Just wondering...

I'm watching a new special on TV, so I'm curious...

Do you have CC debt? I mean, do you carry-over debt monthly?

I did at one time have over 18,000 in CC debt, but have since payed everything off and disposed of all but one (low balance) bank card. The best trick I had was transfering balances to 0% APR cards until the introductory period was up and then transfering them again, this had to have saved a fortune in interest charges and led to paying off the cards a lot earlier.


For any of the younger members here, spend wisely and don't get into debt in the first place. Once you dig that hole it is hard to get out of, I know from experience.

I'm in the same boat as Flyin' Lion. Was $45,000 in debt last summer and now completely in the black with lots of credit. But I'm also divorced and homeless.

Another tip is for you to keep an eye on those who have access to your CC's.

Wild

Closely approaching zero. The only thing on there now is this computer I'm typing on. The only thing I have used a card on recently is to order brewing books from amazon.com and that gets paid when it comes in. Was in a bit of a financial hole for a while right when my son was born, but the last year and a half has really turned around. I made a smart decision to stop using the cards and get the balances paid off.

And I've been using the same trick as Flyin' Lyon. The computer balance has almost no interest on it. Saves a ton.

I had trouble with debt in my earlier years- I had two little kids and not enough money to make ends meet. This kept me trapped in a terrible marriage for 16 years. My thinking was that if I was unable to keep afloat with TWO working people, that I'd starve if I became a single mom. I found an attorney who didn't charge me for the divorce, as long as he didn't have to go to court. I got the divorce and assumbed responsibility for almost all of the debt. In 5 years, I had it all paid off. I vowed to NEVER get into debt again, as I didn't ever what to be trapped financially in a bad situation. A few years after paying off all the debt, I now have a larger house and a new truck- all debt free. And a husband now who has the same financial goals as I do. I really did change my whole life by working so hard and staying disciplined. It's so worth it!

Now, I do use credit cards for convenience, but they are paid off each month. I never buy anything that I can't afford to buy and I take trips to the Bahamas every year.

Lorena

lorenae said:

I take trips to the Bahamas every year.

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... yet you're stangely lacking in bikini pictures...

No debt here - we pay off every month

Only a mortgage and a car payment. I did the CC thing 20+ years ago and now pay it off each month. If I don't have the $, I don't get it.

I have two CCs. One is locked away for "emergency use only" and the other one.....my favorite one, is almost paid off and ready to max out again. Its nothing much, it was my first one, and I never bothered to have to credit line increased. So its my beer stuff cc. 500 dollar credit line I max out on beer related toys, then paid off in a couple months only to maxx back out.

SWMBO is totally cool with me doing whatever the hell I want to with this. I just need to remember if I am going to get financed for something, I need to pay it off first completely. 500 is not much, but It shoots your revolving credit up through the roof.

So to answer the original question.....nope. no cc debt. Only debt I have left besides my mortgage is 6k left on my student loans and 3.5k left on my truck. almost done.

In a past lifetime I was in over $10K - it scared the Shat out of me so much that I don't trust myself with them any more. I've got two, but only use them enough to keep them active. I've also been known to turn down credit line increases as I know, deep down, I am not fully cured.

Not anymore. Praise be.

I once had some pretty high bills and was in over my head and spending more than I earned. Then I met a girl who helped me straighten everything out and get in the black. Now my wife, I generally let her make a lot of the decisions with our finance since I've proven to be unable to get my act together without her.

Then I discovered homebrewing.

