[MoreCowbell]

I'm just curious how many owners of luxury cars, like those on this board have Credit Card Debt, and if so, how much...

Keep on mind, the average American has about 4k in Credit Card debt...

[samoe93]

Pay it off every month... on a rare occasion I'll take advantage of 0% interest promo periods and carry a balance during the promotion because it's free use of someone else's money, but I'd always pay it off before I pay a dime of interest.

[SteveMD]

I think a lot of folks carry between $1K and $2K.

[MoreCowbell]

Originally Posted by samoe93

Pay it off every month... on a rare occasion I'll take advantage of 0% interest promo periods and carry a balance during the promotion because it's free use of someone else's money, but I'd always pay it off before I pay a dime of interest.

Pretty Smart.

I should do that. For example, my bill this month is like 8 grand...bought Plasma TV, piece of furniture, etc. If I could get 6 months at 0 percent APR and a 6 month CD @ 4.5 apr, i'd make $240 for doing nothing...

The only issue with this type of thing is if you carried over a large enough debt, it would start hitting your credit score...

[DPritchett]

Originally Posted by samoe93

Pay it off every month... on a rare occasion I'll take advantage of 0% interest promo periods and carry a balance during the promotion because it's free use of someone else's money, but I'd always pay it off before I pay a dime of interest.

Pay off your credit card debt and keep it paid off. Its one of the most liberating things you can do financially!

I use a card with a cash rebate feature, and pay off whatever I've charged every month. At the end of the year, I get a (whoo - hoo) 1% rebate.

[samoe93]

Originally Posted by DPritchett

Pay off your credit card debt and keep it paid off. Its one of the most liberating things you can do financially!

I use a card with a cash rebate feature, and pay off whatever I've charged every month. At the end of the year, I get a (whoo - hoo) 1% rebate.

I have the same deal - Citibank Dividend card, but you can cash out your rebate anytime they owe you more than $50. I use it for everything and pay it off... probably collected a good $350 of free money so far this year.

[CnoteMD]

I used to be the credit card company's worst nightmare; I have very high available credit lines, but never carried a balance that would generate much interest income for them. For about 3 years straight, I would typically carry about $25-50k in credit card balances, but at 0% rates. Since it was short term money, I typically, just put it into money market funds (not the greatest return, but extremely low risk).

Until recently, the balance transfer fee was capped at $50-75, but I would usually net at least $2-3K in income. Now that many cards have adopted a straight 3% fee (no cap), I have reduced my balances to $0.

[MoreCowbell]

I'm curious as to the strategy of those in the poll who say they are over 5k.

NOTE...I AM NOT JUDGING...I just want to know what your thought-process is here...

[Max_!]

> I just want to know what your thought-process is here...

They've been told they have 6 weeks to live?

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by MoreCowbell

I'm curious as to the strategy of those in the poll who say they are over 5k.

NOTE...I AM NOT JUDGING...I just want to know what your thought-process is here...

I screwed up twice -- out of college I had >10k on the CC, and paid who knows how much in interest, but luckily, paid it off with the job sign on bonus...

Second time, most recently, but had the promo interest of 0% for 24 months so I did not pay any interest -- paid it off with the home equity (very small part of it, <5%) when we sold the house...

Stay away from the CCs!

[O-cha]

Credit card "debt" or cedit card "I have 0% APR so I might as well make them eat the interest" debt. I believe anyone who has actual debt and a luxury car needs to have their heads examined and re-evaluate their priorities.

[samoe93]

Originally Posted by O-cha

Credit card "debt" or cedit card "I have 0% APR so I might as well make them eat the interest" debt. I believe anyone who has actual debt and a luxury car needs to have their heads examined and re-evaluate their priorities.

As one of the 0% promo rate users, I have to question your financial wisdom - if I can get a credit card company to give me money at 0%, why would I not use the credit and invest the money I would otherwise have spent in something with a higher rate of return, even if it's just a savings account? Same goes with student loans - I have student loans, but due the timing of my graduation from law school and a promo available at the time, those loans are locked in at 2% for the life of the loan. Obviously there is a psychological benefit to being completely debt free, but only an idiot would pay off loans locked at 2% for 25 years when you could invest that same money in the market, which in the long term returns on average 4-5 times as much.

