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FINALLY! YA paid off CCards thread, lived frugally

A

AlienCraft

Lifer
Been working them down bit by bit, Got the 2 cards that had raised beyond 18.75% paid off, and over the last month lowered utilization of revolving credit to 12% overall, some negatives fell off and kerblam! :awe: Pulled upper 700's credit score in all three! yay! It's been awhile...

and on a minimum wage job too no less. D: I'm making what I made in 1989... :|:\

Of course, I have no life, wife or kids, but the bills are paid and the Scion xB is all I owe on.()🙂
 
Hey congrats, credit cards are seriously evil. People use them when they don't need them to build the habit, thinking they are gaming the system for 1% cashback or whatever.

The CC company is of course just waiting and waiting for the day you actually need it. Then the very day you actually need it to make ends meet, is the very day they tweak your interest into debt enslavement.
 
OverVolt said:
Hey congrats, credit cards are seriously evil. People use them when they don't need them to build the habit, thinking they are gaming the system for 1% cashback or whatever.

The CC company is of course just waiting and waiting for the day you actually need it. Then the very day you actually need it to make ends meet, is the very day they tweak your interest into debt enslavement.
Click to expand...

Cc are perfectly fine if used correctly. Why would I not want 1% back on everything (sometimes i get 5% on gas and groceries) when I'd spend the money anyways? If people use them to buy stuff they wouldn't have cash for then yes it's a terrible idea.
I've heard the argument it's easier to use the cc on frivolous stuff since you don't actually see the money vs handing someone cash. To me it feels exactly the same.
Responsible cc user gets cash back and the convenience of buying online with the added protection of your cc company>responsible non cc user that pays everything with cash.
 
im at 10K in credit card debt. some $350+ a month in minimums. it was all home improvement stuff. last min, must get it done stuff without credit to get a loan. of course, house wouldnt sell in shit market, so it has been rented out. a year later, renter stops paying and im kicking him out. HOUSE FOR SALE again and this time im taking whatever it takes. i told the realtor "just make it so i can pay off the mortgage and credit cards. anything else above that you keep". because thats all i want- no debt. i am sooooooo sick of it.

so much so, that i doubt ill ever get a loan for more then 10K again. i dont care if i rent for the rest of my life. at least if something goes wrong, i just move to a different place.
 
Congrats! I've been debt free since forever, till a few months ago I got weeping tiles redone and badly needed a new car. 17k on the credit line right now. Quite scary to be that much in debt but my job pays half decent because of the shift work. I'm hoping I can pay that off in under 2 years.
 
That's awesome. It took several, several years for me to get to this:

c1db0465.jpg


That doesn't really include the house, which is still a pretty ugly mess (high interest, upside-down,) but the CCs have been under control for years.

feelsgoodman :thumbsup:
 
I played the 0% game when I wasn't making decent money. I'd open a 0% card, use it on whatever, then after the 12 or 18mos or whatever period, I'd open a new card as I paid off the previous card (like a few month overlap). Rinse and repeat for about 2-3 years.

Now I just recently opened another one since we bought a house and put all our home improvements on it.

I was good enough at "the game" to never have paid even one cent in interest (aka never had an interest charge). Now we make enough to not have to worry really, but if 0% is available, why use my own money? I'll pay $200-$400/mo for 18mo and bank the rest or put it towards something else. Then pay it off just before the last month hits!

Just gotta be careful to close cards that will leave you with too much available balance. This way you're approved for the next one.
 
AlienCraft said:
Been working them down bit by bit, Got the 2 cards that had raised beyond 18.75% paid off, and over the last month lowered utilization of revolving credit to 12% overall, some negatives fell off and kerblam! :awe: Pulled upper 700's credit score in all three! yay! It's been awhile...

and on a minimum wage job too no less. D: I'm making what I made in 1989... :|:\

Of course, I have no life, wife or kids, but the bills are paid and the Scion xB is all I owe on.()🙂
Click to expand...


Congratulations!

