be responsible. Funny how you said plan. Plans change. Failure to plan equals to plan for failure.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2022 9:02:21 GMT -5
This was before. I lurked a LONG time, and didn’t tell anyone until after it was paid off because I saw how people got raked over the coals. I did not do what was recommended, I chose the pieces that worked in my life, for my position and job and worked from there. Even after, I chose to use the 0% for XX months because I could. I'm glad you were able to use it as a tool to get out of debt. Sure beats payday loans. Still, my guess is that the vast majority of people who make 0% interest balance transfers don't pay them off and add more purchases to the card. How would banks make any money on those offers otherwise? I'm in favor of credit cards- have had them all my adult life. It's just unfortunate that banks lend so much money to people that they can't afford to pay it back. When my Ex had multiple credit cards in default he got more offers for credit cards in the mail than I did- with higher limits. Maybe if they were more responsible about lending they'd be able to cut their interest rates in half.
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susana1954
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Post by susana1954 on Dec 6, 2022 9:39:17 GMT -5
This was before. I lurked a LONG time, and didn’t tell anyone until after it was paid off because I saw how people got raked over the coals. I did not do what was recommended, I chose the pieces that worked in my life, for my position and job and worked from there. Even after, I chose to use the 0% for XX months because I could. I'm glad you were able to use it as a tool to get out of debt. Sure beats payday loans. Still, my guess is that the vast majority of people who make 0% interest balance transfers don't pay them off and add more purchases to the card. How would banks make any money on those offers otherwise? I'm in favor of credit cards- have had them all my adult life. It's just unfortunate that banks lend so much money to people that they can't afford to pay it back. When my Ex had multiple credit cards in default he got more offers for credit cards in the mail than I did- with higher limits. Maybe if they were more responsible about lending they'd be able to cut their interest rates in half. I read that banks love to provide credit to people who have declared bankruptcy in the last year or so because they can't declare it again. Therefore, they have to pay . . . maybe later, but they will pay!
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Dec 6, 2022 11:34:32 GMT -5
This was before. I lurked a LONG time, and didn’t tell anyone until after it was paid off because I saw how people got raked over the coals. I did not do what was recommended, I chose the pieces that worked in my life, for my position and job and worked from there. Even after, I chose to use the 0% for XX months because I could. I'm glad you were able to use it as a tool to get out of debt. Sure beats payday loans. Still, my guess is that the vast majority of people who make 0% interest balance transfers don't pay them off and add more purchases to the card. How would banks make any money on those offers otherwise? I'm in favor of credit cards- have had them all my adult life. It's just unfortunate that banks lend so much money to people that they can't afford to pay it back. When my Ex had multiple credit cards in default he got more offers for credit cards in the mail than I did- with higher limits. Maybe if they were more responsible about lending they'd be able to cut their interest rates in half.But that's the point. The borrower may never pay off the principle but the CCs make tons of money on Point of Sale charges to the merchants, interest and late charges which are a priority pay off before the principle. Plus if you only can afford to pay the minimum you're charging even more because you don't have money to buy the stuff you need.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Dec 6, 2022 11:40:53 GMT -5
My own opinion- it just seems to be something very hard to undo unless you have a lot of discipline and no bad breaks. Last month I accidentally underpaid my cc bill by $19 (keyed in the wrong #) and of course it was a month when I'd charged the balance on an expensive trip early in the billing cycle. They tacked on $99 interest and with encouragement from this group I called and got it reversed. Someone carrying balances can easily rack up over $1,000 in interest charges during the year. That's money that can be used for so many good purposes. I can see using a credit card to cover an emergency such as a new HVAC system or major car repair but then not using that credit card for new purchases until you pay it off since interest accrues on the average daily balance including new purchases. I don't think most people operate that way, though. But, again, paying interest isn't "trouble with credit cards". NOT being able to pay minimums or being able to pay ONLY minimums...yeah, I can see that as trouble. But, someone accepting paying interest each month isn't "trouble". It's just not how *you* and others on these boards might spend their money. I spend a lot of time on the povertyfinance sub on reddit and there are some real challenges with debt, for sure, but interest =/= trouble. Technically it's true. If you're not paying off your credit cards every month then you are living beyond your means. In the perfect YM world YMers have emergency funds which take in account replacing a heater etc and we budget a sinking fund to replace those types of items. Of course, that's not how much of the real world works. I'll also add that for my ccs you don't just pay a crazy amount of interest for just one month even if you carry a balance for only one month. It's often two or more. Read the fine print. I still think they get away with a legalized form of usury but hey, we're adults and we make our choices.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Dec 6, 2022 11:42:56 GMT -5
This was before. I lurked a LONG time, and didn’t tell anyone until after it was paid off because I saw how people got raked over the coals. I did not do what was recommended, I chose the pieces that worked in my life, for my position and job and worked from there. Even after, I chose to use the 0% for XX months because I could. I'm glad you were able to use it as a tool to get out of debt. Sure beats payday loans. Still, my guess is that the vast majority of people who make 0% interest balance transfers don't pay them off and add more purchases to the card. How would banks make any money on those offers otherwise? I'm in favor of credit cards- have had them all my adult life. It's just unfortunate that banks lend so much money to people that they can't afford to pay it back. When my Ex had multiple credit cards in default he got more offers for credit cards in the mail than I did- with higher limits. Maybe if they were more responsible about lending they'd be able to cut their interest rates in half. I can’t be the only person who used this as a tool. When I transferred the $$ to those cards, the only other card I used was an AmEx that had to be paid off monthly. That gave me the opportunity to use a card at places like gas pumps and the grocery store, but more cognizant of the balance that MUST be paid in full each month. 10+ years later, I still pay everything off. TBH, lower interest rates wouldn’t have mattered. I cringe when I think of how I used credit in the past. I was stupid, and paid my (well deserved) stupid tax.
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nidena
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 28, 2010 20:32:26 GMT -5
Posts: 3,582
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Post by nidena on Dec 6, 2022 12:14:19 GMT -5
But, again, paying interest isn't "trouble with credit cards". NOT being able to pay minimums or being able to pay ONLY minimums...yeah, I can see that as trouble. But, someone accepting paying interest each month isn't "trouble". It's just not how *you* and others on these boards might spend their money. I spend a lot of time on the povertyfinance sub on reddit and there are some real challenges with debt, for sure, but interest =/= trouble. Technically it's true. If you're not paying off your credit cards every month then you are living beyond your means. In the perfect YM world YMers have emergency funds which take in account replacing a heater etc and we budget a sinking fund to replace those types of items. Of course, that's not how much of the real world works. I'll also add that for my ccs you don't just pay a crazy amount of interest for just one month even if you carry a balance for only one month. It's often two or more. Read the fine print. I still think they get away with a legalized form of usury but hey, we're adults and we make our choices. Ah, I see what you mean. In that case, I feel like there are two groups of folx: those who exceed their means to pay for wants (totally me lol) and those who exceed their means just to survive. I wonder what the breakdown is of the $930B between those two groups.
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