I’m up there with bittersweet, but I’m employed. I think mine is around $9k, not $15k though. As soon as I get my degree (18 months) and a job, I’ll start payin’ these suckers off.
Oh, and to answer the other question, it would take about 10 months at my current pay rate to pay them off entirely. Too bad about that whole rent/groceries/phone bill/electricity thing…
Yeah I am definitely over extended. I owe 3.75 months salary on credit card debt. OUCH! WOuldn’t be so bad but I have that nasty mortgage, food, and kids to feed so it isn’t like they are going to get paid off that soon.
I don’t have any credit card debt.
Why would I want to buy something that I couldn’t afford only to have to pay an outrageous amount of interest on the debt?
Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to just wait until you can actually afford something and then buy it, thereby avoiding throwing your money away on the interest?
One month, inherited from my ex in our settlement. I think I’ll have it paid off by Sept or Oct.
On a different card, an american express for which I earn skymiles, I buy routine stuff: gas, groceries, etc. I record such purchases in my checkbook, subtracting that amount from my register balance. Then, when the monthly amex bill arrives, I credit those items back to the register and write a check for the full amount of the balance due.
This method enables me to use the plastic and thus get rewards, but not to spend more than I have.
I have never carried a monthly balance. We use ours very much like Mullinator. Don’t use ATMs either, as that would (in our minds) unnecessarily complicate our recordkeeping.
Moreover - if I’m carrying around a bunch of cash, that just makes it all that much easier for me to spend it in dribs and drabs, instead of having it to spend on things I really want. (And my wife and I are both worldclass spenders when we set our minds to it!)
Heck, my favorite move is getting using Discover to get cash-over-purchase at the grocery store, which entitles me to cash back on my cash. What a deal!
If you are aware of your credit billing policies, you can easily get up to nearly 2 month’s float on major purchases. During which your savings/investments continue to earn income. An easy way to save money.
Of course, we also paid off our mortgage, and paid cash for our cars, so I guess we’re un-American! 
Count me up there with the other smart consumers who pay off their credit card bill monthly. I try not to let it get much over 1000 bucks a month though.
I was always similar to many of you - I never carried a balance, my card was always, always paid in full every single month. But then I lost my job, and the mortgage and other bills still had to be paid, so during the two 4 month periods over the last two years that I was out of a job, I tended to buy groceries and other important stuff with my credit card, so I could use whatever cash I could dig up to pay the bills.
Between my two cards and my line of credit, it would take about 10 months of take home pay to pay off. This scares the crap out of me enough that I am in the process of refinancing my mortgage so I can have only one (lower interest) monthly payment, and hopefully begin to rebuild a savings account.
It sucks to be out of work, and it sucks to be in debt, but if I hadn’t had the credit available to me during that time, I may well have lost my house. Or not eaten.
It took me about five years to pay off around $10K in CC debt.
I have been completely debt free for almost two years.
Currently, I have a balance, but haven’t received the bill yet for the flight to Ohio for my gramma’s funeral. Between the flight, dog kennel and car rental, I’m down for about $1000. Should be able to write one check and pay off this very month.
Zero. It’s gonna stay that way too. I got bit in the ass while a student and learned that lesson all too well.
5 cards - not one red cent on any of them. I’m another one of those who pays it off immediately, I have this thing about paying interest.
Surreal has a good point. It’s truly a Mom and Apple Pie point, I believe.
I think that the majority of people who carry balances do not spend outrageously and try to manage their finances well. I absolutely would like to be without credit card debt, but in order to answer Surreal’s (probably rhetorical) question, here are some of the factors that give us our credit card debt (and I am talking about myself here):[list=1][li]We don’t track purchases as carefully as we should. If I knew precisely how much I owed at any given moment, I’m certain I would be more reluctant to make a $50 credit card purchase. Chalk this one up to laziness.[/li][li]There’s two of us. Even though we have been married for many years, we still don’t read each other’s minds. This means that there are always moments when I have a single big purchase in mind (this month: tires), and I think everything’s Ok. I don’t buy other stuff because I remember I have to get tires. She doesn’t know this because I forgot to tell her and she replaces a broken kitchen appliance and pays for a wedding present. Bingo… we suddenly have $500 charged without either of us expecting it.[/li][li]Stuff happens. Last August, I had to put a new transmission in my truck. Two months ago, my wife’s car had some electrical problems that cost $800 to repair. I need to get a porcelain-fused gold crown on one of my teeth, my part will be $500.[/list=1]After my eye-opening experience last night, I plan on keeping much closer track of our expenses, thereby mitigating problem 1. Problem 3 is already being addressed, in the form of automatic deposits to a special bank account that we use only for emergencies. Unfortunately, there is not enough in that account to pay off the existing cards.[/li]
I would like to have zero credit card debt at this time next year.
