What is your acceptable credit card debt?

[AngryHatter]

$1,283,489.83
Last month's statement.

$19 minimum payment.
Projected payoff date @9% interest - 2247.

Right on schedule!

[Engel]

I have a 500$ credit card. I only use it if I already have the funds to pay it off. My credit score is somewhere between 730-750 depending on which agency you ask. I refuse to get thousands of dollars in debt. It's just a bad idea, period.

[KP]

Zero. The only reason I use it is because I get 3% back on all gasoline purchases, 2% on hotel and resturants and 1% on everything else. It is paid in full every month.

[diceman]

Originally Posted by a Mad Cow

This country robbed you. That number makes me SICK.

I quite like my home, education, law practice, car, wife's car, and guitar arsenal.

Servicing that debt is better than the alternative - even if it isn't ideal.

And, it isn't like I have nothing to show for it...

About $150k is education. $40k in cars. $170k in business loans. $180k is my home. $10k in misc.

[coldsteal2]

I have a Dell computer account, and car loan, thats about it
i dont really use credit cards anymore even though i have a couple
for backup, but they are only $500 cards.


I paid as i went through college, so i never had a college
loan to pay back.

[diceman]

Originally Posted by a Mad Cow

Nope, don't think he's stupid, in fact very intelligent, but I think this country blinded him, just like it's blinding you.

When you think it's "the norm" to pay a million dollars to go to school, then we as a society have serious ass issues.

(ps. this is the assumption his student loan is 550k, but it could very well partially be other things)

Yes, it is mostly other things...

$150k is a lot - but I was borrowing my way through school and supporting my wife and kids (well, my wife worked, but a single income barely covered rent).

[diceman]

Originally Posted by a Mad Cow

Or they can take you to court and garnish your wages..

If it's 20k+ you better believe they will..

Agreed - they absolutely will.

They can only garnish your wages which are over a certain amount - although your tax return is always fair game.

Filing bankruptcy isn't as easy as it used to be - but it is still your best option.

(not with student loans)

[diceman]

Originally Posted by lucidspoon

My college education (private) was $120,000. I got out with only about $20,000 in loans. My wife (same school + another couple years of nursing school) ended up with about $60,000. Either way at like 2% interest, who cares? I had her take out as much as she could, since we were saving for a house at the time. There's another $160,000 worth of debt, and that's in a REALLY cheap location. But again, with 4.25% interest, that's cheap money.

Back to the actual topic of credit card debt... I took on quite a bit (about $10,000) when my wife and I got married. Got that paid off within a year or two and kept them all paid off every month. After buying our house, I got a 0% card and I've charged about $6000 to it. Sometimes I don't like the idea of owing that much, but then I realize all the other things that have gotten paid off in that time and how much I saved on interest from that.

My student loans are between 6 and 9% - which is bullshit.

The reason I had $30k in credit card debt was that I got a better interest rate w/ the cards then I was getting with Federal student loans.

[AngryHatter]

Originally Posted by diceman

I quite like my home, education, law practice, car, wife's car, and guitar arsenal.

Servicing that debt is better than the alternative - even if it isn't ideal.

And, it isn't like I have nothing to show for it...

About $150k is education. $40k in cars. $170k in business loans. $180k is my home. $10k in misc.

$200k in Fenders.
Go ahead and tell me I am wrong.

[AngryHatter]

I will also wipe out my social security as well as the next three generations if only to give NeoCon a well deserved heartattack when they present him with the bill.
I plan on spending my grandchildren's money, if possible.

[diceman]

Originally Posted by AngryHatter

$200k in Fenders.
Go ahead and tell me I am wrong.

I wish! All I have left are maybe... $3,500 in Fenders. I sold a good $5,500 in Fenders just before/after relocating my family to help cover those costs...

[lunchbox]

My ideal: $0.00.

Had a BofA card with about $2000.00 on it. Payed it off in full and cancelled it about 3 years ago.

Still have a Citi card balance. It had around $5000.00 on it. I cancelled it and have about $1100.00 left to pay. I've never missed a payment and pay at least 2x the minimum.

Now my credit is shot. (Like I really give a crap). :-)



Just an FYI:

Credit card companies refer to people that always pay minimum+ on time or pay off the balances at the end of the month as 'deadbeats'.

They refer to people that are always behind and collecting late fees and such as 'customers'.

[diceman]

Originally Posted by lunchbox

....

Just an FYI:

Credit card companies refer to people that always pay minimum+ on time or pay off the balances at the end of the month as 'deadbeats'.

They refer to people that are always behind and collecting late fees and such as 'customers'.

True. I'm at 7.8% (most I've ever paid in 12 years...). They jacked me up from a promotional 1.9% with a "guaranteed" 5% following the promotion (in 10 years with that card, I'd never been over 6% - and got promotional rates every couple of years) to something outrageous a couple of years ago when that credit crunch hit - 20% or something like that - having NEVER had a late payment. I had to close the card and negotiate a "payoff APR." You'd think that after more than a decade, that I would be considered a good customer. I'd had balances up to $10k early on, paid minimum payments for a long time, then paid it off, then had a balance up over $30k, kept paying minimum payments... they took a lot of interest off of me over a decade.

It isn't MY fault that credit card companies made a bunch of unsecured loans to high risk borrowers... They sure wanted me to make up for their poor lending decisions when the jacked up my interest rate by 400% of what it had been at. Had they kept me at 6% or so (hell, under 8%, really), I would have paid them interest forever and ever and ever on a substantial balance, most likely. At this point, my #1 financial goal is to pay them off and never give them another penny.

