Young and in Debt.... eh, ya think!?

[Sketcher]

Not inspired at all, but w/all the talk of holy $hit my CC bill is... There are some good posts regarding debt responsibility throughout various threads here lately and much of it is summed up in this article.

Wake up and smell the 0% balance transfer idealogy


BTW, as of last week my CC balance is ZERO after a frantic year+ of paying down a $7,000.00 balance! And I'll be making it through the Christmas season without putting a penny on credit. It took a little over a year of going without and not buying anything I couldn't pay cash for and did not absolutely need. Once I got that mindset in play, heh, I was even able to save a bit... go figure.

(Sorry if the link is a repost ----> consider it an important public service announcement worth repeating).


PS It's an easy rutt to get into. For eleven years I maintained a number of cards and kept them all at zero balance. Never bought anything I didn't have the money for or couldn't pay off at the end of the month. One card was used regularly to build up airline miles. All of my bills were paid one month in advance and we felt pretty bullet proof. Then came a kid, a layoff and before we stopped the blood flow from the sucking gaping chest wound we were up to $6,000.00+ (not buying extravagant items or things we didn't need, just normal purchases other than we just didn't make the payments as often as we used the cards). A couple zero% balance transfers, a failed auto debit withdrawal and a couple late fees later and we'd entered the default rate on that card to a tune of $7,300.00+. Do you know what the late fee on a $7K CC'd debt is!? Nope, I don't either... cuz I blacked out when I was bent over and treated to the business end of the late fee broomstick. Long story. Easy trap. Difficult recovery. Jubilant Exodus!

 

[freegeeks]

congrats

 

[Chiboy]

Good for you man. My CC Balance right now is +$26 I only buy stuff I know I can pay for right away.

 

[Confused]

What CC?


Confused

 

[malbojah]

Originally posted by: Confused
What CC?


Confused

My sentiments exactly

<--- no CC here

 

[RossMAN]

Good article, thanks

I remember when I got my first cc ... CitiBank gave me $300, it's been downhill ever since then. You should only buy what you can afford or budget, nothing more.

Now I'm off to logon to Fleet cc's site to make a painful $1,500 payment

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: Confused
What CC?

While that's a good way to avoid temptation, it's also a good way to not build a credit history, and that may make it more difficult to do things later like get loans, rent housing, or anything else where credit history is used as data to determine whether you're an acceptable risk or not.

I avoided credit cards until I was out of college and had a job, and started using them regularly, paying off all my charges at the end of the month. After nearly a decade of this, you'd think I'd have a pretty good credit rating, right?

Wrong. I was actually rejected by two furniture stores for financing offers. The reason given? Insufficient credit history. (The strange part is that I was able to finance a home theatre system that cost about two and a half times as much as either of the individual furniture bills, but that's the black arts of creditors for ya)

 

[RossMAN]

FeathersMcGraw - Have you considered getting a secured credit card to help build and maintain your credit history?

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
FeathersMcGraw - Have you considered getting a secured credit card to help build and maintain your credit history?

Oh, I have two (a credit union Visa and an Amex Blue), but the Amex card is only a couple of years old. I've also since acquired a mortgage payment and plenty of bills (hence the need for furniture and HT), so I'm less worried about credit history now.

 

[StageLeft]

Now, now now is part of the human condition and in the case of americans it's exacerbated by the cultural greed within this country. People can't bear the thought of excercising self control, be it with finances or eating. So, you have fat people in debt. Really it's tragic that so many people can control neither of these issues, even when there is so much evidence in front of them of the benefits of doing so. I've had a credit card since I was 18. I have great credit and have never once regretted getting the card. I don't see credit cards as an addiction I'm powerless against, and instead use them to my benefit, instead of allowing myself to become the victim.

If anybody cares about their financial situation now go into Fritzo's thread "I am SO dead" and at the end is a link for a book you'd probably benefit from reading.

The big problem experts see with all these free-flowing credit cards is that young consumers often don?t make the connection between their spending and their financial resources. While the rising debt from student loans is a direct result of increasing tuition bills, the growth in credit card debt is about instant gratification and the inability to live within one?s means.

This summarizes it PERFECTLY.

 

[virusag11]

As of today I get to pay off my remaining 2000$ of debt then I'll be free as well!

 

[CraigRT]

my CC balance is about $2,500 right now... but I plan on bringing that down to zero or damn near it by early 2004

new years resolution i guess

 

[freegeeks]

I just pay of my cc at the end of the month, no exceptions (cc is only used for travel and for buying something online)
I have zero debt
I pay everything else with my debit card

 

[tnitsuj]

25,

paid for cars in cash 5 years ago
no student loans
1 credit card I use for travel that gets reiumbursed by work
use debit card for everything else

can't imaging it any other way

My wife on the other hand has had credit card debt since college, and I am sure she has it now. Constant source of friction between us.

 

[poopaskoopa]

ONLY 5800 left.... I want to kick my ass.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: malbojah

Originally posted by: Confused
What CC?


Confused

My sentiments exactly

<--- no CC here

once i get the cc paid off its gone and ill stick to my check card

 

[bcterps]

Sometimes it's just a lesson that people have to learn. I ran up some CC debt in college and also once I started working. I think my grand total was around 5k or so, and it took me about 10 months to pay it off. I really had to watch my spending in those 10 months, but it was worth it. I didn't want to enter my marriage with a load of debt.

 

[EyeMWing]

Heh. Spending responsibly is somthing that most Americans have no grasp upon. But if you stop being a fscktard and use the CC only to prevent you from carrying cash or writing checks, you too can have a credit limit that you could buy a $60k car on. It doesn't take restraint - it takes sense.

 

[virtueixi]

My friend's friend payed their tuition via credit card instead of taking out loans! Now she will be paying that off for the rest of her life. Can you say dumass?

 

[MattCo]

Congrats on paying it off. From experience, I know that living in the black is a hell of a feeling after being in the red for a long time.

-MC

 

[EmperorIQ]

my cc balance is ~$430, of course i only have a 500 limit, my friends and family told me to not pay off my entire balance, and only do about 30-50 bucks a month to build up credit history, they said that its sorta like business where you give the cc company their interest and they'll like that, now i regret listening to them, i should've continued paying it off completely, oh well. . . i'll have that 430 paid off in no time anyways,

 

[matt426malm]

Originally posted by: virtueixi
My friend's friend payed their tuition via credit card instead of taking out loans! Now she will be paying that off for the rest of her life. Can you say dumass?

Wow, no kidding that is pretty stupid. I went if the government loans, I think my loans for like 2k payments aren't that bad and don't start till i graduate. I only use my cc for gas and pay it off every month.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: virtueixi
My friend's friend payed their tuition via credit card instead of taking out loans! Now she will be paying that off for the rest of her life. Can you say dumass?

That is stupid, especially since interest on student loan is tax deductible.

 

[conjur]

WTG!!!

 

[Murphyrulez]

$55k here. I suck.