Credit Card Debt
 

How much credit card debt do you have? Does it stress you out? What are you doing to solve it?

Me, I've got about $12,000 in credit card debt. It freaks me out, but I'm with Ameridebt and hopefully I'll have it all paid off in about 4-5 years. That's right 4-5 YEARS!

It felt so good to cut up my cards...

Money in general is a huge stressor in my life, the cause of panic attacks and sometimes seizures.. If I could I would do away with money's existance and create a better way of distributing what people own to them :p

On second thought, that might be worse ;)

I currently have about $4000 on my cc but every month I pay it down to $0 so it never costs a dime. I hate financial institutions but if I can use them for my convienience without haveing to pay I do.

credit card debt free....

But I didn't get a card untill I was 21
If I had been younger,I would probably be screwed now.
They need a older age limit on those things.

cut all of mine up about ten years ago.
The damn things are a scam and in the long run will drag you down.
If you can't afford it you probably shouldn't buy it.
the interest rates they charge should be illegal and they try to sucker in people they know won't pay on time since they make a lot of money from late fees.
Avoid the damn things if you can.

I freak if we carry a balance but sometimes it's unavoidable - for example, when my brother died we could have taken the $ for plane tix and hotels and stuff out of savings, but I didn't want to dip in so we just put it on a cc and paid it off within a few months. I try to keep a tally of what's on the cc and mentally subtract it from our bank balance so we don't spend money we don't have.

ooh... Credit cards for the MILES!!!!!! pay them off at the end of the month.. feels silly to buy a stick of gum on a credit card... but :) it's miles :) that's what's paying for the honeymoon flight :) w00t!

Debit card, so no credit card debt for me. I don't like the idea of buying something with money I don't have. I'm hoping my student loans with be my last debts, but I know that won't happen with mortgages and cars in the future.

studen loans, mortgage, car = good debt er worthwhile debt according to all finance people

I got a CC to start creating some credit (never had any before), and it's a bare minimum limit card, and with school I've kept it close to it's limit. Just waiting for tuition to be payed off, and will have it back to zero before christmas (assuming all goes well), and will leave it that way.

I don't like being in debt, have done everything I can to avoid student loans and so far am on the right track with that! Only debt I really plan to incur in the future would be home and maybe a car, but I don't even like the idea of being in debt on my auto.

Some of my friends wonder why I don't have nearly as much as they do, but then I listen to them complain about the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars of debt they have and smile about the fact that I might be broke, but that's it, just broke, I don't really owe anyone money.

I activated my student visa last week so i could buy some birthday stuff for myself (my dad will reimburse me and it's help start building my credit history). I'll never charge more than I can already afford to pay off.

Been debt-free for a few yewars now. It's the only way to fly.

That's what I said too.. Oops :(

College and credit cards don't mix at all.

Debt free and I plan on staying that way.

Anything purchased gets paid off.

The credit card industry is evil and corrupt. They encourage you to go into debt, especially college students who aren't financially savvy yet... they offer cards freely to people with questionable credit.... and then yelp when people default and ask Congress to enact new federal bankruptcy laws that will make it easier to get their money back.... because they're too greedy to be good, cautious businessmen.

It wasn't like this 20 years ago; credit was hard to get then. But the banks have gotten addicted to the high-interest cash flow, and they want MORE MORE MORE. Tell you, if the economy crashes, big financial institutions are going to fall hard ... because so many of them rely on the outrageous returns from credit cards.

Rant over. Myself, never had a credit card, just an Amex charge card that had to be paid off monthly. Rarely use even that anymore, now that we've got debit cards. No car debt, paid off the mortgage, paying cash for college. It took a long time to get here, but now that I'm a little older and not as employable as I once was, it's a good place to be.

i only use my creditcard to by dvds online, so no debts here. i like my freedom.

i´ve got a fair $3k debt.
i got a credit card for emergencies when i went to Africa ... i should have gotten rid of it upon touch down back in Sydney ... but i didn´t, so it just got easy to get into a lttle bit of debt.

of course the bank doesn´t want to clear the debt... whatever... one day...

I wouldn't reallt call mine debt because I pay it off every month. Been there, played that game, not playing again.

I was over $20,000 in debt at one point. I mean they give a 19 year old a $10,000 limit card and think I'm not going to go out and party my ass off every night. I know its not completely their fault but the Credit Card Companies sure know how to play the game...

