If the mortgage is in his name only, and you do not have your name added to the loan, then it shouldn’t impact his credit/interest rate at all.
Consider this. If you start paying at least the minimum on your credit card, would you end up with enough cash and available credit so that you could e.g. pay 3/4 of the amount in cash and charge the rest? What might be even better is to take all the money you have saved for October and use it to pay your credit card down as much and as quickly as possible, then charge your entire trip or whatever to your card in October. The advantage of this is that you save on interest payments between the time you pay down the card and the time you charge it up again - if your card charges you 15% interest per year and you pay down the balance by $5000 now and then charge $5000 the card in October, you have effectively gotten the same end financial benefit as investing $5000 in an investment that pays 15% (per year) right now and then redeeming it in October.
Also, do consider whether or not you really have to do this this October. I want to go to Hawaii sometime but I strongly believe that Hawaii is still going to be around in 2014 and even 2015 so if I don’t make it this year it’s not like I won’t be able to go.
That’s a relief, thank you.
I did contact the company and told them that until November my payments might be just the interest and/or a bit late. I assured them that I have absolutely no intention of defaulting on my obligation to pay off the card. They wrote back and said that they placed a note in my file. So I’m not worried anymore. I’m sure they’d rather retain me as an interest-paying customer and keep getting money every month.
I never even thought about using my savings towards the card then using the card on the trip because I’ve been so focused on squirreling away the cash. I haven’t used that card in months because I just want to pay it off and get rid of it. Thank you for the idea.
Cancelling my trip is not an option - the reservations have been made, flights booked, and friends are coming with us. I WILL fulfill this dream in October - it’s taken me 31 years to get there - because as my best friend found out the hard way you never know when you’re going to wake up one morning with an excruciating headache then be dead two weeks later from brain cancer. I honestly and truly do not give a rat’s ass about money or debt right now, I care about living my life to the fullest. Money is just “money” - IMHO happiness, fulfillment and joy are more important.
Thank you everyone for your replies, I truly appreciate your time.
It’s a marathon so yes, it has to be October. 
Another possibility is the Bank of Mom and Dad or the related entities of Bank of Little Sis, Bank of Grandma, or Bank of Uncle Bill.
Remind me to never be related to you!
One question that’s killing me…why on earth would you go on a trip when you owe so much money??
Because “you only live once” and “life’s too short”. When I lost my best friend so suddenly it hit me hard and ever since then I’ve been checking items off my “Bucket List”. This trip in October is the biggest item and the last item. I’ve had this dream since I was 9 years old and I think it’s about time to fulfill it.
That credit card is full because I used it for all the Bucket List trips. I don’t care if I spend the rest of my life paying it off, I have the photos and t-shirts and memories.
I posted the question because I always thought that as long as you’re paying something the bank can’t send your account to collections, and I was weirded out when I started getting phone calls from their collections department when I was only about 2 weeks late making the full payment and only about $50 in arrears.
I think that subconsciously I also wanted to screw over RBC as badly as they screwed me over in 2003. I have a serious hate-on for RBC and the only reason why I have their Visa is because I got it when I got my student loan through them back in 1999. But that’s another story and I should know better than to try and mess with Big Banks. They’ll fuck you up.
I don’t want to come across as disrespectful, but I guess it’s from growing up in a family where the parents suffered during the great depression. If you owe money, you’re entitled to NOTHING until your debts are paid. All strictly IMHO of course.
No disrespect taken. 
I can understand how many people would feel the same way.
I grew up poor too…left home at 17 and spent the next 12 years working dead-end minimum-wage retail jobs…put myself through college at 26 and now I have a good job and make decent money. I’m simply enjoying life now while I’m still “young” because you never know when it’ll be over. Trust me, I’m fully aware of how selfish I sound.
It’s not selfish, it’s scary. What happens if you become injured or ill and can’t work for a period of time but are still living? With no savings and no credit, how will you survive? What do you plan to do when you can no longer work? I’ll work until I die is no answer. Sure it’s possible that you could suddenly drop dead. But it’s far more likely that you live into your nineties, and how exactly will you be eating?
