mr sticky

Averret! Feel the love!!!

I'm over FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS IN THE HOLE!!!!!

We are, however just beginning to repair this fact.

I'll get back to you in another couple of decades!

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The sad thing is... as you get older you come to realize that you don't so much pilot your life, as you just try to hold on, in a screaming, defiant ball of white-knuckle anxious fury

Averett

I've just put about $3,000 onto one of my credit cards.

Getting stuff for a new apartment is expensive

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Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

Baldrick

I have roughly between $5k to $8k in credit card debt each month - but that's always paid off before it's due.

About 75% of my credit card debt is company expenses (airfare, hotels, business lunches/dinners, etc...). Aside from that, I put everything I can from my personal expenses on Visa and pay it off as soon as I get home, because I have a General Motors Visa that gives me 3% towards my next vehicle. I never pay interest because I pay my debt off before it's due, and ended up with the maximum allowed $5,000 off of the vehicle I purchased last year.

Because I use my Visa so much for business, it maxes out the GM points I'm allowed to accumulate rather quickly. So, once I max out my GM Visa points, I start using my Aeroplan (Air Canada travel points) Visa so I start earning travel credits. Took the family to Disneyland last year pretty much for free.

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You can be young only once, but you can be immature for the rest of your life...

ForgottenKnight

If I purchase something with my credit card, it gets paid off right away, or at least within a few months. I'm very good with handling my money. Debt Free is the only way to be!!!

(That's as far a credit card debt goes.... College loans are in a whole different ballpark...)

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"People say I'm strange, does that make me a stranger?"

filtherton

My card has been nearly full since i had to use it to purchase books for school. My tax refund is going to help take care of that though.

Johnny Rotten

I was up to 3k at one point for a while, my card's limit, just paying off what I could to avoid "over the limit" fees, until I got a job that could allow me to pay the whole thing off in a few months. I shudder to think how much of what I paid was just interest--completely wasted money that did nothing more than to keep them off my backs until next month. I don't know how it got up that high, but it did, and it won't happen again. Debit cards for me from here on out.

Also, you often hear about how important it is to not live beyond your means, but often people leave out being tempted or persuaded by someone else. It's also very tempting when you're living hand-to-mouth every month, as I was when the debt started mounting.

Our consumer culture does not reward the cost-conscious. Rather, it bombards us with messages that make us feel guilty and self-conscious for not acquiring the latest cool things, for not "rewarding" or "indulging" ourselves. It makes us want to hide our budgetary struggles out of embarrassment, and tries and often succeeds in convincing us that most other people are steadily amassing material goods and we should too.

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"The idea that money doesn't buy you happiness is a lie put about by the rich, to stop the poor from killing them." -- Michael Caine

txd

I only ever spend what I can pay back straight away.

irseg

Either you're really friggin' rich, or don't intend to own a house!

Force 10

I guess it all depends on what you call debt. Most people carry a 100k plus debt on their home. As far as credit card debt goes, I have none. I do however have a 20k debt to a bank for the neato doodad truck I bought a few months ago. But even at the 4.25% low APR I have on it, it'll be paid off in less then a year.

Baldrick

Or they don't plan on putting their house on Visa...

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You can be young only once, but you can be immature for the rest of your life...

Cynthetiq

yes but HOUSE DEBT and CAR DEBT both are tangible liabilities attached to tangible assets.

Most people with credit card debt, have shit out the food they ate, finished the video game they bought, stopped wearing the clothes they bought because they aren't in fashion anymore, pissed out all the beer and drinks, or don't date the girl that they took on vacation.

I think you get where I'm going with this... It's one of the reasons that I don't believe in using credit cards for the sake of "stretching my lifestyle"

sailor

Ah, credit cards. As of yet, I have not chained myself into perpetual debt to some large company. At some point I will have to get one to work on some sort of credit record so that I can buy a car or house when I need to, but for the moment, I dont have a need to.

When I do, however, I will be putting very little on it, and paying it off at the end of every month. I hate owing people money, and I have seen too many people get into credit card debt trouble.

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"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

kulrblind

Our household debt is about 7k, but most of that is home-repair related (roof, floors, etc)... when you move into a place, you can't really save up for all the big items. And, often, a new roof won't let you save up to replace it

DDDDave

$40,000. balance

$100,000. available.