[phantom330]

Originally Posted by O-cha

Credit card "debt" or cedit card "I have 0% APR so I might as well make them eat the interest" debt. I believe anyone who has actual debt and a luxury car needs to have their heads examined and re-evaluate their priorities.

I agree, and to the above poster......I don't really consider CC debt "debt" if you're using a 0% balance and plan on paying it off. It's the people with 5k in CC debt that they can't afford to payoff and make minimum payments on each month and pay 700+ for a car.

[jlspeed29]

^^ well for one thing...cc's always rape you if you want to do a cash advance to the tune of like 19%!!!!! and often higher!!!
....

the most important piece in that letter is the page that shows you your actual rate..not the TEASER rate they give you....

also if you do not pay off your balanced during the grace period (0% term) i believe they have the right to charge you all accrued finance charges....so WATCH OUT!

[samoe93]

Originally Posted by phantom330

I agree, and to the above poster......I don't really consider CC debt "debt" if you're using a 0% balance and plan on paying it off. It's the people with 5k in CC debt that they can't afford to payoff and make minimum payments on each month and pay 700+ for a car.

I agree completely with you on that example. Too bad our society and corporate America do everything in their power to encourage people to spend and live beyond their means. I see people here in LA especially that spend way more than they should on cars because of the "keep up with the neighbor" mentality.

[samoe93]

Originally Posted by jlspeed29

^^ well for one thing...cc's always rape you if you want to do a cash advance to the tune of like 19%!!!!! and often higher!!!
....

the most important piece in that letter is the page that shows you your actual rate..not the TEASER rate they give you....

also if you do not pay off your balanced during the grace period (0% term) i believe they have the right to charge you all accrued finance charges....so WATCH OUT!

Definitely - it's all about being responsible. You can play the system to an extent but you really have to be on top of things. Microsoft Money is a good friend of mine.

[achien]

I don't see any options for "loan sharks"...

[Ninjaneer]

Originally Posted by samoe93

I have the same deal - Citibank Dividend card, but you can cash out your rebate anytime they owe you more than $50. I use it for everything and pay it off... probably collected a good $350 of free money so far this year.

+1
Yea def. take advantage of reward programs. I have the same card you're talking about, but I mainly got it cos they were initially offering 3% or 5% back on gas!!! Unfortunately within a few months of opening that account they scaled that category back big time, I think maybe 1% now, so it's barely worth it for me.

I've been using Discover lately. I keep a Visa/MC as backup since not everyone accepts Discover, but I took advantage of the CircuitCity bonus when I bought my LCD tv and got an instant ~$200 cashback bonus. I can use it towards my balance or get extra rewards from tons of places. I used to go to Starbucks a lot - now I just order a rewards card for it and voila, I'm drinking coffee and not paying a dime for it Same with some restaurants.

If you got a CC that's not giving you anything back, switch to something that does.

[samoe93]

Originally Posted by Ninjaneer

+1
Yea def. take advantage of reward programs. I have the same card you're talking about, but I mainly got it cos they were initially offering 3% or 5% back on gas!!!

If you got a CC that's not giving you anything back, switch to something that does.

Yeah, I miss that 5% back on gas , when prices first jumped really high, that discount was awesome (17 cents per gallon if gas is $3.40!). I think it's still 2% on gas, but defintiely not quite the same.

[nmulax]

Pay it off every month; but this past month I got hit with a speeding ticket and the court and attorney fees for fighting it, along with a weekend in Vegas. Still payed off my normal expenses, but the unexpected cost were transfered over to a card with 0% so I can pay it over a few months.

[EdmBimmer]

I pay my CC off every month. I got into trouble in college and learned my lesson!

I know of people that are several thousands in debt to CC's and I know they just keep spending. Pretty soon it will catch up with them!

[bartman32]

Modding is bad enough with 0 return on investment. Doing it on credit is just stupid!