CC minimum payment increase...HOLY COW!

[mommyoeo]

You don't need a credit score for a house if you'll be paying cash or if you don't mind having a higher interest rate. Otherwise, it matters a great deal when buying a house.

OOPS!

 

[mommyoeo]

You don't need a credit score for a house if you'll be paying cash or if you don't mind having a higher interest rate. Otherwise, it matters a great deal when buying a house.

Actually, in the FPU class, I guess they teach how to get a mortgage without your credit score

I could get more info if needed, but I hear there are companies that are for people with "no credit" or who usually use cash only and want to finance their house.

 

[BuckNaked]

Actually, in the FPU class, I guess they teach how to get a mortgage without your credit score

I could get more info if needed, but I hear there are companies that are for people with "no credit" or cash only, no their house though.

I don't believe that you can get a mortgage "without a credit score", unless you want to pay a much higher interest rate.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I'm sure you are right! My point is that going into debt in order to have "good credit" is not necessary. "No credit" is often fine too. Pay cash in advance for your monthly service. It's an option anyway and doesn't require going into debt further. Employers would not want to see bad credit but the fact that you are not in debt at all is probably a huge benefit that shows you are disciplined, hard working, willing to sacrifice, etc. You could put any spin on that and smell like a rose.

So, I'm not trying to say that bad credit will not hurt you. Just that "good credit" doesn't have to be the goal if you are cash only. Anyone renting a house out would be pleased to see that a large percentage of the person's check is not going to outstanding debt.

Now, let me tell you a little of my history. I'm like an alcholic reading posts that a little drink won't kill you. We're cash only and we get everything we need with cash. We're living better than ever and the freedom has helped every area of our lives. Less than 5 years ago, we owed $32,000 on CCs and were charging our electricity bill sometimes because we were so tight. Nothing we had was extravagant. Some debt was grad school debt; some was medical bills. Anyhow, our credit score was 750. Anyone dumb enough to lend us money at that point would have had a sad surprise. Luckily, we stopped getting more credit lived on $80 a week, no matter what came up until we've come to this point. It was hard to see my children go without and know it was my fault. On a business trip, our co-workers were buying ice creams for thier kids and we didn't have $1.50 for ice cream because we sent everything off to debt. We've had pancakes for many breakfasts and dinners, using food coloring sometimes for variety. It was a pitiful scene, for sure! And yet, we saw progress every month and were energized like crazy. We'll pay the last card in April. So, if I come across as extreme, please forgive me. I don't intend to push my views on anyone, I'm just really excited about this stuff now. The light at the end of the tunnel is just so pretty!!

I just want to say WTG!!!! You are a true inspiration to me. That is incredible.

My New Years resolution, I decided today, and in part from reading this thread, is to hand over my 2 ccs to DH. That INCLUDES my Disney Visa. No matter how many times I pay it off, and swear I will never carry a balance again, I always get it too high to pay off. I am tired of the circle. I like being able to buy things when I don't have the cash. I guy I met today gave me a bugdet spreadsheet. I want Dh to go over evrything with me, including how much I pay to put gas in my car. This will be a burden to keep track of, but it just means I have to become a lot more organized. We can have a plan to get out of debt, we just need to apply one.

Anyone have a good book of reference? My BIL loves Suzy Ormond, but she seems a little too strict for me..maybe that is what I need.

Imagine how often we can go to WDW if I had the $500 I pay out to CC to put in the bank every month.

 

[Chicago526]

I just want to say WTG!!!! You are a true inspiration to me. That is incredible.

My New Years resolution, I decided today, and in part from reading this thread, is to hand over my 2 ccs to DH. That INCLUDES my Disney Visa. No matter how many times I pay it off, and swear I will never carry a balance again, I always get it too high to pay off. I am tired of the circle. I like being able to buy things when I don't have the cash. I guy I met today gave me a bugdet spreadsheet. I want Dh to go over evrything with me, including how much I pay to put gas in my car. This will be a burden to keep track of, but it just means I have to become a lot more organized. We can have a plan to get out of debt, we just need to apply one.

Anyone have a good book of reference? My BIL loves Suzy Ormond, but she seems a little too strict for me..maybe that is what I need.

Imagine how often we can go to WDW if I had the $500 I pay out to CC to put in the bank every month.

I'd recommend Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover". While I don't agree with everything he says, and don't actually follow his plan 100%, he does have a lot of great advice, especially on how to pay down/off those pesky credit cards and car loans. He mentions something called "gazelle intense" which means cutting EVERYTHING extra out and putting 100% of the money you have left after the necessities towards debt, but I personaly feel that is too harsh unless you are one paycheck away from bankruptcy. But over all it's a great book, easy to read and understand.