Happiness, fulfillment and joy will not feed, clothe or house you. Real happiness and fulfillment don’t come from spending money; they come from knowing that your future is secure.
My parents lived a hand-to-mouth existence. Granted, they didn’t have much income, but they did always have ‘stuff’. They could have saved. They chose not to. I grew up without access to dental care, adequate medical care, no college savings (off to State I went) and not much extra. I am not complaining about that. I am just saying, I want better options and choices for my son.
When I was in my early 30’s my father became ill and my mother, 26 years younger than him, retired early to take care of him. They were near penniless save for my father’s small social security checks. They had refinanced their home many times in order to buy nicer vehicles and other non-essential luxuries. When my father became ill, they sold their home at a loss and moved in with my sister. Thus began the saga of adult children caring for their parents. My father is gone, and I am now subsidizing my mother’s needs. Again, I am not complaining. But I want better for my son. I don’t want him to have to support me while he is trying to raise a family. I don’t want his life choices to be limited to state schools and scholarships and working full time to support himself while trying to obtain a degree. I want to slap braces on his teeth if he needs them so he doesn’t grow up feeling self-conscious about his appearance. I want him to inherit something. It seems criminally irresponsible to me to live for today while giving no thought to his future. It is also wrong for ME (not judging you) to live at or beyond my means, in large part because I want to be dependent on and beholden to nobody.
Well since my simple question of “What happens if I don’t make the full minimum credit card payment for a few months” has morphed into a critique of my irresponsible financial habits:
I have no children, and don’t plan to have children, so there are no worries about causing somebody else to do without or being a burden when I’m old. I also have no close family or friends to which I could leave an inheritance, so if I had a boatload of savings when I die it won’t do anybody any good anyway.
My husband and I both will have decent pensions when we retire and can certainly live within those means.
My parents lived paycheque-to-paycheque, had no savings and were deeply in debt. I still had proper dentist visits and everything I needed. I was an adult when I went to college and I was more than happy to pay my own way because it felt like more of an accomplishment.
Good Lord, it’s only until November and then I’ll be back to paying off my bills and will be out of debt in a short time. I’m not living the high life and deliberately making myself destitute.
Are you sure about that? I’m sure I’ve heard of people’s credit ratings being adversely affected by people living at the same address, or even people who used to live at the same address, as the credit report links people who live together.
A credit report is the reflection of one’s own payment history, not of who lives together or even related by marriage.
His credit can be adversely impacted by any joint accounts they may have together, but not by her particularly. So their options would be limited anytime they need to consider her income in order to afford, for example, a more expensive home or vehicle.
Soylent, in another thread you mentioned that you are $30K in debt on this card and maxed out. You are asking for advise because you are setting aside cash and therefore cannot even afford to pay the interest on this obscenely large debt. Do not fool yourself that this isn’t financially irresponsible or that it won’t have an impact on your long term financial health. The fact that you so casually mention that you are ‘set’ because of anticipated pensions tells me that you haven’t an inkling about prioritizing for your future to ensure you get to a financially healthy place. It doesn’t matter that you don’t have kids. In yet another thread, you sneered about people on welfare who continue having kids at tax-payer expense. I seem to recall that you called “those people” irresponsible. Pot, kettle. You can’t rely on the ongoing financial health of you’re respective employers, or on Uncle Sam, to keep you comfortable in retirement age. Your attitude is very much live for today, enjoy life to the fullest. If you default on your obligations due to your own irresponsible spending, who do you think is going to subsidize you? Who do you think pays the price when you do not live up to your existing financial obligations (hint: it ain’t your bank)?
It appears that she is in Canada so she won’t be relying on Uncle Sam for anything, just FYI. But it does appear that she believes the bank should subsidize her bucket list for her. On a $30,000 debt it would take over 30 years to pay it off if you paid the minimum payment (around $200 a month per the bank debt calculators) and in the end you’d have paid over a million dollars for it.
