People must have more money than they say.

[Notmuchlonger]

Dont worry...we got Al Gore to come off the bench to save us all....oops wrong thread...

Lol

 

[podey]

I've told my daughter a few times that I always, always pay my full CC balance, and explain why I'm using the CC.

My dad did this with me. He has never had a balance from month to month, ever. In fact he has never had a single dollar in debt. Car, house, anything. He taught me to always pay off your bills every month, never spend more than you can afford and save like mad. I am very grateful for this lesson. He was able to retire @ 55 on a car salesman's salary because he was so financially prudent.

 

[Calgary_Girl]

We use our Visa to pay for almost everything to get cashback at the end of the year. I even pay some of our utility bills with it. Of course, we pay it off every month and have never paid a cent in interest charges!

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Is it possible to put some of a car purchase towards your credit card?

 

[smileydog]

Interesting frontline story on credit cards in America

FRONTLINE: video | PBS

 

[cocobird]

Yes, it's possible to charge part of a car purchase. I've done it twice. The two dealerships had a limit of $5000 for credit cards that give rebates.

I remember reading a long time ago in the Wall Street Journal that someone pulled out an American Express Card to buy a luxury sports car and it was accepted for full payment.

The trick is to get your best deal then ask about using the credit card.

 

[cantlogin]

If a car dealer allows you to use a credit card for the purchase then you KNOW you could have negotiated a lower price on the car.

 

[cocobird]

Not necessarily. We know for a fact when we back in to get the right key (they gave us one key that didn't work), the manager was grumbling about those people who stole the farm. He didn't realize that my husband had walked over and could overhear him.

Plus, when we showed off our new purchase, just about everyone we knew wanted to know how we got such a good price.

 

[packrat44]

I also use my cc for most every purchase. I use it for the same reasons that were posted above and pay it off every month. Our house is paid for and so are our 4 vehicles. We don't own any loans. So basically, we just need to pay off our cc and our utilities every month. I am usually in jeans and t-shirts or sweatshirts at the store and who knows, people might think that I am about to lose everything also. They should not worry about me and pay more attention to themselves.

Dreamer,

Either you are copying me or I copying you. We do the same, except utilities and insurance are on automatic pay from checking. Carry very little cash and writing a paper check is an extreme rarity.

 

[packrat44]

Dont worry...we got Al Gore to come off the bench to save us all....oops wrong thread...

Al called and said he can't come. He is too busy inventting the follow-up to the internet.

 

[clifp]

I use a CC for most every purchase, cash back plus easier financial tracking make it a no brainer. I used to have pity on my favorite Vietnamese noodle place and pay him cash instead, but when Amex/Costco starting giving 3% rebate for eating out, the card came out for him also.

Of course service and repair guys like to be paid in cash. (I am sure it is because they don't want to pay the merchant charge, and not because they are attempting to evade taxes cough, cough) So anytime I get a 5%+ cash discount I'll take advantage of it.

 

[prgsdw]

We use the VISA for a lot of things and pay it off monthly. Our rewards program is not cash back, but instead is a selection (pretty wide actually) of gift cards and trinkets. We exchange the rewards points for gift cards which works out great, for example, around the holidays. Hey, a $50 Best Buy card works just the same when it was paid for in cash or reward points.

 

[packrat44]

Have a nice day!
The truth about credit card debt - MSN Money

• 23.8% of American households have no credit cards at all -- no bank cards, no retail cards, nothing.
• Another 31.2% of the households the Fed surveyed paid off their most recent credit card bills in full.
• So together, the households that owed nothing on credit cards equaled 55% of the total.

Regarding CC use, apparently the folks on this forum are part of the silent majority. In most finacial areas we are in the minority.

 

[dumpster56]

They got enough for the fast food, the smokes, the liquor, the starbucks, twinkies, moon pies, and all sorts of junk food, but can't make the mortgage payment. There are lots of things that lots of people could do to scrimp and save, if they would just do it. When I was a kid, I remember when my folks got the farm...the first year was hard to make the payments, so we had little meat, lots of powdered milk, pinto beans cooked at home and not at taco bell, veggies from the garden. Two pair of basic Kmart jeans and 3-4 shirts were our clothes...the jeans were cut off the next summer for shorts. Too many people feel that their dignity would be hurt if they have to take those kinds of measures, so the keep pulling out the plastic for themselves and their hyper-consumptive kids.

