View Poll Results: Do you typically pay off credit card debt at the end of the month?
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Yes - I typically pay off credit card(s) balances at the end of the month.
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214 |
91.06% |
No - I often have a balance on my credit card(s) balances and pay interest.
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13 |
5.53% |
N/A - I do not use credit cards for transactions or credit.
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8 |
3.40% |
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12-28-2008, 06:19 AM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 5,072
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Credit Card Debt
Do you typically pay off your credit cards at the end of the month or carry a balance and pay interest?
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12-28-2008, 06:28 AM
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#2
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 101
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I'm sure virtually everyone on this site pays off the card at the end of the month or doesn't use one.However if you have a big enough balance you may become eligible for a bail out here in Bizzaro world where bad is good and good is bad.
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12-28-2008, 07:42 AM
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#3
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 984
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Pay off monthly and charge everything I can to rewards cards (penfed mainly) just to capture the easy money. One thing I never understood was why people pay cash or use checks when they can make money with every transaction (as long as no balance is carried forward).
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12-28-2008, 07:50 AM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,901
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Surprise, surprise.
__________________
“I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said” Alan Greenspan
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12-28-2008, 08:04 AM
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#5
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,901
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I pay for everything with a credit card because: 1) it makes it easier to track all my transactions and 2) I get air miles for every dollar I spend and a free transatlantic ticket every 2-3 years. I always pay it off at the end of the month, off course.
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12-28-2008, 08:05 AM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,281
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We put nearly everything on CC and have for years. Why deny ourselves the convenience. Only get 1% back though (hmmm, maybe I should look for a better card.)
Like most everybody on this forum we always pay off every month. Have never carried over a balance.
(On the rare occasion the subject comes up we sometimes get funny looks when we tell people that - some people think that's "odd" - I even get funny looks sometimes from salesclerks when they say "debit or credit?" & I say "credit", like they think I'm one of those folks whose life is CC charged to the hilt - seems they expect most cards to be a debit card - don't know why that is)
__________________
Retired 2009!
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12-28-2008, 08:22 AM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,500
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Texarkandy
(On the rare occasion the subject comes up we sometimes get funny looks when we tell people that - some people think that's "odd" - I even get funny looks sometimes from salesclerks when they say "debit or credit?" & I say "credit", like they think I'm one of those folks whose life is CC charged to the hilt - seems they expect most cards to be a debit card - don't know why that is)
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Debit Mastercards like mine look just like a Mastercard. If a customer answers that question as "debit", then the fee is assessed to the customer instead of to the store. That is why they ask - - they probably make a few bucks for the store this way during the day.
My bank sent debit Mastercard owners a letter several years ago, telling us to insist on having it processed as "credit", since that is perfectly legal and I guess is the intent in creating these cards. In fact, at one point several years ago they sued Wal-Mart about their refusal to process debit Mastercard purchases as "credit", and we no longer have trouble doing that with a debit Mastercard.
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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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12-28-2008, 08:32 AM
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#8
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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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Looking at the results, you'd think this was a skewed sample or something...
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"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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12-28-2008, 08:34 AM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Central, Ohio, USA
Posts: 2,635
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PENFED paid off each and every month. Charge EVERYTHING to the card - current balance about $850 (expect about $20 "free" cash rebate credit too, for the month) for this month - will be direct debited from another PENFED account on or about 2/2/09- been doing it for years - basically automatic process.
__________________
Vietnam Veteran, CW4 USA, Retired 1979
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12-28-2008, 08:38 AM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,105
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaco
Do you typically pay off your credit cards at the end of the month or carry a balance and pay interest?
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What prompted the question?
++++
I don't write a check for any payment except taxes.
Everything is set up for automatically deducted or automatic payment.
__________________
Sometimes death is not as tragic as not knowing how to live. This man knew how to live--and how to make others glad they were living. - Jack Benny at Nat King Cole's funeral
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12-28-2008, 08:46 AM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,500
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At 35-0-1, I'd say your conclusion is correct! I am the "1" who doesn't use a CC.
Back when I needed one, right after my divorce and penniless but with a decent job, I couldn't get a CC. (Well, at least I couldn't get an unsecured CC without paying huge fees, amounting to over half of the ridiculously low CC limit)
Now, eleven years later and with credit scores in the 800's I could probably get one. I don't feel a need or desire for one at this point, though. So, I haven't got around to applying once again for my first credit card in my name only. The idea is such a huge turn-off to me.
Like Dex, all my regular bills are on automatic bill pay directly from my bank and I seldom write checks. My debit Mastercard is convenient for gas and online purchases. My bank refunds 100% of debit card purchases not authorized by me (and did so the one time that happened, back in 2001 - - that policy is written into the debit card contract small print).