I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I owed $3000 in credit card debt let alone $30K. Tracijo67,just out of curiosity, would you happen to know the thread in regards to her welfare comments so I can look at context? Personally I don’t see much difference between having children you can’t afford and expecting taxpayers to pay your debt and doing bucket-list type frivolous spending and expecting the bank to pay your way for you especially when you say you’d like to stick it to the bank. Actually I think the latter is worse because (and I say this as a childfree person) at least in the end of the first one there would be a new taxpayer and member of society you’ve created. Bucket list debt is just saying “I believe I’m entitled to do what I want now even though I can’t afford it and have someone else finance it for me.”
I don’t know how to paste a link using my tablet but it is post #554 in the Unpopular Opinions thread. She even waxes on about how welfare recipients should just REFRAIN from sexual activity if they don’t want to do the responsible thing and use birth control. I thought there were some interesting parallels.
I found it, thanks.
Obviously I had a big whoopsie in the data about her credit card earlier, it would so not cost her a million dollars. I was copying and pasting from a bank site and I guess it was some weird calculation for allowing lower payments and blah blah blah. Anyway, my bad FOR SURE. :smack:
My colossal eff up aside, we’ve traveled far away from her original question and she obviously feels secure in her choices of financing such an extravagant undertaking. The thought of that much debt in credit cards over something that’s not medical in nature or an emergency is simply mind boggling to me. After reading her thoughts on people who have children they can’t afford and how they should just abstain it’s a double WTF, but there you go.
Holy shit you guys. I ask a question and get called irresponsible and attacked for my lifestyle. Thanks, now I know where NOT to ask questions anymore.
Did I ask for a kick in the ass? No. I just thought it was strange that the bank would phone me for being a couple of weeks late for $50 and wondered what they could do.
Bringing up my “unpopular opinion” from another thread was a dick move, IMO, and I’m not even going to argue because THAT thread asked for “unpopular opinions” so I gave one. I can’t believe that somebody actually took the time to go through my post history and dig that up.
I admit that my debt is completely and totally my fault. I also have every intention of paying it off and am doing so. I have absolutely no intention in the world of being a burden to taxpayers. I have absolutely no intention of taking 30 years to pay off my debts, in fact it will all be paid off in 4 years, if not sooner.
**I made the mistake of oversharing in this thread, so I’m going to gracefully bow out now that I’ve received the answer and advice I came for. **
Good luck with that. To pay $30K off in 4 years, at a general interest rate of 15%, you’ll need to pay close to $900/mo. And at the end of that period, not counting what interest you’ve already paid, you’ll have paid them $10K in interest for allowing you the courtesy of spending money that you didn’t actually have.
You know, it’s not moralistic screeching on my end. There’s a certain bit of incredulity, just in general, at what I see as very casual usage of credit in lieu of paying cash. It’s concerning – not so much towards you, a complete stranger, but that people are STILL living paycheck to paycheck, and well beyond their means, despite the financial crisis we continue to have in North America and all over the world. It’s SCARY!! It seemed to me you were very cavalier about what is actually a very enormous debt. Not the dollar amount so much – if this is what you owed on a home, for example – or even on a vehicle – it’s a kind of “good” debt that also benefits you somewhat (especially in terms of tax write-offs, and building equity). Credit card debt is just one great big gigantic ball of you’re f*cked. Interest, penalties, fees, fees, more fees … all on items that were likely quickly consumed, and if you’re like most people, quickly forgotten, but nice while it lasted. People don’t realize how it sucks them in and then consumes their lives. So easy to buy now, pay later … buy now, now, now … and pretty soon, maxed out on one or more cards to the tune of multiple thousands of dollars. Compound that with paying only the minimum balance each month, which for most people means interest only (or interest plus principle so insignificant it may as well be interest only) and it can take years… decades … to climb out. This is even assuming the best – that you do not continue using credit cards and that you are able to at least make those minimum monthly payments.
Credit cards should never be used as anything other than a payment tool. Never, never, NEVER as a revolving debt instrument.
Yeah, I’m a stranger, and yeah, a bit of an asshole to tell you that you’re irresponsible and a bit of a hypocrite. Doesn’t make ANY of it less true, though.