Sadly enough i owe about 17k......however i am now on a stirckt budget and they will be paid off befor years end. However i do not look at credit card debt as nessesarly a bad thing if managed wisely. I Even if making minimum payments will only pay about 300 in intrest this year. Godbless great credit and low fixed rates. However a wise invester can make well beyond 300 a year in the stock market off of 17 grand it is only good business to make more then the intrest. The s2k is on a 2.9 percent intrest loan why pay that off when lots of CD's pay more. Debt is not bad if intrest is lower then can be made on intrest that is paid to you. for all of those with intrest rates above 10% may god be with you.

 

$0.00 I also pay mine off every month.

 

gotta start watching the Suze Orman show

 

$0 now, but I was just shy of 6 figures at one point. Which has made me believe the credit card companies are EVIL. MBNA being one my more hated adversaries. As soon as you pay one off they raise your credit line and send you a load of those credit line checks. I think I got those damn credit line checks once a week. I kept a shredder by the front door and shreaded them as soon as I walked in the door. Dee - you are young! Don't get caught in a nasty cycle.

 

I owe my blockbuster card 4 dollars for a late fee and my Macy bill 200. Not bad just to lazy to pay for the macy and blockbuster.

 

Its actually a good thing to carry a balance at times and pay off over a few months. Shows creditors that you are capable of borrowing and paying back...actually increases your credit rating. IF you pay off your balance each and every time, that's not as good.... unless of course you're buying $25k+ items and paying them off within the month...if so .... more power to you. For most of us who are not independently wealthy, carrying debt (without going overboard) is actually a good thing.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by s2000raj
$0.00

 

CCs are the downfall of today's society. In college I probably had a max of $4k but no student loans and no other bills. Paid it off with first couple paychecks from post-college job.

I cannot believe how loose lenders are with credit. My 19 yr old bro-in-law makes about $20K a yr and has $20K cc debt, lives with his mom...etc. He gets pre-approved offers in the mail for $15K credit lines everyday! Amazing.

The best financial decision I ever made was to buy my house and lock in on a 4.9% apr. It's like getting money for free. I now have some serious positive equity and credit cards are just a convenience thing.

I agree about Suze Ormon. 75% of the callers are poor people in serious cc debt. It's all in the spender's head!

 

I've always paid off my credit cards each month, and have gotten my (now) wife to do the same. We have %-back cards, so we pay for everything possible with the cards (~$5k/month). I try to pay the balances at the last possible moment, and that's ended up costing some $$$ though when I missed it by a day (immediately get whacked with the interest based on the avg daily balance of the last month).

I don't think using appreciation of your home is a good enough reason to carry balances. Unless you're planning on downsizing your home, any money borrowed against it will ultimately need to be paid back. It's just too easy to move that credit card debt into a (short duration) 2nd mortgage, then roll that into a _long_ (15 or 30 year) 1st when it gets too large.

I almost convinced myself to pull money out of our house because it was "free" (bought with 20% down, now 3 years later have 50%, and figured I could pull the difference out and be in the same place) while we were refi'ing. Except for reinvesting the money, I couldn't think of anything worth buying that I was willing to pay for for 15 years though.

 

3,600