 

[mcnuss]

Have you ever paid the collective we's taxes?

I pay plenty in taxes and still think we don't do enough. This member of the collective would much prefer to allocate our resources in a way that benefits our own citizens.

Is she going after the dad or is she going to let him slide. Maybe he also needs a safety net?

Of course she is.

I'm out now, and saddened that so many here don't understand the difference between a deadbeat and someone who has fallen on hard times, and that so many are so smug and secure in their comfortable lives that they can turn away and pretend it won't happen to them. I'll pray that all of your safety nets hold.

 

[BuckNaked]

I pay plenty in taxes and still think we don't do enough. This member of the collective would much prefer to allocate our resources in a way that benefits our own citizens.

There is plenty of money allocated to benefit citizens. We need less confiscated from some to pay for many rather than more

 

[hentob]

In graygables defense, I think her trips were either won or paid for by family. I might be mixing her up with another poster though!

Actually, earlier in this thread she said that some were paid for by others and she won one. Her exact words were::::



"Yes, we have had several WDW vacations in the last few years (one was a prize from Kellogg's, some were paid for by my parents), but that is a CHOICE we made. We decided that we wanted our children to enjoy some of the things we did not have in our childhoods (WDW, specifically...I grew up in Germany, DH's family never took vacations) and as such, chose to continue to pay lower amounts to our creditors to have money available for making memories with our children, while they are still children. Extra money that someone else may have chosen to apply to debt, we chose to apply to something else........"

Again--her business.

But PLEASE don't cry the "Groceries or Medicine" blues if you can go to WDW. That is just a gross statement coming from someone that has been to The Mouse _that_ many times.

There are really those who have to make that heartbreaking choice everyday.

 

[disneymom3]

Have any of you dealt with a series of layoffs? I mean actual layoffs where the plant or office closed and several people were ditched without warning. Combine that with huge medical and repair bills plus old debt that a spouse managed to accumulate and a home closing in the not too distant past and then see how long your personal safety nets last.

It's not always possible to be completely prepared. I'm not saying that anyone else should pay for these problems but maybe a break for someone who is struggling and trying to pay their debts in good faith wouldn't be unreasonable. I mean such as a way to pay their bills WITHOUT doubling minimum payments for a while or another way to go besides bankruptcy.

Yes, I have and I agree with you. It is very frustrating to be trying to do your best to keep up with what used to be an affordable lifestyle and no longer is with no assistance whatsoever. Dh was laid off for 15 months and at the same time, there were so many people looking for jobs in his field it was insane. A good friend of his with 12 years more experience than he had in the field was looking and unemployed at the same time. Technology companines shutting down left and right. It was not pretty and yeah, we had the requisite 3 months of expenses in the bank. We also ended up cashing out all savings, etc etc, but it just didn't cut it. In the meantime, DS has expensive medical needs, and I had the most eyepoppingly expensive MRI I could have imagined. What are you to do?

We tried to work with the mortgage co to even give us one month off, no go. People suggested selling our house. Well, we have a pretty low house payment compared to renting, we live in a neighborhood where houses just were NOT moving and we have to live somewhere and guess what? Apartment managers really want you to have a job. Funny how that works And yeah, we ended up with high cc balances that we couldn't make payments on because we had to eat and had to put gas in the car to make it to the crappy paying job that was the best thing out there.

We learned a lot of lessons during that time--like not having a high car payment even though at hte time we can "afford" it. How to trim grocery bills extensively. What the kids REALLY need as opposed to what you THINK they need, etc. It is just annoying that on these boards when the subject of debt comes up, what seems to be the vast majority of posters make these assumptions that people are in debt because they all have large screen tvs and new cars etc.

 

[Caradana]

Heh, well I think that you're being a little tough on Caradana, but to be honest, once I got my first "real job", the college that I attended was never brought up again in an interview. Previous jobs yes, experience yes, professional skills...yes, but college....never. My husband would say the same thing. An Ivy League degree may be a golden ticket to that first great job, but after that you've got to prove yourself just like everyone else.

Caradana can take it, thanks for the hand though One keyword on your resume is sometimes all you need. Thank god for that.

 

[Caradana]

But with that said, is anybody really better off in the long run because credit cards were an option? Everything I've read about the typical situations basically comes down to credit cards making it worse, prolonging the problem long after the crisis is over.