[Leumas]

Originally Posted by rcole_sooner

I don't like the debit cards, because they are "real" cash. If my number gets swiped/stolen, then I am out real money, until it gets returned. With a credit card, usually (and in my case it is) on another bank, there is a buffer.

I agree 100% on this. Just made this exact point in another thread recently, it didn't go well for some reason.

[nauc]

i pay cash. if i cant, i do without

[Thundergod]

Originally Posted by diceman

I'm down to $26k from $33k 1.5 years ago.

When you're $550,000 in debt - it just doesn't matter.

When you are above 500k in debt they automaticlly call to offer you more credit and every other card sends you free membership.

True story.

I'm down to 10K and losing almost no sleep over it.

[deepblue]

My ex g/f had a Visa card. She maxed the card out at her $1000 limit. When she found it hard making payments, Visa upped her friggin limit!....she maxed it out again!
Visa KNOWS you are in over your head, so they tie blocks to your legs to make it next to impossible to clear yourself. It's like leaving a needle full of heroin next to a junkie and telling them not to touch it!

True, people must be responsible for their actions, but credit card companies know exactly what they are doing.

[Chilli]

Pay it all off every month.

Remember kids, money... you can only spend it ONCE. Using credit cards to spend what

you don't have is swallowing the bankerwankers bait, then they can bend you over and

do what they want. Thats how they got so rich and powerful.

[JMV]

Originally Posted by diceman

I quite like my home, education, law practice, car, wife's car, and guitar arsenal.

Servicing that debt is better than the alternative - even if it isn't ideal.

And, it isn't like I have nothing to show for it...

About $150k is education. $40k in cars. $170k in business loans. $180k is my home. $10k in misc.

No, Dice. You were robbed. Stop being blind.

[Engel]

Wow Dice, that's quite a bit of debt from my perspective. Much much more than I would be comfortable with.

[diceman]

Originally Posted by Engel

Wow Dice, that's quite a bit of debt from my perspective. Much much more than I would be comfortable with.

It takes some guts and some risk to get places.

Going back to college with a wife and 2 kids isn't easy - I could have just gone the "prior military some college no marketable skill set" route, or I could buckle down, borrow some money, and finish my BA and go to law school. That was $150k. Not too outlandish.

Then, I could have gone and worked for someone at a meager wage, or I could make almost twice the money if I owned an established law practice - $170k to buy a business (including a $50k line of credit to get started) - again, not too crazy.

My wife and I drove shit cars for many years while I was in college - now that I have an actual income and a business which is in the black, I bought myself a "company car" through the business, and my wife a nice 3 year old Honda CRV. Fairly reasonable I think.

Then the $180k home... I have paid in rent the past 5 years the same amount as I pay on my mortgage. Its a wash - and I'll have something to show for it in 30 years.

Acceptable debt is a relative thing. If I had $550k in debt, a GED, and no assets to show for it - that is one thing. The home and vehicles are a "wash" - I can sell them for what I owe. The $150k in student debt to be an attorney as opposed to a college dropout with veteran status isn't a bad deal.

I feel like I'm living the American dream... If you want it bad enough and will put in the effort - you can do anything. And, if you are responsible and credit worthy, you can get the financial backing to make your goals attainable, be it home ownership, a business, an education, or all of the above.

[nuance97]

I pay balance in full each month.

[jonny]

Just curious, does the "no credit= bad credit" deal apply in Canada? cus I was kinda hoping to never have a credit card.

[a Mad Cow]

Originally Posted by diceman

I quite like my home, education, law practice, car, wife's car, and guitar arsenal.

Servicing that debt is better than the alternative - even if it isn't ideal.

And, it isn't like I have nothing to show for it...

About $150k is education. $40k in cars. $170k in business loans. $180k is my home. $10k in misc.

I hear ya. As you know I'm a student borrower as well, so it's not like I'm considering myself any smarter than you if I think you got "robbed".

I just feel like 150k for tuition is outrageous. Honestly, a whole trip through school should be no more than 30k in my opinion.

I'm not sure I agree with for profit schools. I'm not totally against it but the idea of these colleges and their "online programs" soliciting in high schools, getting kids to sign away their future for a half assed education bothers me.

The number of jobless graduates with unreliable degrees and defaulted student loans is outrageous. We can't sit here and act like there's not a problem. That's why I used the term "blind".

[zeronalo]

$75K as of right now - all on credit cards. (was $67k this morning)

The price I pay to live this way.

Alohas,
Freddy

[lunchbox]

Originally Posted by nuance97

I pay balance in full each month.

Pffftt...what a deadbeat.

[JMV]

Originally Posted by zeronalo

$75K as of right now - all on credit cards. (was $67k this morning)

The price I pay to live this way.

Alohas,
Freddy

If I may pry, what in the world do you spend your money on to rack up such credit card debt? I've known people that have done that out of necessity for medical bills and such.

[zeronalo]

i use it for my business - I pay most of it off every couple weeks depending on cash flow. but need to make a bigger push to get rid of all of it. I paid off my mileage cards, 2 of them, 3 times last week and topped them out again.

I get to fly in the front of the plane next time....

alohas

[HenryHill]

ZERO.

I've got a real ATTITUDE towards CitiBank, after Sears sold out their credit services to them.

Never again.

[zeronalo]

Originally Posted by HenryHill

ZERO.

I've got a real ATTITUDE towards CitiBank, after Sears sold out their credit services to them.

Never again.

I have that same attitude with Bank of America - bottom feeder - parasites after they banged my credit score because I refused to pay the "membership fees" on a charge card I never received. My only ding and the bastards won't do anything about it. Trying to get them to fix it was the most frustrating thing I ever tried to do.

Alohas
Freddy