Well, the paying off every month looks bad to creditors is interesting, and I can see the logic, but it’s not always true. I pay my balance on time every month and it has only helped me. My credit card company sent me a letter of reference to use if I want to get a car loan or mortgage. I never have to pay deposits for things like phone service and the people I deal with on the phone always comment favorably on my good credit history. Credit card companies don’t make money from me in interest–however they do make money from the vendors I use my credit card at. And they know that I am not a risk because I pay my balance. If this type of customer wasn’t advantageous to credit card companies I doubt I’d be flooded with offers the way I am now. And my company wouldn’t go to the lengths they do to keep me happy.
I have never had a credit card balance. I can see unexpected expenses coming up, and a person may have no choice but to charge it and pay off a balance. However, for planned purchases, I don’t buy anything unless I already have the money to pay for it. I use my card simply as a convenience. I know people who just charge wildly without having the money to pay for stuff, and then bitch about their interest charges.
About 10 or so years ago, when I first got a credit card, I paid off the balance in full each month. As time went on, this was no longer the case. When I moved from my parents’ home, I used the card to purchase things like TV, VCR, and furniture. (Keep in mind that my teaching job was–and is–quite low-paying, so in order to get what I needed I had little choice.) Then, when the car would need repairs, onto the credit card it would go. And so on and so on. Soon I had a huge balance which I am still paying off; this was increased when I married a woman who had the same story as I had. We budget for credit card payments each month, as we have since we were married 3 years ago, and we are making good progress–usually we pay double the minimum or more if possible. We transfer the balances to a lower rate when possible, and NEVER use the cards anymore.
To those who tell us that we shouldn’t have been so foolish as to rack up the balance…it’s not like we had much choice. Obviously, paying it off in full would have been preferable if either of us had the money, but we didn’t. Oh well; we do have quite a good credit rating, so I guess that’s the silver lining.
I’m working on paying mine off. I have one card with 2500 on it (3000 limit), and I never use it for anything anymore. I have another card that has about 400 on it (8,500 limit). That card was almost paid off but then I charged 300 on it for my tuition this semester. I guess, considering how much credit I actually have, my debt isn’t so bad. I do have an excellent credit rating.
Cyndar–“only” $3000?! Amateur! 
Someday soon, I’ll be down to that level.
I pay off my balances over 2 months. The very first bill, I paid half. Now I pay the entire previous balance, plus half of the new charges. If it’s less than $500 to pay in full, then I do that instead. I also try not to let the balance get over $1000. This method seems to work since I have an incredibly high limit. They must be trying to get me to spend more than $1000 by increasing my limit and giving me a false sense of having extra money. Hasn’t worked, never will.
Hubby and I had a credit card plus a line-of-credit at the bank. Bad combo. When we lived in Nashville, we had car repairs up the wazoo and we finally got everything paid off last year. Cut the card up too. Only have one very small debt that we’ll pay off this summer (not counting things like cars and the house).
Currently, we have only 1 credit card: my Victoria’s Secret one. That gets paid off monthly, whenever I have a balance on it, which isn’t often.
k2dave, yep, they sure are cranky when you are late. One time I was ontime but the computer recorded it too late & it was like $40 late charge. But I got it all back.
I carry three balances. I got layed off and needed to pay bills, I had also just bought another vehicle that needed paying off. I’ve been here before and payed them off, I’ll be paying them off shortly. I decided to re-finance my house at 6.875% instead of having it at 8.75% allowing me to add all my debt to the note and having my payments at $10 less than my current payments. It’ll really help out until my pay goes back up. Then I will pay an extra note on the principal every month before the loan amoratizes. It would help if someone would buy my truck. Anyone interested in an '85 Sierra 2WD long wheel base w/ a rebuilt 350, 4bbl carb, 4 core radiator, new A/C, dual exhaust, rear helper springs, and new paint?
It’s funny, one thing they look it when issuing credit is the percentage of credit used of credit extended, however if you pay off your card every month that stays around 0% Which is good. But paying your account every month looks bad. Sometimes this amazes me.
I carry about 2.5k in credit debt of the 3.5k I’m extended. It’s only that high because I recently moved and had to pay alot of expenses I wasn’t budgeting for.
I can’t wait till it’s all paid off and I can go on a massive spending spree. 
Nah…Just kidding.
Spooje has credit card debt beyond his wildest dreams.
Look, you’re gonna spend money, right? Groceries, gasoline, out to eat, medicine, car repairs, etc. Get a card that gives cash back. Charge everything. I mean everything you might otherwise pay cash or check for. Pay it off before the grace period is up. Voila! Free money! One card netted us $100-$150 each year the last 5 or 6 years.
I have never heard of getting bad credit by paying off your cards each month. We get probably 4 or 5 pre-approved card offers per month. Doing this for years didn’t affect our buying a house, indeed, I don’t think we could have without paying off the cards each month. A mortgage company doesn’t care if you don’t make CitiCorp any money. No, the companies don’t like it but . . . if you make many small charges they still make money off of you. Remember that they charge vendors for each transaction. So each 30.00 trip to the grocery store can make them more money than they give in cash back. If they charge .03/transaction, and you get 1% cash back, they break even on the $30.00 charge.
BTW: Since buying a house, we cannot do this. We transferred our newly acquired huge balance onto a low interest card (No fee transfer, 3.5% for 9 months). Furnishing a house (and putting on a new roof) is a big drain on your immediate finances.
Nope I’m in debt really good like with my credit card, About $1000 to be correct. Oh well I should have it paid off before the end of the semester. Although being a college student sucks considering the University isn’t happy enough taking the amount they are now they decided to increase tuition AGAIN next year. AHHH the bastards they need to raise my pay from minimum wage to something decent.