Been there, know how to cook pinto beans, and not afraid to do it again if I had to.

I wonder, BTW, if you looked at a long term average, how many homes are foreclosed in an average year. I read on MSNBC that the forecast is 2 million this year, which would be about 2% of households, or about 3% of homes owned by the occupant.

R

Why thank you rambler, I see you are feeling better. My OP was just saying that I thought most americans had more money than the media says we have. You know all this economy doom and gloom stuff. By the way, Most people I know the young teachers that I work with these days here in North carolina, are in debt up to their eyeballs, all looking to tend bar paint houses anything to make extra money to pay the rent or mortgage, but then they all go out and spend a ton in the bars drinking and eating out while they tell me their sad money stories.

Newguy economics 101

If you need more money to pay the mortgage, get another job!

Heck if the illegals can work their you know what off so can a legal american citizen. Instead of standing or sitting on a bar stool drinking on a friday sat or weekday night, work BEHIND the bar and make money instead!

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Why thank you rambler, I see you are feeling better. My OP was just saying that I thought most americans had more money than the media says we have. You know all this economy doom and gloom stuff. By the way, Most people I know the young teachers that I work with these days here in North carolina, are in debt up to their eyeballs, all looking to tend bar paint houses anything to make extra money to pay the rent or mortgage, but then they all go out and spend a ton in the bars drinking and eating out while they tell me their sad money stories.

Newguy economics 101

If you need more money to pay the mortgage, get another job!

Heck if the illegals can work their you know what off so can a legal american citizen. Instead of standing or sitting on a bar stool drinking on a friday sat or weekday night, work BEHIND the bar and make money instead!

Either that or dont go into a field that is known for its crap pay.

 

[OAG]

Cash NOW is the best. $20.89 credit this month on my PENFED VISA bill this month. Waiting for cash/gift card at the end of the year or some other period seems a bit of a hassle but that is just MO.

 

[dumpster56]

Either that or dont go into a field that is known for its crap pay.

Hey I told these people get out now, go back to school do anything but to stay in teaching now is just dumb.

Not a snowballs chance in you know where would I start a teaching career now, especially in NON UNIONIZED north carolina!

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Hey I told these people get out now, go back to school do anything but to stay in teaching now is just dumb.

Not a snowballs chance in you know where would I start a teaching career now, especially in NON UNIONIZED north carolina!

Yep dont blame you. One of the underpaid jobs in the US.

 

[Rambler]

Why thank you rambler, I see you are feeling better. My OP was just saying that I thought most americans had more money than the media says we have. You know all this economy doom and gloom stuff. By the way, Most people I know the young teachers that I work with these days here in North carolina, are in debt up to their eyeballs, all looking to tend bar paint houses anything to make extra money to pay the rent or mortgage, but then they all go out and spend a ton in the bars drinking and eating out while they tell me their sad money stories.

Thanks, I am feeling better and going home in a few minutes.

Agreed, most have more more than the media says we have, but aren't necessarily using it properly....

There is too much doom and gloom on the news, and it causes collateral belt-tightening damage (people who can afford to spend become afraid and stop spending, making the economic death spiral even worse...more fodder for the media).

If you need more money to pay the mortgage, get another job!

Heck if the illegals can work their you know what off so can a legal american citizen. Instead of standing or sitting on a bar stool drinking on a friday sat or weekday night, work BEHIND the bar and make money instead!

Spot on the money.

R

 

[Milton]

Sometimes I do look around and wonder how people can afford everything they appear to have - then I realize it's just borrowed on cc's. Even people with the nicer homes, cars are/were leveraging their homes and cc's and now are having to cut back.

Oh yeah. See Debtor Nation**(July-August*2007).

 

[Milton]

Our house is paid for and so are our 4 vehicles.

Four?!

 

[Walt34]

Oh yeah. See Debtor Nation**(July-August*2007).

Interesting read. Some think it matters, some don't. All I know is, I have the gut feeling that "the piper will be paid" and I'm happy to be debt-free.