OT: Credit Cards

[Ash]

I was wondering...do you use credit cards?

The reason I ask is because I had a discussion with my younger sister recently (she's 23...almost 24) and she admitted to me that she owed at least $10,000 because of credit cards.

I was flabbergasted!

I remember exclaiming, "Holy s**t!...$10,000!?"
"Yes" she said.
I asked her, "What the hell did you buy?"
"All kinds of things..." she said.
She told me that her debt had built up over a few years.

It must be coincidence that Dr. Phil had a MONEY DISASTERS show the other day.

I've always avoided credit cards and often look upon their very existence as traps.
They're very dangerous...only the smart and agile dare navigate through credit card territory.

You know those traps that are set in the jungle...the ones underground that are covered with branches and leaves?
You don't see them until you fall through and are impaled on sharpened sticks.

That is how I've always viewed credit cards.
Traps that are made to fall into.
You don't see them until it's too late.

Only very skilled persons who are adept at managing financial matters should have them.

Many friends have told me, "You can't build up your credit rating without using credit cards."

"BS!" I say.

Almost ALL my friends owe credit card debt.
I do not...because I've never had one.
To tell you the truth...I feel so relieved that I haven't.

I've made this cardinal rule for myself....
If I'm not making the big bucks, then I don't need one.
(and even if I did, I still don't think I'd want the hassle)

How 'bout you?
Do you have credit cards and do you owe?

[odinn7]

Pungi sticks, Ash, I think is what you were looking for to describe the sticks in the traps...and yes, credit cards are Pungi traps.

We are on one of those credit counseling programs thanks to credit cards. My wife has a bad habit when holding a credit card. If she wants something and has no cash, the card comes out and it's hers. Doesn't matter what it is, doesn't matter if we need it or not...she wants it, she will have it. It all adds up very quickly. We had credit cards that were to be used just for emergencies such as car repairs or anything unexpected that would pop up that needed attention. Apparently, my daughter needing the newest My Little Pony or my wife wanting a new shirt (or something along those lines) was considered an emergency. Luckily, when on the counseling program, all your cards must be cancelled. I can live without them and after 2 years, she is getting used to living without them too. We have another 2 years on this program and we will be free of our credit card debt (and having way more usable income because of this). I just hope at that time, she will still understand that we can live without the Pungi sticks.

[dean]

I have a credit card and it has come in handy, so I don't actually look at it as a trap.

Mainly I use it for booking movie tickets/hotels etc online [in which a credit card is usually the only way to do these things officially/properly] and for the occasional snap purchase on ebay.

Never have had too much debt on it at once [except for one time when I got the car fixed, but I payed that off as soon as I could.]

I guess it all comes down to how you use it I guess: I make a point not to rely on it for any purchase no matter how big unless it gets me fly buys points or I have no other option [like booking tickets, in which there are no other options, which is frustrating.]

My brother is currently studying to be an accountant, and one of his lecturers basically told everyone to go get a credit card, and whenever they buy something on it, to pay it off immediately so as to do that good credit rating thing.

That being said, I'm not saying people should go out and get one, because if you rely on it then it's just going to bite you in the ass [$10,000 is a lot of debt!] Luckily mine only has a $2,000 limit [I could have got more but I thought it was completely unneccessary to have that much.]

So all in all, the card has made some things easier [can't have quickflix, our version of netflix without it] and I haven't relied on it to buy something, but only have used it out of conveniance.

But, like you said Ash, you don't need it so why the hell should you get one!

[Mr_Vindictive]

I've never owned a credit card, and never plan on EVER getting one.

My banking debit card has all of the convience of a credit card without all of the hassel.  I use it to buy gas when in a hurry and use it for amazon, ebay, etc.  

[Neville]

I've never used one and never plan to. I do have a job, but it pays peanuts, and I don't want to spend money I don't have. I do have a bank document that allows me to check the state of my account, enter and withdraw money whenever I need it. That's all. Whenever I want to buy something expensive I wait until I earn that money. The only problem I've found is that I can't but stuff on the net, but considering that many stores in town offer the same items, that's something I can stay without.

