Maxed out credit

[the]

I think it's the way you are raised.

My parents never paid a penny in credit card debt in their life, and never had a car loan. If you only had $500 to buy a car, you bought a $500 car. Grandparents were the exact same.

My parents (now retired) were very successful with their small business. I doubt I can replicate their financial success.

A really funny thing was I had a credit card before they did! I got a credit card when I was in college (early 80s). It just came to me in the mail. Of course I didn't have a penny to my name. My parents, who were paying every penny of my tuition and expenses, then applied for a credit card . . . and were rejected!

But I've followed their financial habits. I've never paid a penny in credit card interest, always pay it off. We use a "cash back" card, so we actually make money by using it. Never had a car loan, either. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing there are things in my house or garage that aren't paid for.

[the]

Originally Posted by VaSteve

What on earth are the buying? Really, I wanna know....

[Wickd89]

Originally Posted by TGTIW

My wife and I put all our expenses on a credit card and pay it off monthly, with cash back rewards it gives us about $800 a year. However, we want to try something and I figured I would run it past the group here because it seems like there are a few financially intelligent people.

We have a second card with a limit of $25,000, that currently has a promotion for a year of 0% interest on balance transfers and cash advances. There is no fee for using a "convenience" check, so is it feasible to write ourselves a check, deposit it in our savings, earn the interest off the savings and pay back to the card throughout the year? I normally would never touch a convenience check, but I'm not seeing the downside here.

+1

Same here. WE pay off everything and charge as much as we can on the card. We get the mileage and this pays for our flights on vacation!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

As long as there aren't any catches it sounds like a plan. . . Then again, why screw with basic savings - I'd look at at least a CD.

I'd also make sure there aren't one of those "we reserve the right to raise your rate without notice at any time for any reason or no reason" clauses in there. I suspect banks/lenders are going to be getting desperate soon and try such tactics.

[Rick Lee]

I'm carrying a balance for the first time in many years this month. It's from the move, which was way more expensive than I had planned and my company didn't pay a dime for it. To add to the pain, my wife's wallet got stolen out of her car recently and she hasn't gotten her ATM card replaced yet. So I had to fund her car transport via cashier's check last week from DC to Phoenix. I could pay it all off, but with the wife's and my job situations kind of shaky at the moment, I don't want to deplete my cash reserves anymore with no assurance of it getting replenished quickly. Luckily, our monthly outlays here will be several hundred $$ less than they were in VA. I'm eating lunch at home every day, since I work at home now. We cook every night instead of going out and have just about everything we need. I haven't gone through 1/4 tank of gas in the car since I got here March 24th, since I can ride the bike everywhere now at 50 mpg. The ammo is getting expensive though.

[YTNUKLR]

just do not miss a payment, that is the typical reason they cite to jack up the rates.

CC for me are like tax refund checks. Wells Fargo (and others, probably) offers cash rebate checks as one of their "Rewards"..

[Rick Lee]

Honestly, I've made far more in cash back rebate checks than I'll ever pay in CC interest. And I have a free RT ticket to China coming from one of my other cards. So I'm not too worried. It's just a little jarring to be in a tight spot at the moment.

[HardDrive]

Finally finished watching this entire series.

Scary.

[RANDY P]

on ferrarichat there's a story about a 25 y/o that bought a Lambo ($115) on 9 credit cards...

what really crushed him is the car had a defective title - car got repo'd and he didn't have the money to even license the car, let alone get an attorney to rectify the situation.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=191248&page=66

all I can say is, wow.

[LeeH]

The real story is on page 2 of the 65 page thread. Reader's Digest version: Guy puts a large down payment on a lease, but says he needs title for the paperwork. Leasing company (duh) sends him an open title on good faith. Guy takes the car to a dealer with the title and sells it for cash then flees the country. This dealer sells it to another dealer. That dealer sells it to the poster. Leasing company figures out they've messed up and has the car picked up. Should be a fun one to sort out. The guy who bought the car sounds like he's a 14 year old.

[hardflex]

I just watched the whole series, too. Do I know people in these situations, most definitely, In all directions. The American Dream turning into a nightmare. My stepson ran his credit up first to run his business, then when his main customer bellied up and he couldn't find a job they were making house payments with Credit Cards. He's now found a good job (Engineering Graduate from Texas A&M) but the debt service must be monstrous. They say nonchalantly in the series that for every dollar of principal there are 2 dollars of fees.

[fintstone]

I don't see why there is any problem with having a lot of debt on credit cards...as long as you can make the payments. I have had $60K to $100K on credit cards and it has never really caused me any problems. I have about $40K on a card right now at 3.99% interest. It doesnt bother me in the least.

Like any loan...just don't borrow money that you do not have the ability to pay back.

[RANDY P]

Oh yeah, it can be cheap access to money, as long as it's for something useful.

Since it's easy to finance anything, foolish or not is where you get in trouble.

That Lambo kid - I'm just blown away. I've seen it done for like a $15K car (ex GF HAD to have a BMW convertible when she was 20) but $115K on a car - WOW!

rjp