__________________
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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12-28-2008, 09:12 AM
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#12
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: North-Central Illinois
Posts: 3,228
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I charge everything I can to my CC...for the rewards....and pay it off monthly.
Only exceptions to the rule:
1) Illinois' DMV doesn't accept CC's "live & in person" at their offices for driver's license renewals or for license plate renewals...cash or check only. They accept CC's by phone or online....but charge a service fee, and homey don't pay no fees!!!
2) I pay cash for coffee runs, and some snacks/meals at a few local eateries.
Other than that, very little actual cash passes hands here, and only 2 or 3 checks per year (2 to IL DMV )! I normally go to the bank around the 1st of the month, and draw out about $100, just to have on hand. Usually have some left at the end of the month.....right now about $50 left on hand for December!
That's quite a change from the way it was not too many years ago! I used my CC's to the extreme, and racked up $50-60K in CC debt, and paid just a little over the minimum due. Woke up one day to reality, and paid it all down in a period of about 2 years. Decided then and there, to NEVER carry a debt load again!!!
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12-28-2008, 09:20 AM
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#13
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,860
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Maybe we should ask "When was the last time you had a credit-card balance?" with one of the options being "never".
It's been almost 30 years since my last cc balance.
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Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
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12-28-2008, 09:21 AM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Central MS/Orange Beach, AL
Posts: 9,072
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lakedog
Pay off monthly and charge everything I can to rewards cards (penfed mainly) just to capture the easy money. One thing I never understood was why people pay cash or use checks when they can make money with every transaction (as long as no balance is carried forward).
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Ditto. Free money. At one time I charged everything to a GM card and racked up a lot of bucks toward a new car, but couldn't make myself buy one. I like buying one 1-2 years old while still under warranty. Great bargains out there.
So made the switch to Penfed. BTW, my c/c balance the last month or so has been greatly reduced with the lower gas prices. I had less than a qtr of a tank in my Trailblazer the other day and it cost just under $21 to fill up. Saw $1.29 at the pumps yesterday.
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Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.
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12-28-2008, 09:48 AM
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#15
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 380
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I do quite a bit of business w/Schwab, but never a CC because the payback was poor.
Well, they just offered me a deal I couldn't refuse, with a Schwab Visa(really MBNA) 2% back on everything, no foreign transaction fees. ( I think you have to be a Schwab Brokerage Cust. to get the deal.)
I was using an AE Blue card, because that what Costco takes. The 5% back on gas doesn't get the price of gas down at a regular station to Costco's gas price with the 1.5% back from AE. So, now the best deal is AE for everything at Costco, and Visa for everything else.
I do automatic bank payments on some stuff, but when the payee, like the phone co. will take a CC, then I charge it to get the rebate.
I've never paid CC interest except when some bill got lost in the mail in the days before e-billing.
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12-28-2008, 10:08 AM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,296
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i pay off my cc bills every month. But if I live to be in my 70's...well, I just might carry a balance.....
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There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
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12-28-2008, 10:19 AM
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#17
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 23,038
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We pay everything possible with our Amex card and then pay that off every month, primarily to take advantage of the rewards points. We have gotten a free digital SLR camera and good vacation discounts over the years. We are about to order a flat screen TV, which will also be free.
I don't think we have ever carried a balance for our daily lives. On the other hand, we have been stoozing for several years now, although I think the 0% offers are coming to an end, so we will have to pay them off this year. We currently have about $48k on the stooze cards. The money is in cd's that will mature before the 0% period terminates.
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Living an analog life in the Digital Age.
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12-28-2008, 11:00 AM
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#18
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 549
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I voted that I pay them off each month but as my DW is still gainfully employed, we are not of the same mind when it comes to credit.....and I know better than to attempt to convert her.....yet!!!
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12-28-2008, 11:24 AM
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#19
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,125
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Costco True Earnings card and getting some several hundred dollars back. Never pay interest or late fees or over the limit fees.
Also, having a good credit history keeps my insurance rates down.
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Angels danced on the day that you were born.
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12-28-2008, 11:27 AM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Denver, Colorado
Posts: 6,258
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We put everything we can on a CC. The exceptions are our Water and Energy bills -- each company charges $2-$3 for using a card and a check only cost 45 cents for the stamp.
We use the CC mainly for the convenience and, above all, because disputes are rarely settled properly with checks and never for cash transactions. Well... as I mentioned before, the $700 in rebates annually is a strong influence, I suppose.
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"It's tough to make predictions, especially when it involves the future." ~Attributed to many
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." ~(perhaps by) Yogi Berra
"Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge."~ Lau tzu
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