pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

[jonesg]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

I read a book a few yrs ago and got rid of credit cards, I don't care about credit ratings.
Debit cards are useful.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

Hard to imagine living in today's world without credit cards. How do you book airline tickets or book hotels? Debit cards are a bad idea since they are much more difficult to get bad charges removed. All my credit cards have rebates so I actually save money when using them.

 

[DJ]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

90%+ of our household expenses go on various credit cards. Each gets paid in full-MONTHLY. WE LOVE those free airline tickets.

Dave Ramsey would say I'm playing with fire. I don't think so, I just "modified" his methods to suit my needs. Using his line of thinking, we're disciplined enough to not charge anything that we wouldn't mind putting out cash for.

The only risk, I can see, is a lot of transactions flying around out there in cyberspace. I do subscribe to an electronic security service. I have been alerted three times by them regarding someone trying to gather unwarranted information about me.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

90%+ of our household expenses go on various credit cards. Each gets paid in full-MONTHLY.

Likewise. Everything goes on the credit card including my home and auto instrance.

 

[dingbat]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

Likewise. Everything goes on the credit card including my home and auto instrance.

We're probably pushing 95%. I refuse to even own a debit card. We write less than 1 check a month and I don't like carrying those filthy, germ infested pieces of paper they call cash.

In return I get a fairly complete downloadable record of my transactions and enough airline miles every year to fly our family of four anywhere in the North America for free.

 

[kendunn]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

Credit card interest is a funny thing, keep in mind if you have no balance, make a purchase and pay it off on time there is no interest charged, but even if you have a small balance, make a purchase say on the 10th of the month and get the bill on the 1st, it will include interest on what you purchased on the 10th because you had a balance. I learned this the hard way years ago charging a very expensive shop tool and found an extra $50 or so in interest in my card for one month.

 

[Brewman61]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

Additionally, certain transactions incur interest charges even if you pay in full before the due date. Cash advances are one such monster. No grace period on those, and fees and interest rates are very high. Almost better off borrowing from the mob.
As far as credit scoring goes, anything lower than about 750 on your FICO rating could result in higher interest rates, and difficulty borrowing for car loans, etc..... And lots of non credit oriented things these days could be affected. Many insurance companies charge higher rates if your credit score is not good. Empoloyers may in some cases pull your credit report. So even if you chose to live off the credit grid, not having credit can potentially cost you.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

I need to get one of those air mileage cards, that would be cool

 

[Brewman61]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

Whichever cards you consider, make sure annual and other fees (if any) don't negate the value of the possible rewards.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

I have never had any problem with a removal of a bad charge to my debit card, all I have to do is call the bank, and they remove it for a minimum of 30 days and credit the money back to my account right then, then they investigate the debit to the card, I have never had one return in over 10 years now..both my bank debit cards as well as my paypal debit card rebate me 1.5% for every thing I buy on them.

 

[infideltarget]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

It's easy for a syndicated talk show host with millions in liquidity to talk about having a 0 FICO score and paying for everything in cash. I make decent money, have low debt, and tried to live on a debit card only for a few years. Even with paying off two vehicles...early...buying and selling two homes, and paying all of our monthly expenses like water, power, etc on time (often paying extra and having a credit on them), I watched my credit rating drop like a stone. So much so that it started costing me more in car insurance because I somehow became more of a "risk". Not sure how having a low credit score makes you more likely to crash your car. The real kicker was when I put in a bid for a Gov't contract, and it was rejected because "your low credit score is a reflection of your character and bad choices"...WTF?!? Because I choose to pay for 85% of everything in cash, and own no credit cards, I have poor character? The final straw was when after 7 years of driving the (paid for) mini-van, my wife wanted an SUV. We needed a new tow vehicle anyway, so we went to buy one. Even with a nice down payment, a trade in, no other debt except our home...which we have a huge amount of equity in...and a fantastic debt to income ratio, they still wanted to hit us with 26% interest(!!!) based solely on our FICO score. Credit is a scam. It is also a fine balance of how much you owe versus how much you are allowed to owe. It's a friggin joke, and I hate it. But, I did have to rejoin the game if only for self preservation. I have three low limit cards, that we use for regular mundane purchases, and carry the balance for 30-45 days. It has shot our credit ratings up several points in a short time. What a joke.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

I agree, they got you by the 'nads with this credit game..., I used to pay cash for everything, and had no credit cards, I own my home, no balance due and last year my insurance company decided because I didn't have any credit, they were going to raise my rate by double! So like you infidel, we went out and got a couple of store charge cards and a couple of mastercards...

 

[witenite0560]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

My .02, pay them off, cut them up and be happy!

 

[infideltarget]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

if you pay them off and cut them up, your credit rating, and therefore your standing in modern society, will drop like a rock. you do more harm than good that way. been there, done that.

 

[bassman284]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

Hard to imagine living in today's world without credit cards. How do you book airline tickets or book hotels? Debit cards are a bad idea since they are much more difficult to get bad charges removed. All my credit cards have rebates so I actually save money when using them.

A friend of mine found out last August that you can no longer rent a car with a debit card (at least in Milwaukee). Their story was that they can't verify credit standing with the debit card. He had used it in past years with no problem. He doesn't own a credit card so he finally got on the airport shuttle to West Bend where he had friends who could haul him around. He was bummed.

 

[infideltarget]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

I used airline miles to pre-pay in full for two weeks our rental last summer. They STILL wanted a credit card on file. No cash accepted. They would accept a debit card, but there would be an automatic $1500 hold (the full cost of the rental) on it until the car was returned. This hold would be on there instantly, but could take up to 30 days to release. Welcome to the credit world.

 

[DJ]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

You HAVE TO have a credit card (not debit) to survive in this world. What you do with it is totally up to you.

Nobody is responsible for the charges you make-except YOU.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

I have never had any problem with a removal of a bad charge to my debit card, all I have to do is call the bank, and they remove it for a minimum of 30 days and credit the money back to my account right then, then they investigate the debit to the card, I have never had one return in over 10 years now..both my bank debit cards as well as my paypal debit card rebate me 1.5% for every thing I buy on them.

The current laws protect credit card users more. Here is how the current law stands

1) Credit card users' obligation is capped at $50.
2) Debit card users' can be obligated up to $500 if they don't report fraud within two days of learning about it and face unlimited liability if they wait more than 60 days.

Not saying that your particular card issuer won't cut you some slack but this is what the law states. The reality for most banks is that you won't be obligated for anything.

You can see what consumer reports says here:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...-07/overview/the-dark-secrets-of-debit-ov.htm

 

[ezbtr]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

I agree, they got you by the 'nads with this credit game..., I used to pay cash for everything, and had no credit cards, I own my home, no balance due and last year my insurance company decided because I didn't have any credit, they were going to raise my rate by double! So like you infidel, we went out and got a couple of store charge cards and a couple of mastercards...

I hear ya guys, so they couldnt see all Ive paid off in the last 5 yrs???? Just playin the game to raise score w/ 3 low limit cards...

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: pay off credit cards each month, or leave small balance?

The current laws protect credit card users more. Here is how the current law stands

1) Credit card users' obligation is capped at $50.
2) Debit card users' can be obligated up to $500 if they don't report fraud within two days of learning about it and face unlimited liability if they wait more than 60 days.

Not saying that your particular card issuer won't cut you some slack but this is what the law states. The reality for most banks is that you won't be obligated for anything.

You can see what consumer reports says here:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...-07/overview/the-dark-secrets-of-debit-ov.htm

I have found that most business's where I live are much easier to get along with than in other areas of the country that I have lived in, we live in small towns up in the north and they just seem to be eaiser to work with when things happen