Hooray for me!

[angel_luv]

I just recently had paid my credit card off in full :elephant :elephant

But then :dramaquee

I noticed on my last statement that the sneaky card company had signed me up for their rewards program without telling me. :madrun

However :)

I was able to claim $135 in gift cards based on the points I had accumulated already. :greedy


And

Because I caught the charge early on :fro , I am getting a full refund on the membership fee they charged me. :toast

To review: :elephant :elephant :dramaquee :madrun :) :greedy :fro :toast

Yea me! :D

[Slomo]

Good for you Angelca.

Credit card debt is something to stay as far away as possible.

[Mdot.HIM.not]

congrats!

[angel_luv]

Good for you Angelca.

Credit card debt is something to stay as far away as possible.

:)

Yes! I learned that the hard way.

I was told as a college student that I needed a credit card 1) to build good credit and 2) for emergencies.
I felt like it would be irresponsible for me to not have one.

Some people handle credit cards just fine. But for me it is to easy to spend without out realizing how fast the bill is adding up.

But what really convinced me was the dvd "Maxed Out" that was shown at my College and Careers class.
The credit card people ( please dear God) have made a fool out of me for the last time.

[duncan228]

Good for you Angel.
Credit and debt are hard lessons for anyone to learn.
I'm happy for you!

[mrsmaalox]

Good job. When I met my hubby I was slowly working my way towards financial indepenence. He is 15yrs older and was already there. He gave me 2 rules that have helped me to this day that changed my life completely. First was if you don't have the cash to pay for something, you can't afford it. 2nd was if you can't pay for your car in 3 years you can't afford it. I know it's harsh and some people have no choice. But it has worked for us and I'm proud to say we have $0 credit card debt. So if you can manage it, go for it..

[ShoogarBear]

When did angel start drinking?

[ploto]

Congrats! You've learned an important lesson at an early age.

[RashoFan]

Way to go Lil Sis!

[Das Texan]

i love credit cards myself personally.



then again it allows me to buy stuff now, pay for them within the next12-18 m onths or just simply transfer whatever i owe one to another again for basically nothing.


hooray!

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

How big was your debt at it's worst, Angel? Have you cut the card up yet? Keep a $1000 limit card for real emergencies and get rid of anything else or you may succumb to temptation... ;)

mrsmallox - very sound rules, although personally I think borrowing to buy a car is a waste as it's an asset that depreciates very rapidly. You can buy a great, reliable second hand vehicle for $3000 if you know what you're doing, so borrowing for a car is unnecessary IMHO, although most of the universe seems to disagree with me.

[mrsmaalox]

mrsmallox - very sound rules, although personally I think borrowing to buy a car is a waste as it's an asset that depreciates very rapidly. You can buy a great, reliable second hand vehicle for $3000 if you know what you're doing, so borrowing for a car is unnecessary IMHO, although most of the universe seems to disagree with me.

No you are absolutely right. In fact we share that same opinion---now. There are just too many freakin cars on this earth anyway!

[easjer]

Well done, Angel! We will hopefully be posting something similar in May. I sure hope so, since we won't start ttc until the credit card debt is gone (nor can we remodel the bathroom, which is desperately needed until then).

Although I think the principles listed above are sound - I see no way around car debt for us. My car is good for another year or so, and we hope to have saved up some money - but we are looking to buy a vehicle that will last us for 10+ years and accommodate up to 4 children and animals in case of hurricane flight. I think new is the best way for us to go, and we cannot save up enough money to buy new in cash before my car's long life is ended, I fear.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Well done, Angel! We will hopefully be posting something similar in May. I sure hope so, since we won't start ttc until the credit card debt is gone (nor can we remodel the bathroom, which is desperately needed until then).

Although I think the principles listed above are sound - I see no way around car debt for us. My car is good for another year or so, and we hope to have saved up some money - but we are looking to buy a vehicle that will last us for 10+ years and accommodate up to 4 children and animals in case of hurricane flight. I think new is the best way for us to go, and we cannot save up enough money to buy new in cash before my car's long life is ended, I fear.

Sounds like you need an Ark! :lol

[easjer]

Sounds like you need an Ark! :lol


:lol

No kidding! The reality is that we'd probably try to stick out a hurricane, but ever since our failed evac in advance of Hurricane Rita not hitting us, what we might need for evacuation is always on my mind.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

:lol

No kidding! The reality is that we'd probably try to stick out a hurricane, but ever since our failed evac in advance of Hurricane Rita not hitting us, what we might need for evacuation is always on my mind.

Why would you evac from SA? Or are you near the coast?

I lived in Okinawa which gets hit by 10-20 typhoons a year (Aust - cyclone = US - hurricane = Japan - typhoon), and we'd just hole up and let them blow over.

I was in a category 5, once in 40 year storm called Maemi. That was a sight to see!

[pawe]

I bought a mercedes benz and paid off my credit cards in just 6 months..beat that! j/k
Congrats Angel! Money management is really important nowadays specially with the recent economic slump.

[angel_luv]

How big was your debt at it's worst, Angel? Have you cut the card up yet? Keep a $1000 limit card for real emergencies and get rid of anything else or you may succumb to temptation... ;)

mrsmallox - very sound rules, although personally I think borrowing to buy a car is a waste as it's an asset that depreciates very rapidly. You can buy a great, reliable second hand vehicle for $3000 if you know what you're doing, so borrowing for a car is unnecessary IMHO, although most of the universe seems to disagree with me.


It wasn't that my credit card bill was ever so horrendous but several sort of bad ones do add up after awhile.
I think the worst bill I had was this last one for $1100.
( It got that high because it was the balance for two months plus some car repairs.)

I have never spent way more than my means but over spending is over spending and I am wary of getting into the habit of it.


I had a really eye opening experience this month with the whole credit card thing.
While I still owed them all of the bill I just paid off ( the $1100 one), the credit card company sent me a letter saying they had upped my available credit by a thousand dollars.
I was like, " Guys, I can't even manage well the money you gave me, yet here are you giving me more. That's insane."


The whole experience made me realize that the credit card company not only does not care if I drown in debt they will do everything in their power to help me owe them big.

No thank you.

[easjer]

Why would you evac from SA? Or are you near the coast?

I lived in Okinawa which gets hit by 10-20 typhoons a year (Aust - cyclone = US - hurricane = Japan - typhoon), and we'd just hole up and let them blow over.

I was in a category 5, once in 40 year storm called Maemi. That was a sight to see!


We live in Houston. We try to keep fully stocked for potential hurricanes, and live far enough inland and away from bayous that we should survive a hurricane, especially after our horrifying evac experience. With Rita, we had never been in the path of a hurricane and it was a cat 5, and Katrina was the month before, and we were getting married in SA the following week. We had planned to stick it out, but then got worried by folks who'd been through hurricanes evacing and worried that something might happen to the car or we'd be stranded in Houston and unable to get out for the wedding.

Angel - good for you for managing your credit so responsibly. It is a real accomplishment to pay off your debt.