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3rd Trimester
anvloveskme
member
Just paid off a credit card!
anvloveskme
member
Woo hoo!!! After all the money we have dropped on baby gear, I am happy that we were still able to do so!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Just paid off a credit card!
Carter Robert 7.18.08 | Brynn Sophia 5.24.10 | Reid Joseph 9.10.12 | Emerson Mae 1.27.14
...?
If it were the norm, credit cards would be out of business, wouldn't need to be regulated, and wouldn't be making as much money as they do.
Really? Credit card companies are NOTORIOUS for shady business practices. The CARD Act only scratches the surface in providing some protection/regulation for consumers. You should really educate yourself if you don't understand why there's a need for this. A lot of people have been subjected to unfair practices (e.g., raising your interest rate for no reason and with no warning) for a long time.
If the norm was to pay off debt at the end of every month we wouldn't have so many people in debt. And unless you live under a rock you know that tons are in debt right now. I think I read somewhere that the average credit card debt for Americans is $8,000. Your post came off bad.
Wow- you must have never had a debt in your life based on this convo...credit cards are evil and they suck you in and then change their interest rates.
Good for you to the OP though! I did this a few years ago right before we got married- great feeling!!
Mommy to J: Born 5/11/2010 & B: Born 8/26/2013
Unfortunately, having a credit card is almost a necessity in this country(e.g., you need one for hotel incidentals, car rentals, etc; good for establishing credit) so, you pretty much have to play the game. And not playing the game would be equivalent to not having any credit cards, not living within your means and not carrying a balance. Lots of people with excellent credit and who don't carry balances have been screwed over by card companies. It seems like you're saying you'd be okay if your card decided to charge a hefty annual fee, or mandated that you charge a certain amount a year, or decided to just close your card for no reason. By your logic, I don't play the game and yet I'm still crying foul. Blind trust is never a good thing. Especially when even folks in the best financial shape understand how corrupt some card companies have been.
I know where you are coming from. I too came from a family who paid the credit card off in full every month. So I never thought about the idea of carrying a balance. My DH came from a family who always carried a balance. Now I control the money and he too understands why we will not carry credit card debt each month.
I just think people have different backgrounds and spending habits.
I don't think the issue was whether or not you pay off your credit cards in full every month...it was how mrstarawalsh phrased her response to the OP. It came across as a bit condescending to any people who may be carrying balances and naive in the sense that she doesn't understand the debt situation of the country as a whole. It IS better to not carry a balance, but some emergency situations may call for it, and credit card companies have been known to take advantage of consumers who both carry a balance and those who don't.
It doesn't seem like you get it from this response. I don't wish any harm on anyone as I'm really just trying to make a point, but say your source of income was taken away somehow. Say there were resulting medical bills that exceeded what you had in an emergency fund. What would you do? You'd probably turn to some family/friends to help you. Say you didn't have these family/friends. What would you do then?
It's really not as black-and-white as your post suggests you believe it to be. Sure, there are some people who aren't financially responsible and spend to their heart's content on their cards. But that's certainly not everybody who is in financial trouble these days. And the thing is, once you've got credit card debt, it is very difficult to get out. So in an ideal world, people would pay off their cc balances every month. But in reality, some people aren't able to, even if they are financially responsible but hit hard times financially. ::jumping off soapbox now::
Which I don't see why someone would put that on a credit card in the first place...
Um, just forget it. The medical bills were an example of an emergency situation where you may not have money for anything else (and thus may potentially turn to credit cards to meet your basic needs and not have the money to pay them off right away). But financial emergencies seem to be too much of a stretch for you to imagine, so continue blissfully as you were.
FYI, retailers pay credit card companies a fee of 1-2% (depending on the card) for every purchase, so even if no one carried a debt, they would still make plenty of money.
Not everyone was raised to have these values. I was, and I get it (the only debt DH and I carry is the mortgage, which we have double payments on and will have paid off in 5 years, we both worked our way through university and graduated with no student loans, we buy cars in cash etc.).
I strongly feel they should teach budgeting in school, since most parents don't talk about money with their children (embarassment? shame?) and I find that most adults don't know the basics about finance.
You can't blame the Big Bad Credit Card Company for doing business and you have to take responsibility. If they raise the interest rate (which you would know about if you looked at your monthly statement), you can call and have them change it back, and in fact, have it reduced to less than it was before. The companies make money off of you because they know most people won't bother to check the rates and won't bother to call, and how is that their fault, really?
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10