Never been in debt besides the house and car payments. For some reason, never really charged up the credit cards when I was younger because, well, I didn't have any. Hell, just to get my first credit card back in 1986, I had to get my Dad to co-sign for it. This was American Express too. I needed one to try and establish some sort of credit rating. Lucky for me, all the years of drumming in different bands, I somehow managed to keep some coin in my pocket but at the same time, I payed all my college tuition and rent. But I was also raised by a "tight" Dad. He saved everywhere he could. He was the type of person that would drive 10 miles to save 1 cent per gallon on gas, even though his car may have gotten 12 miles to the gallon. He always said it was the "principle." Which as taken me a while to understand.
Even today, my wife has the same views of money as I do. We use a credit card, USAA mastercard that gives 1% back across the board (don't be fooled by Discover, they only give you cash back on certain amounts and at certain stores), for everything. I mean everything. Last year, I got 200 some dollars cash back. Hey, every little bit helps.

I am surprised to see less people with debt, than people without.

I'll be one of the ones with some debt- 2k, but my husband JUST got out the Marine Corps, and we used the majority of the CC on the drive from California to Florida. As soon as this one is paid off though- no more. I just noticed that last months finance charges were 20-30 $!

Cheesefood said:

I once had some pretty high bills and was in over my head and spending more than I earned. Then I met a girl who helped me straighten everything out and get in the black. Now my wife, I generally let her make a lot of the decisions with our finance since I've proven to be unable to get my act together without her.

Then I discovered homebrewing.

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My wife handles the money. I don't really spend all that much, but I'm not very good at keeping all the records. Plus, my eyes glaze over after 30 seconds of financial discussion.

SWMBO is actually quite good about it - so she's in charge. I just want basic updates.

rdwj said:

My wife handles the money. I don't really spend all that much, but I'm not very good at keeping all the records. Plus, my eyes glaze over after 30 seconds of financial discussion.

SWMBO is actually quite good about it - so she's in charge. I just want basic updates.

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Same boat here as well. We WERE debt free until last summer when i got a CC and had three weddings i was in, and a few other things and needed the extra cash for tux rentals and some other things. Could have paid cash but did not want to dip into the cash flow. I suppose i have about a grand on that card now. It is a zero % card for a few more months then i will pay alot of it off and transfer the remainder to a new 0%.

I actually carried over a CC balance one time in my life and it was a horrible feeling knowing the bank was going to finally get a piece of that interest. That was the year I bought my first house at age 21. I'm 30 now and the bank has never seen another cent of interest from me since then. The two cars in the household are paid off and we have more equity in the house than we owe. I'm gloating at this point, but I'm really proud of these accomplishments.

I do think my generation, as well as the new 20somethings, have a totally unrealistic sense of entitlement. "I don't really have the money for xyz, but I work my ass off and deserve it". Yeah OK. I participate in a home theater forum where I see folks financing 20k home theater systems. My motivation, besides financial freedom, is to prove that there is still some hope for genXers yet.

rdwj said:

I don't really spend all that much...

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How's the beer gun treating you?

I have a mortgage and a couple car payments and that's enough. I've been in the high interest CC boat before but now if I can't pay for it I don't buy it. I have a credit card but everything I purchase can be paid off when the bill comes.

nikkimac1027 said:

I am surprised to see less people with debt, than people without.

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I have a feeling many who are backed up hate to admit it. National trend doesn't represent our little graph here.

I don't have a credit card anymore, I gave up on using them and cancelled all my accounts a good while ago. At one point I had somewhere around $17-18 thousand on several cards and a loan (more if you count my car loan). I decided it was time to get my butt in shape in 2005, and starting out in 2007 I am entirely out of debt (excepting student loans that I'm still just doing minimum payments on that aren't due to be up until 2010 and 2012, but the interest is tax-deductible). Car's paid off, credit card debt is history, bank loan is history.

It feels pretty doggone good. I can now actually save some money, which is good since I need to be saving up for a wedding in 2008 - my own. :fro:

The last time I was in debt, except for a mortgage, was in 1978. Paid off the student loans 4 years early. I own everything I use; car, RV, house. I have one CC with a $1500 limit. It's been locked at that limit for 30 years, so it's buying power is about 1/10th of what it was, but it is handy for Internet.

As has been noted, a big part of that is waiting until I have the money to get something. Granted I've never been a single mother, but five cars in 38 years says much of it.