[The Burgomaster]

Yes, I use credit cards and I owe more than $10,000 on them.

[Mr_Vindictive]

The Burgomaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, I use credit cards and I owe more than
> $10,000 on them.


So that is how you obtained such a massive film collection!

[raj]

I've got 3 credit cards: AmEx, Discover, Visa.  I owe only $800 on one of them, which was due to having to fly to Va. 3 times this fall plus truck repairs (new brakes and power steering pump and routine maintenance).  Otherwise I pay them off each month.  When I was much younger I had a couple thousand in debt, but then I made a concerted effort to pay them off and ever since I've been leery about carrying a balance forward.
Around October I'll finally have my truck paid off.  I don't mind that debt because I bought it a month after Sept. 11, and got a 0% interest deal for 5 years.  Then my only debts will be the mortgage and the &*%&^E@#&*!!! student loans.

[BeyondTheGrave]

I don't have a job yet and I go to college (My grandfather who retired pays my college with my mom) but I plan on only using a  Banking debit card like Skaboi. I use my grandfather debit card ,with permission of course, to make any online purchases.

[Scottie]

I have a card, but I pay back everything I ever buy with it immediately and in full. I have never made a whimsical purchase with it, nor have I used it for anything outside of what my parents will pay for. i.e., school books, car trouble, etc... I'm still flying under their wing, so they're willing to help me out with the essentials of life. I don't pay rent, I don't pay water or electric, and I don't pay phone. All I have to do is be in school, make good grades, and my parents will take care of the rest for me. With that in mind, I do buy things. My recent splurge on c-stands set me back about $300, but that was out of my own pocket. I also like to eat at nice restaurants because my girl friend does, so that means I do too. But it's not something I actually mind doing, I just consider it expensive to spend $40 in 3 hours. Oh well.

I'm into that "build your credit" bulls**t I guess. My master plan is to keep building credit and building credit until one day people will be knocking at my doors trying to sell me stuff because my credit is so good, and then blow it on cameras and lights, skip town, change my name, and become a subersive filmmaker out in the midwest somewhere, living next to some witness protection family, and having my name on my door with the street address as 909, so if anyone I know of is trying to find me, I can pull a fast one and flip the 9 to a 6, completely concealing my identity. It's fool proof.

[Zapranoth]

We will use zero-percent cards for periods of time to float expenses like plane tickets and vacations, but we're doing that less.  I've got two cards that are zero percent until April and September, and have several thousand dollars in debt on them... but we make enough to pay that off if we need to, faster.  We travel up to Alaska to visit my wife's family at times, and for major purchases we'll put them on those cards, but our "regular" card (for buying groceries, gas, etc) gets paid off EVERY month in full, always.

So to end-run your question, Ash, we have credit cards, but we *don't* pay interest on the money we spend on them.  That's the real issue.

Ask your sister to total up how much money she has paid in interest in the last 2 years!  And then post it here for us to laugh over!  =)

(Odinn7, I don't mean that as a jab to you.  You didn't do the spending.  Fortunately, my wife is NOT an impulsive spender.)

[The Burgomaster]

I play the "no interest / no payments due" and "balance transfer" games as much as possible.  For example, when we bought our new house last year, we bought about $6,500 of new furniture on a "no payments, no interest for 1 year" plan.  Just before the 1 year deadline, I paid off about $3,700 of the balance and transferred the rest to a 4.9% credit card.

[nobody]

I have 3 credit cards. At my worst I was in debt by roughly $6,000 (all 3 nearly maxed at their $2,000 limit). I'm not debt free at the moment, but I'm not nearly as deep in the hole as I used to be. I have stopped using my cards since November '05, and now plan to keep them only for emergencies.

All in all, credit cards aren't the problem. You just have to be responsible enough to use them. At $6,000 in debt, I had to experience that lesson the hard way. (I say "experience" the lesson because I had already "learned" it from day one thanks to common sense. My debt was, of course, nobodys fault but my own).