# Less than obvious ways people can lose money **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 14, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-than-obvious-ways-people-can-lose-money/546674 "2010-07-14T16:35:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-than-obvious-ways-people-can-lose-money/546674/21 "2010-07-15T10:44:36Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > How about services you don’t actually use? Paying $5 a month for overdraft protection, but you’re never overdrawn; $10 a month for unlimited text messaging when you never text anyone; $15 dollars a month for Spanish Language cable TV channels, but you don’t hablo Espanol etc. That’s something that tends to accumulate over time too, particularly if you pay by direct debit: journals you don’t really read anymore, associations that mere sloth keeps you from resigning your membership, Internet services that you don’t use anymore, etc. - I review them every few years and usually save a tidy sum in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-than-obvious-ways-people-can-lose-money/546674/22 "2010-07-16T00:34:49Z")
Keeping a partner that doesn’t work or help out in any way other then to dust around. Pets can also fall into this category. My dog is about 350 a year for shots and 200 a year in food. They both did about the same amount around the house. Dog=46 bucks a month High Maintenance, Non Working, Partner= 600 a month ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-than-obvious-ways-people-can-lose-money/546674/23 "2010-07-16T04:20:35Z")
Hookers and blow. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-than-obvious-ways-people-can-lose-money/546674/24 "2010-07-16T12:45:41Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Classic example is the “pay no interest fr 12 months” consumer financing – a lot of people don’t realize that if they don’t pay it off 100% before the 12 months are up, they’re on the hook for all the interest they would have paid (again, usually at some crazy interest rate), compounded over those 12 months. > > . I’m trying to get my head around this ( I have never used the option). Are you saying that if I buy something for $10,000 and at the end of 12 months I have only paid off $8,000 I then get charged full interest on the $10,000 for the previous 12 months? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-than-obvious-ways-people-can-lose-money/546674/25 "2010-07-16T12:50:29Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > Keeping a partner that doesn’t work or help out in any way other then to dust around. Pets can also fall into this category. My dog is about 350 a year for shots and 200 a year in food. They both did about the same amount around the house. > > Dog=46 bucks a month > High Maintenance, Non Working, Partner= 600 a month Only 600? I gotta get me one of those fashion models! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-than-obvious-ways-people-can-lose-money/546674/26 "2010-07-16T12:53:19Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I’m trying to get my head around this ( I have never used the option). > > Are you saying that if I buy something for $10,000 and at the end of 12 months I have only paid off $8,000 I then get charged full interest on the $10,000 for the previous 12 months? Yes. You can pay the debt off at any time before the due date without paying interest. You don’t have to make monthy or partial payments either; you can just ignore the debt until the due date. If you pay it off on the due date, you pay all the interest as well. I think that after the due date, the interest accumulates like any other loan. And it’s usually at a pretty high rate, too. I once bought a computer this way. Paid it off in one lump sum at the store the day before it was due. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-than-obvious-ways-people-can-lose-money/546674/27 "2010-07-16T16:51:58Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I’m trying to get my head around this ( I have never used the option). > > Are you saying that if I buy something for $10,000 and at the end of 12 months I have only paid off $8,000 I then get charged full interest on the $10,000 for the previous 12 months? Yes. It’s buried in the fine print, but the terms are typically that if and only if you pay the full amount off in 12 months, you pay no interest. Otherwise, the interest accrues behind the scenes at a crazy high rate (e.g. 30%) – if you have any balance at the end of 12 months, all that interest gets tacked onto your total. It’s insane, and prays on people’s natural assumption that the interest only starts accruing on the balance left at the end of the 12 months. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-than-obvious-ways-people-can-lose-money/546674.md?page=1)