And USAA is a thing of beauty!

david_42 said:

And USAA is a thing of beauty!

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Care to elaborate? Do you mean the insurance rates or do they have excellent investment opportunities?

The reason I ask is I just sold my Jeep and cancelled my USAA insurance on it (all other vehicles are insured through SWMBO's agent). The USAA agent mentioned investments as well and I wondered if someone had success with these.

Just before I got married I was horrified with the $2500 of credit card debt I had . . . Then I found out about my wifes $30,000 worth (MESSY divorce and other unknown crap was paid for with it). . . I should have told her I wouldnt marry her until she took care of it but I was a retard and figured if I worked real hard at it I could get it taken care of. Well 5 years later even without putting anything else on the cards it was $40,000 and we had to declare bankruptcy.

Since that time we haven't had a single card and when we do get one again it will have a VERY low limit. SWMBO has also been informed that if it EVER happens again she'll be out on her ass.

We just got our's paid off. We keep a few around because it does help your credit score. But they get payed off. We are into delayed gratification nowdays.

desertBrew said:

I have a feeling many who are backed up hate to admit it. National trend doesn't represent our little graph here.

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..or HB'ers are smarter than average :rockin:

I called my bank and reported mine stolen so I could not use it. Very dangerous for me to have one, i never have cash in my pocket either without wanting to spend!

Unfortunately, with starting a new home based business and the looooonnnng lag time between paychecks, I've had to resort to equity and CC. I've been able to keep it around $30k but I'd just as soon have it gone. It really sucks being in debt to someone else for cash. Someone mentioned finance charges of $20-$20??? Try $400 -$500. If things go according to plan, I'll be back in the black by early 2008. If not, "Would you like fries with that Ma'am?"

Flyin' Lion said:

The USAA agent mentioned investments as well and I wondered if someone had success with these.

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I don't think thier investments are anything to speak all that highly of. Honestly, if you're going to do it yourself, stick with Vanguard and you'll generally do very well by yourself.

the_bird said:

I don't think thier investments are anything to speak all that highly of. Honestly, if you're going to do it yourself, stick with Vanguard and you'll generally do very well by yourself.

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I'm going to need to pick your brain a little Bird, as I need to invest in a 529 plan for Eliza. Does Vanguard offer those?

Yeah. Take a look-see at savingforcollege.com, it's a great resource for 529s. You don't need to pick a VA-specific plan, but there might be some state tax benefits to doing so (I don't know the answer for certain).

Take a look-see at this from Vanguard:

https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/accounttypes/college/ATS529OverviewContent.jsp

I gave up debt a few years ago, it made me feel icky so I stopped...

I was eyeball deep ( nobody else has touched the figure so far) a couple of years ago, thanks to having to meet a payroll, needing to eat, and the demise of a great American company thanks to the greed of it's executives. I know, it's always someone else's fault. Anyway, we refinanced a house we own and were able to pay most of it off, get the A.holes to quit calling/threatening us, and ended up with a far better interest rate. You couldn't give me another credit card. I'd be scared to finance an apple now. If I can't afford it now, I wait until I can before I get it. That was a hard lesson.

Damn companies still send me credit card applications.

I wish I did! I just recently got my first CC and I maxed it out 3 times in the first month, its only a 200 dollar limit, as soon as they extend me to over a Grand im gonna buy me a Jaguar...(of course I plan on paying it off)

Not having credit sucks ass and ive waitied a long time to get some so Im not gonna mess that up...

I was in debt a long time ago myself after a divorce.

I paid cash for my last 3 cars and paid off my house in 2 years 2 months!

Totally debt-free!

Got'er down to 200 bucks. That'll be paid soon. I never have had the balance go over 5 or 6 hundred, though. All of our vehicles are paid for, and I'm willing to drive junk to keep it that way. So our only real debt is our house and SWMBO's student loans from grad school.