Zero. Actually negative, since both of the cards we use most frequently give cash back, up to 1% of purchases after a certain amount. We have a few that don’t, but hardly ever use them. So, we have a big balance every month, whcih we pay off, but when you get money back it pays to put all your groceries on your credit card.
I’m sure the interest rates for these suck, but if you never pay it doesn’t matter. Discover is one, and we have a Master Card for the places that don’t take Discover.
I’m sure the credit card companies must hate us.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by minor7flat5 *[li]Stuff happens. **[/li][/QUOTE]
I think this is a great point. I used to be similar to Surreal, thinking why would I buy something I can’t afford. But about $1200 of my current debt is $800 to replace part of my furnace, and $400 to have some plumbing work done. I couldn’t afford it, but I couldn’t afford not to, either, so thank goodness I had the option of using credit.
Not that anyone is really saying otherwise, but I really believe that credit, used smartly, can be a very, very good thing to have.
Hmmm, I won’t know the actual amount until the bill comes due later this month, but I know it’ll be paid in full immediately. I’m in the hates to pay interest club. I have a pretty good interest bearing checking account, so I charge everything and leave my cash alone to generate interest, then pay it off each month.
What floors me is how much debt people are comfortable living with, most of my friends will never pay their mortgages off as they keep re-financing to pull out equity to pay their CC debts off. I’d be outta my mind with anxiety if I lived that close to the bone. It was one thing to be young and broke when I was first starting out, folks still doing it into their 30s and 40s amaze me. Naturally, they all think I’m the weird one, though.
You can find all of the pertinent statistics with regard to credit cards at cardweb.com-
http://www.cardweb.com/cardlearn/stat.html
If you look there, you’ll see that the average American household carries a balance of over $8,000 on their credit cards, and that the average rate on those cards is just under 15%.
Sure, unexpected things happen. But I don’t think that occasional emergencies are the reason so many people are so deep in debt.
Just imagine how hard it’s going to be for those people to pay off their debts at those rates, when, by definition, they are already living beyond their means. And when you consider how bad the economy is now, the outlook looks even more bleak.
As far as folk saying “stuff happens” to justify running up credit card debt - ya know some people actually save for such occurrances.
You may never know exactly WHAT stuff is gonna happen WHEN, but you can be pretty damn sure that SOME stuff is gonna happen SOMETIME! Sure, you never know when the hot water heater is going to need to be replaced, or if the AC unit is going to croak before the furnace, but if you make sure you always have a couple grand saved for whatever emergencies might occur, you don’t have to just dump them on a credit card when the end up happening.
Of course, maintaining that safety fund would require that you forego or delay some discretionary spending along the way…
I am a huge believer in buying when you can afford it. The reason is because I ran up so much debt when I turned 18. It took me several years to pay it off and I will NEVER go down that path again! We do not carry a balance on our credit cards. Any bill is paid that month. We put money aside each month then make our purchases. The last two vehicles we bought; we paid cash. I can’t see earning 2-5% interest on money while paying a 7-9% loan. I agree with ** minor7flat5** point. That is why we keep credit cards; to use in an emergency. But that is why we have a two months salary in savings to back up the credit cards.
Zero. I’m lucky enough, and have few enough commitments (no mortgage – I rent – no car and student loans long gone), that I can afford to pay it off in full every month.
Right now, it would take me about 5 months to pay everything off if I put my entire pay towards it. As it is, I’ve already moved back in with my parents until I start grad school and will be putting an enormous amount of money towards my debt each month. With luck, they should be paid off by next March, and then I plan on never getting into this much credit card debt again - I’ll cancel every card except one with a $3K balance that I’ll keep for emergencies. I’ve certainly learned my lesson, however.
Ava