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I am just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe...

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Thoreau

"Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm" - Emerson

Yakk

0$. I use a credit card as a convienient method of autopayment of monthly bills. Pay for actual purchases with debit and/or cash and/or financing...

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

santafe5000

Debt Free. I pay off the balance each month. The largest card debt i ever had was $3500.00. Came into a sum of money from an old retirement account that i didn't even know about from a high school part time job. The company went out of business, so they had to distribute the accts. I used this to get debt free and have remained that way for the past 10 yrs. Damn good feeling.

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When all else fails, QUIT.

tfin

I owe my last year of college to the credit companys, thanks VISA! I hated doing it but I could only get 1/2 the needed money for college in student loans so my parents applied for the other half. That worked fine till my parents both got really good jobs. They decided to not get their half of the loan and just pay it out of pocket. Not a bad idea if you do it. They forgot to pay the bill all the time so it was either put thousands on the card or leave school. Well they would finally get around to paying me what the bill was, after 3 months of 21% intrest. So I was left trying to pay off everything else. Then I got one the slippery slope of spending, sort of. I used to have money in the bank so I did not have to use cards, well that all got used trying to pay the minimums till my parnets got around to their end of the deal. That all really pissed me off because when my brother left for college they set up an auto transfer, every Friday all his bills get paid and he gets extra "FUN" money. UGGG, well that is a different rant for later.

When I left college I was a total of $24k in debt, less than 2 years later I have almost 1/2 of that paid off. So that makes me happy.

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Did I mention that I can't spell or type?
Oh yeah, check out my car
www.cardomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=275916

Phaenx

I don't spend money I don't have, I've seen first hand what bad credit can do to you. I'd hate to be tied down financially with that kind of a liability.

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"I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

Paq

I have 4 cards with over $10,000 limits on each and a little $2K amazon.com card. I could easily sink myself if i ever got depressed and started maxing them out..

with that said, i've never carried a balance on one and i've never paid interest on one. I mainly use an Amex Blue card for the rewards points and pay the balance off. All my cc's have no annual fee, so they don't cost me anything.

Mainly, i like the monthly statement of my expenses and the fact i only have to touch my savings or checking once or twice a month to pay bills. I'd scream if i were in debt to a cc company. Seriously, you could probably mortgage your arm and pay it off at a lower interest rate than a credit card...I think all my cards currently have about 18% interest..one has 22%..I'm not going to buy something and end up paying 20% more..nono, that just seems insane to me.


With that said, i'm glad i don't have to live off the credit like some people i know.

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Live.

Chris

eyeronic

God damn I hate my credit card debt. It makes me reach for the mylanta just thinking about it. Oh crap...

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I hold with those that favor fire.

gar1976

Between the wife and I we have around $100k of purchasing power.

Usually have around 1k a month of living expenses on it and pay it off. Don't like using debit cards, and Discover gives us 1% back a year.

Averett

Me too

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Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

stevie667

i'm a debit card man myself, you know exactly how much money you have, and no need to pay of large interest sums.
can be a bit of a bummer when you have no extra strech to buy something cool, but on a student budget, it's probably all for the best

Blackthorn

This is really true for college students and its shameless of the credit card industry to stoop this low. They even set limits on the card they issue to a student but they don't enforce the limit at a point of sale. Instead the opt to charge interest and penalties every month you are over the limit. These types of credit card issuers (and you know who you are) are SHAMELESS!

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What are you willing to give up in order to get what you want?

losthellhound

$0

They gave me a credit card when I was 17 and had a part time job.. I mean come on.. I was making 6.00 an hour and they gave me a 1000 limit.. And when it got topped out thier solution was to give me two hundred dollars more in my limit.. They took it away from me a year later and Im still trying to rebuild my credit

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"Life is possible only with illusions. And so, the question for the science of mental health must become an absolutely new and revolutionary one, yet one that reflects the essence of the human condition: On what level of illusion does one live?"
-- Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

Bobaphat

I have about $3,500 in debt on a couple cards (down from around 8,000) and it kills me. I have been taking serious strides to try to pay it down and I have been pretty successful, but it sucks when you put down $100 in a month and you have $50 in finance charges. I wish I had never gotten these cards in college, but truth be told, they are what made it possible for me to go to school. Money was very tight with my folks and I worked through my entire college career, but it just wasn't enough. Those cards fed me and paid for my books. A necessary evil unfortunately.

