how do you pay?

Discussion in 'General' started by twin_trip_mommy, Jun 22, 2010.

?

I am a

  1. double income home

    40 vote(s)
    42.1%
  2. single income home

    50 vote(s)
    52.6%
  3. unemployed home

    5 vote(s)
    5.3%
  1. TwinPeshi

    TwinPeshi Well-Known Member

    You would be correct if Codie lived in the United States but she doesn't. She lives in Australia and in Australia there is no such thing as a credit rating. There is a credit history but credit histories in Australia only report when you have failed to make payments. There is no difference between somebody that has never borrowed money and somebody that has borrowed (or does borrow) extensively but always pays as agreed. Therefore, the bank manager is perfectly correct in saying that there is no such thing as a good credit rating.
     
  2. cheezewhiz24

    cheezewhiz24 Well-Known Member TS Moderator


    SMART! We are so doing this!
     
  3. LisaGoeke

    LisaGoeke Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    We put everything possible on our credit card to earn cash back and pay it off every month. If we have big purchases and they are offering interest free for a year or two, we use their store credit card. The only thing we usually pay cash for is if we eat out at fast food places and very small transactions.
     
  4. Moodyzblu

    Moodyzblu Well-Known Member

    I have one credit card I use in a pinch. But I mostly use my debit card to purchase most things.
     
  5. KYsweetheart

    KYsweetheart Well-Known Member

    We are a one income home, have no credit cards or credit card debt. I mostly use my debit card. I don't keep much cash on me.
     
  6. Mellizos

    Mellizos Well-Known Member

    A car loses, on average, 60% of its value in the first 4 years. So if you take out a 4 year loan, the value of your asset at the end of the loan will have deprciated by 60%. It's why so many people are upside down on their car loans. I prefer to make a car payment to my own bank account every month, earn interest on the money over the years I save, and then pay cash for a gently used car (where someone else has already taken the depreciation hit). We bought our first car at a government auction for $2,000. We then made a payment to ourselves for 4 years. That self payment bought quite a new minivan, with enough left over to buy a second used car when the time arises.

    And where is your money earning 5% these days? I want to move my money to that bank.
     
  7. akameme

    akameme Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    My mattress..just kidding. That was the situation when we bought our car 4 years ago...clearly not now. Although when we were looking to a buy a new car, we were seeing 0% financing.

    I need to think more about this. I understand the argument about the car depreciating - but if you keep a car for 10 years, I wonder if the argument holds. Especially when you consider maintenance costs. My car is 9 years old next month and we will keep it for another few years.

    Regarding your other post on 15 year mortgages - what about the fact interest is deductible? Living in So Cal, we can't afford a 15 year mortage, we are looking at 30 year fixed.
     
  8. srange

    srange Well-Known Member

    We are a 1 1/2 income family too since I work part time and DH is full time. We too pay most everything on CC and then just pay it off in full each month. We also have a rewards card and have gotten all sorts of "free" stuff, including a TV, DVD player, digital camera and camcorder. It is rare that I have cash, and typically will only use cash for purchases under $5.
     
  9. Stacy A.

    Stacy A. Well-Known Member

    I put that we are double income, but I just started a part-time job, so we aren't seeing the money from that yet and that really makes us 1 1/2 like others have said. We have not used credit cards in over 2 years, but we have about $10,000 in debt from before that. Much of that is late fees that started adding up when the economy went bad and DH's commissions were cut in half. We were down to about $7,000 before that happened. :headbang: Neither of us were wise before we were married and then were surprised with two kids right away.

    We do use our check cards for everything, though. I would love to use cash, but I'm just not sure how it would work for us since our budget is so tight. We could use envelopes, but what happens when DH needs to stop for gas and I have the envelope? We could have two, but I can never predict how much each of us might have to spend because of unexpected trips. So, I keep the money, including a little more than I think we will need, in my "virtual" envelope (I keep track through a budgeting program), and we use our cards when we need to.
     
  10. pgmummy

    pgmummy Well-Known Member

    Most of our bills are paid with on-line banking. Up until recently we used the debit cards all the time. At the moment we are on a pretty strict cash only plan. It's much easier to stay on your budget when you can actually see the dollars and cents you have left to spend in that category. I use my credit card for my cell phone package and a couple of other monthly purchases. It's probably enough activity to keep my credit going, but not enough to get into trouble.
     
  11. BellaRissa

    BellaRissa Well-Known Member

    I just wanted to add one benefit of using a credit card.....you may have some protection in certain circumstances. I rented a Town & Country when I was in Florida using my Discover card. I took out the driver's side door on a concrete pole in the parking garage at my sister's condo. I had not taken the damage waiver because I have a small comprehensive/collision ded - just $500. I figured, since I had never had an accident before, and if I did I would just have to pay $500 I opted out. When I took the crumpled car back to Enterprise the girl said "Good for you for using Discover....they cover anything your insurance doesn't pay." I had almost uded my debit card to avoid getting a bill from Discover, but the paperwork took longer....thank goodness I used the Discover. Their insurance company paid the $500 not paid by my insurance.

