View Poll Results: Are credit card charges the same as debt
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Yes, current credit card charges are the same as debt
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67 |
41.36% |
No, current credit card charges are not the same
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88 |
54.32% |
Another poll? Really? Too busy to answer
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7 |
4.32% |
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09-25-2016, 03:29 PM
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#61
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,299
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud
I would hate to be the one who looked at a checking account and did not consider any checks written against that account when deciding if you can write another....
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When I worked in the Fraud Section those people were my bread and butter.
One of them actually said to me "How can I be out of money? I still have checks!" And these people are allowed to have children....
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09-25-2016, 03:30 PM
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#62
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Florida's First Coast
Posts: 7,662
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt34
When I worked in the Fraud Section those people were my bread and butter.
One of them actually said to me "How can I be out of money? I still have checks!" And these people are allowed to have children....
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.... and vote!
__________________
"Never Argue With a Fool, Onlookers May Not Be Able To Tell the Difference." - Mark Twain
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09-25-2016, 03:37 PM
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#63
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,472
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frayne
We need a splitting hair emoji for this thread.
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Here's another hair to split. Be patient with me because I am a credit card newbie!
I figured that since my credit card bill was paid in full by automatic bank deduction on the 15th, and since I hadn't charged anything since that date, I most definitely had no debt!
BUT - - it just occurred to me that what the credit card company paid itself from my bank account on the 15th didn't include everything up to that very date; it is a month behind, because that's how they do it, and stuff that I charged shortly before September 15th will be paid on October 15th.
So, even though it is automatically paid in full, I would still have debt unless I had charged nothing since August 15th.
If that's not splitting hairs, I don't know what it is but there you go.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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09-25-2016, 03:39 PM
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#64
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 8,368
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If your doctor tells you you have a month to live....are you dead now, or when the month's grace period is up?
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"Exit, pursued by a bear."
The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare
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09-25-2016, 03:41 PM
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#65
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 11,401
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Statistics show that your doctor is probably wrong. So go ahead and get working on the bucket list.
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09-25-2016, 03:52 PM
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#66
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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Yes *and* no. Yes it is debt strictly speaking. But when used responsibly by someone who has the means AND discipline to pay it off in full each month, it isn't toxic, wealth-destroying debt.
That said, I (and I suspect many here) know how much they are charging and at least mentally considering that money already spent. In other words, if I had $4,000 in checking and I charged $800 so far in the month, I think of myself as having $3,200 available in checking.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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09-25-2016, 03:56 PM
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#67
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 11,401
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ziggy29
Yes *and* no. Yes it is debt strictly speaking. But when used responsibly by someone who has the means AND discipline to pay it off in full each month, it isn't toxic, wealth-destroying debt.
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I'm glad you agree that it is debt, strictly speaking. In accounting, strictly speaking is the way to go. No judgments on good or evil are required.
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09-25-2016, 04:03 PM
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#68
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,003
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadbh
No judgments on good or evil are required.
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Unlike this thread.
__________________
Numbers is hard
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09-25-2016, 04:05 PM
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#69
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 748
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I guess what this thread has boiled down to, is it depends on how the person reports it
Personally I don't consider my impending credit card payment debt as I don't count my current checking account balance in my net worth, as it pays the current household bills (including CC bill). So it is a wash, now my Crapcast bill is paid ahead so I guess they owe me money. Even if it is my own
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I don't want to spend my entire life at work. I deserve more. - Want2retire aka W2R
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09-25-2016, 04:07 PM
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#70
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadbh
I'm glad you agree that it is debt, strictly speaking. In accounting, strictly speaking is the way to go. No judgments on good or evil are required.
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True. But personal finance, with the possible exception of tax preparation, doesn't require strict accounting or GAAP. If it were an accounting, yes, any debt, even that which is paid off in full each month and accuring no ancillary interest charges, is a liability on the balance sheet.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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09-25-2016, 04:13 PM
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#71
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gone traveling
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 994
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.
Am I in debt to a store between the time I put the items in my basket in the aisles and the check-out register ??
I consider my cc statement the final check-out register.
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09-25-2016, 04:33 PM
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#72
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 11,401
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ziggy29
True. But personal finance, with the possible exception of tax preparation, doesn't require strict accounting or GAAP. If it were an accounting, yes, any debt, even that which is paid off in full each month and accuring no ancillary interest charges, is a liability on the balance sheet.
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Let's say you go grocery shopping on Friday and and spend $200 on food for a party on Saturday night. By Sunday morning the groceries have been consumed. Are you liable for paying the grocery store bill? Do you owe the grocer money? Are you in debt to the grocer? You betcha!
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09-25-2016, 04:44 PM
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#73
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,543
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We all may be right to a certain degree. This what I remember from my working days. There are two accounting types - accrual basis and cash basis. Most businesses are accrual basis, one that recognizes expenses at the time of purchase. So any expenses not paid at the time of purchase are liabilities until they are paid.
Cash basis recognizes expenses at the time of payment. So I can see where one can consider credit card balances as not being debt if the total balance is paid by the due date.
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09-25-2016, 04:50 PM
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#74
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,003
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__________________
Numbers is hard
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09-25-2016, 04:52 PM
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#75
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,594
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If I entered each credit card charge immediately into QuickBooks and then generated a personal balance sheet, the accumulated unpaid credit card balance would reduce net worth and appear as an unsecured debt. However, since I don't do this and pay off the card each month, I never generate a statement where credit card charges appear as a 'debt'.
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09-25-2016, 04:55 PM
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#76
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadbh
Let's say you go grocery shopping on Friday and and spend $200 on food for a party on Saturday night. By Sunday morning the groceries have been consumed. Are you liable for paying the grocery store bill? Do you owe the grocer money? Are you in debt to the grocer? You betcha!
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Actually if you charges the groceries, the grocer doesn't care; he/she has been paid anyway. It's the credit card issuer that owns the debt. (Most grocers won't "put it on your tab" and as far as they are concerned using a credit card is payment in full at the time of the sale.)
Still, I see what you are saying. I just don't think that personal finance needs to follow the same stringent standards as businesses filing tax documents or preparing balance sheets for shareholders. In other words, I think there is more wiggle room in terms of how the accounting is done. There can be colossally bad accounting, such as ignoring that the debt is an unpaid liability in the future, but beyond that they aren't really the same IMO.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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09-25-2016, 05:11 PM
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#77
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 1,688
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mpeirce
Lemme get this straight.
I pay for your dinner and you promise to pay me back for it in 30 days. And you think you are not indebted to me?
It's debt.
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This. I have to pay it, therefore it is a debt and this remains true even if I pay off the card balance in full each month.
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Budgeting is a skill practised by people who are bad at politics.
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09-25-2016, 05:14 PM
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#78
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 381
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I treat credit cards as if they were cash. It's just that the cash gets spent a few weeks later and I get some benefits from delaying the payment. It is true that the credit industry considers any balance to be debt, as technically it is - you owe it to the credit card company - but from my perspective it's just shuffling cash from one bucket to another.
__________________
Steve
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Poll: Are current credit card charges debt?
09-25-2016, 05:52 PM
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#79
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,660
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Poll: Are current credit card charges debt?
It might be debt but it is not an expense so I do not account for it as anything but a cash flow tool.
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09-25-2016, 06:00 PM
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#80
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 2,857
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It's debt and effects net worth. But you need to look at the flip side. You have cash put aside to pay the debt. Assuming incoming cash comes in at the same rate debt is accumulated (or charged in this case), then the effect on net worth is zero.
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Eat, Drink and Be Merry.
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