It's just so easy to get over your head. You think "Well, I'll just put these books on my credit card." It just adds up. I only wish I had cut up my cards sooner.



Somebody else has to have more CC debt than me!!! I'm feeling lonely in debt hell :(

well, i used to have more than you. but i paid some of it off with savings and my parents helped me out with the rest (although i'm paying htem back now, but at no interest). it's really a horrible thing. you get the cards, you go crazy, and as a student you then realize that your not making enough to pay them off and pay for what is essential. so you pay for of the essentials on the card while sending money to the card, but it keeps getting higher and higher and oh my... i hate cc's with a passion now.

5 Thousand dollars in debt...And what do I have to show for it...

1) Put a Kick ass system in my car. Was it worth it? Music is something that I can't live without...So ya, I guess so.

2) My computer monitor. I was sick of the monitor I got when I bought my computer...So I upgraded.

3) Thermaltake Case, For the new computer I am gonna build.
The rest of the computer I am gonna pay with cash.

There was some other stuff that I bought, Also some repairs to my car when they needed to be done.

Alot of the stuff I charged to my credit card were material things...And I regret buying some of the stuff that I bought with it, But for the most part..I am pretty happy with what I have got.

I only owe money to my credit card company..That's it, So once I get it paid off or even brought down to maybe 2 thousand or so..I can start saving some serious money.

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I find it funny how some people blame credit card companies and banks for your debts.. If you got yourself into debt, it's your own fault. Banks never forced you to buy anything or even to get a credit card.. All you need is a minimum of self-control.

Anyway, as for me, I use my credit card mostly for online purchases. I also never buy anything unless I'm sure I'll be able everything quickly.

I completley blame myself.

I started out with one card, and I kept up with it. Then I bought my computer on it. A few plane tickets.... Went down hill from there.

Then I got a 2nd card. That card quickly reached its limit. I decided to open a 3rd card, and transfer the balences of those other cards. I did that, and stuipdly kept the 2 other cards open. And I still used them. Defeated the purpose.

I'm paying for my lack of self-control and horrible financial decisions.

I pay my bill off every month, so I don't have anything to worry about. Credit Card companies hate me :)

We're currently working on paying down about $3,000 in debt. Both of our vehicles ran into problems at the same time. I bought crap I didn't need. However, things are now settled down. I'm slowly working on repaying the kids for money borrowed from their accounts while also putting a limit on my spending. I'm currently keeping $25 from each check I get and saving for stuff I want. No more charging stuff I want but don't need. I'll be debt free by 2033! Of course, I'll be 71 at that time, but, hey, at least I'll be debt free! :D

The more I owe other people, the less I respect myself. So aside from family members, to whom I already owe more than I will ever be able to repay, I try extremely hard (sometimes to the point of absurdity, I'll admit) never to owe anyone anything.

You're talking about 18-year-olds.

I don't have a credit card. I wouldn't trust myself with one.

Credit card debt is really really bad and it can screw you for a long time.

About $1K. I need to just go ahead and pay it all off.

because we have a new forum

*bump*

I put a bunch of my living expenses on my CC's every month and then pay it off right away to help keep boosting my credit score, but aside from that I don't carry any debt.

Credit card debt doesn't bother me that much. Right now I probably have $9000 in credit card debt but $6000 of it is from two recent purchases where I took advantage of the zero interest for 12/24 months and they will be paid off before that time frame is over.

The rest were from some other big purchases over Xmas which I will pay off shortly.

I always always always pay off my balances at the end of the month. I just sort of live by the rule where if I can't pay for it in full right now, then I don't buy it.

Of course, this is only cause I'm young and don't have much in terms of assets, so I know that will have to change, but I figure I'll still keep paying off credit card bills every month. It just seems surprising sometimes when people my age don't have common sense and think credit cards are magic.

I've managed to shed about five grand in credit card debt in the last two years. Man it feels great when you get that statement that says you owe like $.62 :)

Of course - the student loan payments are kicking in full swing... at least i was able to get rid of one before i had to start the other..

I pay with a credit card just about everywhere for the miles, as someone mentioned above. I do pay it off every month, though.

The CC companies keep upping my limit, too. I think they think that if I see a huge 5 or 6 figure limit that some day I'll hit Rodeo drive or something and go nuts.

Same here, I have kept my credit card paid off at all times in the two years I have had it. It's funny when people tell me I can afford all kinds of stuff that I don't have, but I also have the freedom of not being chained to a large debt every month, and not wasting money on interest.