I'd argue that my cc's rewards program makes me better off than I'd be otherwise; I get a great gift certificate every few months, and Amex Centurion concierge is able to get reservations at places you couldn't otherwise go. They'll even do the early AM calls to get the Royal Table, if you call them and ask.

 

[cardaway]

I'd argue that my cc's rewards program makes me better off than I'd be otherwise; I get a great gift certificate every few months, and Amex Centurion concierge is able to get reservations at places you couldn't otherwise go. They'll even do the early AM calls to get the Royal Table, if you call them and ask.

I think it's safe to say that's another topic. Rewards are great, no doubt about it.

 

[Buckalew11]

As far as serious layoffs go, we went through unemployment a few years ago. Had a house to pay for, a car to pay for, tuition to pay for and regular bills including health insurance which was quite expensive. However, we did not use credit cards to pay bills and received no help from family.

DH went out and worked every day of that unemployment. Every day. He had a wife and a dd and bills to pay. He is a college grad who dug ditches and did about anything anyone would hire him to do. I think we turned in 4 W2s that year.
He didn't work in his field of choice but the man worked to support his family and pay his bills w/o using CCs.
It always sickens me to think able-bodied people will sit at home reading want-ads looking for work and getting more and more in debt as the months go by. I once had a guy tell me during his lay-off that he wasn't going to work for less than $15.00 a hour. He had no education, hardly any skills and had a family of 4 to support. Hard to feel sorry for someone who thinks they are too good to go down and flop whoppers.

Living beyond your means is a poor choice and a poor lesson to teach kids IMHO.

 

[OhMari]

As far as serious layoffs go, we went through unemployment a few years ago. Had a house to pay for, a car to pay for, tuition to pay for and regular bills including health insurance which was quite expensive. However, we did not use credit cards to pay bills and received no help from family.

DH went out and worked every day of that unemployment. Every day. He had a wife and a dd and bills to pay. He is a college grad who dug ditches and did about anything anyone would hire him to do. I think we turned in 4 W2s that year.
He didn't work in his field of choice but the man worked to support his family and pay his bills w/o using CCs.
It always sickens me to think able-bodied people will sit at home reading want-ads looking for work and getting more and more in debt as the months go by. I once had a guy tell me during his lay-off that he wasn't going to work for less than $15.00 a hour. He had no education, hardly any skills and had a family of 4 to support. Hard to feel sorry for someone who thinks they are too good to go down and flop whoppers.

Living beyond your means is a poor choice and a poor lesson to teach kids IMHO.

My husband was the same way-his unemployment was $335 a week, so he could of went downtown and flipped burgers, but they would of subtracked the hours he worked and he would of ended up making a lot less. Luckily some people needed their work trucks repaired-because it was the middle of winter in WI. So he was able to make some cash, which helped pay our $1,200 cobra payment.

I'm sorry but you can't dig ditches in WI or do construction work in the middle of winter in WI. Many, many construction workers lay off workers in winter, so jobs are really hard to come by in winter around here.

 

[dvcgirl]

As far as serious layoffs go, we went through unemployment a few years ago. Had a house to pay for, a car to pay for, tuition to pay for and regular bills including health insurance which was quite expensive. However, we did not use credit cards to pay bills and received no help from family.

DH went out and worked every day of that unemployment. Every day. He had a wife and a dd and bills to pay. He is a college grad who dug ditches and did about anything anyone would hire him to do. I think we turned in 4 W2s that year.
He didn't work in his field of choice but the man worked to support his family and pay his bills w/o using CCs.
It always sickens me to think able-bodied people will sit at home reading want-ads looking for work and getting more and more in debt as the months go by. I once had a guy tell me during his lay-off that he wasn't going to work for less than $15.00 a hour. He had no education, hardly any skills and had a family of 4 to support. Hard to feel sorry for someone who thinks they are too good to go down and flop whoppers.

Living beyond your means is a poor choice and a poor lesson to teach kids IMHO.

Well said Buckalew! You are right, and nobody likes to talk about it, but some people (not anyone here specificially) are just not go-getters, hard workers.....whatever you want to call it. We too have experienced a lay off and many job changes/buyouts. With each one of these comes big uncertainty and worry. But we have learned that we will always come out okay because we both work very hard and because we have learned to live well beneath our means.