There is great joy in knowing that you don't have any outstanding CC debts.

Uno
 
OverVolt said:
Hey congrats, credit cards are seriously evil. People use them when they don't need them to build the habit, thinking they are gaming the system for 1% cashback or whatever.

The CC company is of course just waiting and waiting for the day you actually need it. Then the very day you actually need it to make ends meet, is the very day they tweak your interest into debt enslavement.
Click to expand...

That couldn't be further from the truth.
I too had massive CC debt coming out of college.
At one point I had serious thought about declaring bankruptcy but I started making money and paid everything off.
Now I make them bitches pay me.
I sign up for CC to get the bonus and then cancel once the annual fee start kicking in.
Where do I start ???
Continental- 40K miles.
United- another 40K miles before they merged.
Chase Sapphire- 50K pts.
Chase Marriott- 50K pts.
Amex SPG- 25K pts.
Amex AA- 50K miles
Citi AA- 50K miles.
More CC that I got bonus $$$ that I don't remember.
All I can say is make them work for you.
 
I am getting so close, 2 more months and no more cc debt! It will be the first time in I would say about 8 years I have not carried a balance on my cc. After this I should have my car paid off in a few months and my student loan before the summer 😀
 
Tweak155 said:
I played the 0% game when I wasn't making decent money. I'd open a 0% card, use it on whatever, then after the 12 or 18mos or whatever period, I'd open a new card as I paid off the previous card (like a few month overlap). Rinse and repeat for about 2-3 years.
...
I was good enough at "the game" to never have paid even one cent in interest (aka never had an interest charge). Now we make enough to not have to worry really, but if 0% is available, why use my own money? I'll pay $200-$400/mo for 18mo and bank the rest or put it towards something else. Then pay it off just before the last month hits!
Click to expand...

The problem that people run into is that instead of paying it off at the end of the period, they do a balance transfer onto a new 0% card. 2-3% of total, right there, even IF you always make your payments and use 0% offers.

As for "emergencies" that require otherwise frugal people to suddenly rack up tons of credit card debt, any emergency dire enough to make me resort to credit that I can't pay is obviously dire enough to declare bankruptcy over anyway. That argument always baffled me.

I ran into credit card debt in my college days, and it was a GREAT feeling when I finally paid it off. It's an even better feeling now that I'm using credit responsibly and slowly, slowly making back in rewards the extra money that I gave them in interest back in the day.

Now WHY don't they have a finance/life skills seminar in the senior year of high school? Sure, people will always make mistakes, but warning people about some of the common mistakes would still avoid a lot of heartache.
 
Last edited:
jagec said:
The problem that people run into is that instead of paying it off at the end of the period, they do a balance transfer onto a new 0% card. 2-3% of total, right there, even IF you always make your payments and use 0% offers.

As for "emergencies" that require otherwise frugal people to suddenly rack up tons of credit card debt, any emergency dire enough to make me resort to credit that I can't pay is obviously dire enough to declare bankruptcy over anyway. That argument always baffled me.

I ran into credit card debt in my college days, and it was a GREAT feeling when I finally paid it off. It's an even better feeling now that I'm using credit responsibly and slowly, slowly making back in rewards the extra money that I gave them in interest back in the day.

Now WHY don't they have a finance/life skills seminar in the senior year of high school? Sure, people will always make mistakes, but warning people about some of the common mistakes would still avoid a lot of heartache.
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Nono, actually I remember in the late 1990's my sister going to college, and all the credit card signups to college freshmen. The last thing credit card companies want is classes on responsible finance lol.
 
I love my credit cards. I only use them for rewards and most are paid off every month. I have 1 that I carry a balance but it had a BT for .99% for life so it is lower than inflation so I only make minimum payments.
 
Dulanic said:
I love my credit cards. I only use them for rewards and most are paid off every month. I have 1 that I carry a balance but it had a BT for .99% for life so it is lower than inflation so I only make minimum payments.
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0.99% per year? Thats awesome!
 
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