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--size matters not-- yoda

Averett

That's what I hate. You think you're making a decent payment, and you see that the finance charge is nearly the same amount of the payment you just made. It's depressing.

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Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

losthellhound

Thats the game, that way when you make your minimum payment they can increase the debt.. lovely people

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"Life is possible only with illusions. And so, the question for the science of mental health must become an absolutely new and revolutionary one, yet one that reflects the essence of the human condition: On what level of illusion does one live?"
-- Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

Merlocke

Actually I saved myself from Credit Card Debt with a neat little tax trick (but it only works in Canada). Global Learning Systems or whatever they used to be called had an awesome way of doing it before. Too bad they're gone now though. The Gov't changed the law, so the company basically shut down.

I heard that there's another idea in the works though - but I don't think I will get info until around Sept-ish. No point until then anyway - since I can have my money earn interest while I wait for another tax shelter.

The only problem I have now - is that I'm going to be going into debt soon due to a wedding (my own). So much for financial freedom - although on the up side - I will get a house.

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-=[ Merlocke ]=-

yotta

I'm 19, and pay mine off every month. I make more per month then the limit, after taxes at my job, heh.

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I am Jack's signature.

Aletheia

I watch my GF's and my own CC debt very carefully (we share 2 card accounts). Usually we only use the CC with online purchases, then pay them off in a few months.

bltzkriegmcanon

Man, I'm behind the times. I really need a credit card to build that shit up. But I don't think I can afford one. Ah well. Such is the college life, I'll just keep using ye olde debit card.

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What do you say to one last showdown?
- Ocelot, Metal Gear Solid 3

The password is "Who are the Patriots?" and "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo." "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo." Gotcha.
- The Colonel and Snake, Metal Gear Solid 3

Spherion

Debt free baby!! But about a week ago or so had about $6,000 CC debt. Just paid it all off.

Averett

Shit, I've moved up a category

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Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

Yakk

Be careful. It is really easy to wallow in consumer debt.

I hope it was an "emergency" problem that pushed you over the edge. Even so, you have to budget for them...

Good luck getting back down a category. I'd say "keep at it", but that might be taken the wrong way.

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

Averett

Err... Would new undies be considered an emergency?

I just moved into an apartment a month ago and I've put quite a bit of stuff for it on my credit cards. I'm pretty well settled now so now it's just a matter of getting that debt back down.

Now it's just a matter of sticking to my budget.

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Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

Averett

Well, I just cut up 4 credit cards. Gap, Target, MBNA and Chase. That leaves me with two, Bank of America and Capital One. Those two have the lowest interest rates (0% for 6 months, and 8.9% respectively) and about $1,000 in available credit.

Time to work on paying things off, and not using my cards.

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Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

Yakk

Oh good! =)
It really depends.

...

No pun intended.

Ok, so I can say "keep at it" safely then.

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

Speed_Gibson

I completely agree with that. So many people are caught up in this "I want it RIGHT NOW" and "I have to keep up with everyone else" culture that they heap on debt that will take eons to pay off while acquiring frequently very empty or temporary returns.
My credit cards were not too bad until I moved and watched one of them slowly double while I was looking for work.

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Started talking to yourself I see.
Yes, it's the only way I can be certain of an intelligent conversation.

Black Adder

rat

my thoughts on non-essential debt (i.e., anything other than a house mortgage or car note*) run tandem with my thoughts on eating in restaurants.

if you can't afford to tip your waiter generously with the money** on hand when you walk in the door to the restaurant, regardless of what you order, you have no business eating there.

subsequently, if i can't afford to pay 20% interest on whatever I buy, with money I have immediately available to me, I have no business using my credit card. If I can afford to pay that 20% interest right away, then by all means I'll have the cash on me at the time of purchase.


*I consider a car note essential debt for two reasons: most of us don't have 10k in available assets (I'm 20) to just slap down cash for the automobile; it takes automobile transportation to commute to work in a reasonable amount of time for most of us.

**by money on hand, I mean cash (physical bills) or a debit card with no interest tied directly to a savings/checking account.

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