    American Express helped my mom out once....she bought a cruise package including one night in a Miami hotel before boarding the ship. She went to the front desk before taking the hotel shuttle to the cruise terminal - the desk clerk spoke very little English. Apparently mom was not checked out. The hotel charged her for another 4 nights before the decided that she had left the room. Frankly, I think it was a racket & they intended to overcharge her. AE stepped in & recalled the payment and advocated on mom's behalf.

    I prefer not to have debt...it makes me really nervous....but I have a little that I am paying off. I was without support for a few months at the same time I moved & had extra expenses. I have not added to it & am diligent about paying it off before the 1% interest period is over.
     
  12. Chrissy Nelson

    Chrissy Nelson Well-Known Member


    I also urge people to look into the truth about 0% financing. There are so many catches with that. Also alot of times with 0% you end up paying more for the car and having a higher payment. I still do car loans and I urge people to look at the payment and not just the interest rate. Remember that finance guy is there getting paid to get you to do the deal. Alot of the fees you are being charged on that paperwork are junk fees that can be negotiated or even removed. I also urge people to get financing from an outside source before you even walk through the door of a dealership so you are the one in control.

    http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/The-0-Percent-Financing-Craze/

    http://www.insidercarsecrets.com/zero_percent_financing.html
     
  13. momof5

    momof5 Well-Known Member

    We do not have credit cards. If we don't have the cash, we don't get it.
     
  14. Mellizos

    Mellizos Well-Known Member

    The savings in interest with a 15 year mortgage is HUGE. Additionally, the initial interest rate is cheaper. Right now, USAA has 15 year rates for 3.875% :woah:

    I know the pain of trying to buy in an expensive market. We lived in LA for 10 years and now live near Washington DC. We rented in both places. We couldn't afford to buy, even with a 30 year mortgage. But if we look at a reasonable mortgage, say $200,000. At 4% interest on a 15 year loan, you'd pay $66,000 in interest. On a 30 year loan at 4.75%, you'd pay $175,000 in interest. So why would I pay $109,000 more in interest in order to reduce my taxes by $25,000-$30,000 over the course of those 30 years? And really, the tax deduction disappears as you pay down principle because your interest payments drop below the standard deduction. If you can afford the payments on a 15 year loan, the math never works in your favor to take a 30 year loan.

    I'd rather pay cash for a house, have no payments and donate to charity what I would have paid in interest to the bank. I'd still get the same tax deduction while keeping more of my money and giving away a ton also. I'm simply a firm believer than even mortgage debt should be avoided when possible. But even I am taking on a mortgage when we move to Texas. But we have plans to pay it off in less than 10 years.
     
    1 person likes this.
  15. Mellizos

    Mellizos Well-Known Member

    :good: That finance guy at the dealership is not your friend. He has incentives to put you in a higher rate than you can get from a credit union or local bank.
     
  16. kim01

    kim01 Well-Known Member

    for some reason it wouldn't let me vote..but we only have 1 working,and have since before the boys were born(they just turned 8). i have 1 c.c that has a below 500 balance(its maxed) so it can't be used,i am just paying it off. I don't pay any interst on it,so its a great c.c to be paying off.
    We do not have any checks,haven't ordered any of those in probably 5 years.ha we do have a debt card that we use for everything. we do get an allowance that we can use for what ever we choose and don't have to account for.
    We do have another c.c there is a balance of 200 hundred right now,it will be paid off august 1st. It is under lock and key. And is only used for dire emergencys,like if i have forgetten to pick up insulin and we didn't budget that in. or if we have to go into the dentist for an emergency. we do NOT use it for everyday things (well i guess insulin is every day). if we do use it,it is paid off right away.
    we recently just paid off about 12,000 in debt and do not want to get in that mess again.
    so we rely on our debt cards/cash as our forms of paying. We really don't even relize that we have a c.c,that we could use. we try to figure out other things before we go that route.




     
  17. Stacy A.

    Stacy A. Well-Known Member

    A check/debit card that has a CC logo (Mastercard, Visa) offers the same protection that the actual credit cards do without the interest rates.
     
  18. Chrissy Nelson

    Chrissy Nelson Well-Known Member

    We have a debit card that has great rewards too without having to pay interest rates.
     
  19. akameme

    akameme Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    But if you pay off your credit card each month - you don't have to pay interest....
     
  20. AmynTony

    AmynTony Well-Known Member

    Thats not necessarily true...check with your individual bank...
     
  21. Christel

    Christel Well-Known Member

    I mostly use my debit card followed by cash. But my debit cards runs through most retail machines as credit.
     
  22. JessyN

    JessyN Well-Known Member

    Hey! I usually use my debit card. It is the simplest way is for me. By the way if you will need to pay for something and won't have enough money I can recommend to apply for an online loan from LoanExpert, they work quite fast and provide good conditions!
     
  23. SabrinaKeep1

    SabrinaKeep1 Well-Known Member

    I have credit card and use it for all payments. I even play online casino canada real money and make money withdrawal also on this card. And how about you, did you try gambling? What do you think about this?
     
  24. RIKK_P

    RIKK_P Member

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  25. Kessedi

    Kessedi Well-Known Member

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