Comments on Stop the Ride!: The Curse of Good Credit

the better your credit is the more debt you accumu...

2008-04-15T12:51:00.000-04:00

the better your credit is the more debt you accumulate. They love people that carry a balance and pay min. payments. I am a credit counsellor and know all too well their tactics.

And as long as our society is what it is..credit b...

2008-04-15T08:34:00.000-04:00

And as long as our society is what it is..credit based and the "I want it now" mentality, we'll continue to have financial messes like we have now.

I guess it's no wonder...look at our own government..even they are deeply in debt and just keep adding to it with no end in sight...sigh...

Way to go kid! Credit used wisely is not a bad th...

2008-04-15T06:02:00.000-04:00

Way to go kid! Credit used wisely is not a bad thing but most of aren't wise in using it. Ironically, in our case, we have found that sometimes credit cards give you the best rate. In 2007 we averaged just over 4% interest including balance transfer fees and interestingly enough we now have most of our credit card interest fixed for the life of the loan (unless our credit rating drops or we miss payments). Sometime ago I was solicited by a credit "counseling service" who suggested I stop making payment on the credit cards and then they would be able to negotiate sith card companies and settle for about 50%.

If I were to max out the limits on our existing cards, I could borrow about $250,000. And of course, maybe get additional from all the new offers that come in constantly. If the credit card "counseling service" can settle for 50%, that should leave me setting in a pretty good situation. Of course, my credit would be ruined, but so what?

Is there anything wrong with this picture?

Congratulations,Stephanie, on recognizing the dang...

2008-04-14T21:35:00.000-04:00

Congratulations,Stephanie, on recognizing the danger of credit and working to reduce it. I hope you get to the point where you can reduce those credit card limits. They are a liability if you ever need a loan from a reputable financial institution.

Anonym.Glad to do know I'm not the only one.Arden,...

2008-04-14T12:42:00.000-04:00

Anonym.
Glad to do know I'm not the only one.

Arden,
Sometimes it seems like we will never be rid of them. We make progress, but it is painfully slow

Robbyn,
Rant away I'm right there with you. I guess the incentive is supposed to be our good credit rating, but frankly I could care less about mine. If I didn't have a firm sense of responsibility for my actions it would be very easy to go down the bankruptcy road.

Amy,
I don't get a lot of new offers, but a lot of offers from banks we have worked with. I think it is crazy that they offer college students so much credit, as if student loans aren't already there laying a trap. Something to educate our children about!

It is crazy how backwards the system is, but I gue...

2008-04-14T10:14:00.000-04:00

It is crazy how backwards the system is, but I guess that is how we get suckered into debt. I got more credit card offers when I was in college and completely broke then we do now. It just doesn't make any sense to me!

Youre really really right! The thing that concern...

2008-04-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

Youre really really right! The thing that concerns both my husband and myself is how a lot of folks keep on going with the cycle, and how it seems ALL the creditors just keep pushing and pushing for folks to take on a huge percentage of debt. Is it just me, or in the past 10 years has our banking system seemed a little DESPERATE to URGE people to get into so much debt? And to bail out big business when it runs amok because of all the risk involved, yet no incentives go to the folks who DO make their payments and don't foreclose?? All I keep hearing is spend spend spend. SO different than those WW2 days you hear about when folks had to ration, grow a victory garden, and save save save.

Uhoh...this is a rant ;-)

One good thing from First USA Visa. About 10 year...

2008-04-14T08:57:00.000-04:00

One good thing from First USA Visa. About 10 years ago they made me so mad with a random rate increase that I finally got serious and we paid all cards off.

Since then we have bought a house, added 5 children and made it through some hard times without using those blasted cards.

It doesn't take hardly anything to max out a card. Like you said, it can even be $30 or $40 at a time. A few years down the road and it feels like a noose around your neck.

I wish you nothing but good luck in getting those pieces of plastic out of your life. You will be happier for it.

I kid you not, I could have written that post. My ...

2008-04-14T08:10:00.000-04:00

I kid you not, I could have written that post. My husband and I have SO learned our lesson. Never again. Debt is so bad. I am proud to say that we won't have ANY debt at this time next year. Although we're still saving, it's hard to save when you have debt weighing you down. But we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But what a painful lesson to learn. One thing good came out of this: My husband is happy he married a deep-down frugal woman. He's enjoying the Challenge.