My DH was the final employee of 80 laid off at the office he ran at the time when he was laid off. This was in 2002, not exactly a great time for software execs to find work. He had a job within a few weeks, writing code again wit sizebale pay cut...which was find with us because we were already living well below our means anyway. We had a big emergency fund and so we knew we'd be fine. The new job really wasn't what he really wanted to do, but he took that job anyway. He learned a whole new skill set within his field and ended up enjoying it so much that he started a small start-up in that same field two years later which he just sold to a large company in California. When life hands you lemons....make lemonaide.

I've always been so proud of my husband. You sound the same way Buckalew. And I'm not proud because he makes a lot of money but because he works so hard and everyone he works with really respects and admires him. He's so bright and so driven and he's full of something else you see little of these days...integrity. It's such a rare thing these days.

And yet he has a brother who rarely keeps his word and is just plain lazy. Never made enough money to properly support his family. My in-laws have bailed them out of CC debt more times than I care to count. And this is a pretty bright guy too. Nearly 50 years old, it was only when his parents gifted him the down payment on a house that he bought his own house. Keep in mind that my BIL , his wife and two kids lived with my in-laws (my DH's parents) for 17 years. My in-laws finally realized that they only way to get rid of them was for *them* to move to a retirement community.

So yeah, sometimes I have a hard time feeling sorry for people in CC debt...not everyone mind you. I'm aware that there are extreme cases. But not everyone is doing everything that they to avoid getting into that mess in the first place. And once in the mess, not everyone is trying as hard as they can to dig themselves out.

 

[Buckalew11]

I've always been so proud of my husband. You sound the same way Buckalew. And I'm not proud because he makes a lot of money but because he works so hard and everyone he works with really respects and admires him. He's so bright and so driven and he's full of something else you see little of these days...integrity. It's such a rare thing these days.

You got that right! I saw what a man he really was. And dvcgirl, I know what you mean exactly!

And I am sure there is the unemplyment thing happening in these situations. We collected no unemplyment during this time so didn't have to worry about that. But then again, we had NO unemplyment $ coming in so all the more reason we could have gotten deep into CC debt.
And maybe you can't dig ditches in WI in the winter. My point is there is something out there you can do.
Oh and I worked extra hard during this time also!

 

[graygables]

Actually, earlier in this thread she said that some were paid for by others and she won one. Her exact words were::::



"Yes, we have had several WDW vacations in the last few years (one was a prize from Kellogg's, some were paid for by my parents), but that is a CHOICE we made. We decided that we wanted our children to enjoy some of the things we did not have in our childhoods (WDW, specifically...I grew up in Germany, DH's family never took vacations) and as such, chose to continue to pay lower amounts to our creditors to have money available for making memories with our children, while they are still children. Extra money that someone else may have chosen to apply to debt, we chose to apply to something else........"

Again--her business.

But PLEASE don't cry the "Groceries or Medicine" blues if you can go to WDW. That is just a gross statement coming from someone that has been to The Mouse _that_ many times.

There are really those who have to make that heartbreaking choice everyday.

Yes, thank you for posting that...we have only paid for 1 1/2 of the trips since 1993. We chose to take some extra money I earned on the side to pay for those trips rather than put it toward paying down the CCs (which we pay a bit more than minimums on)...our choice which was right for our family. We made memories that are priceless and my girls will remember their Disney childhood for the rest of their lives.

I don't right now have the groceries vs. meds dilemma myself (although my ILs do), my point is that some people are so snug and secure in their financial situation that they just make snap remarks that come across as condescending toward others when they really need to walk a mile in those shoes first.

 

[Puffy2]

I think that the credit card debt in this country is like a masked symptom of a failed economy.

It is clear that there is a large percentage of our population who can not survive on their income (some even working 2 and 3 jobs). The credit cards (loan sharks) are the only way for some to survive at all. And it keeps the politicans from having to admit that the country as a whole has a problem, therefore they don't have to do anything to address it.

Bottom line, the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer and the middle class is rapidly losing ground. What to do? Try to pay down that debt and VOTE for those who you feel will really address your economic needs for a living wage (because the "trickle down" therory isn't working).

 

[mickeyfan2]

I don't believe that you can get a mortgage "without a credit score", unless you want to pay a much higher interest rate.

Put 20% down on a house and you will get the mortgage no questions asked. The bank sees 20% down as a very low risk.
1) Had the ability to save 20%
2) If you default the bank will have no problem seeing the house in a fire sale and still getting back it's 80%.

 

[mickeyfan2]

My husband was the same way-his unemployment was $335 a week, so he could of went downtown and flipped burgers, but they would of subtracked the hours he worked and he would of ended up making a lot less. Luckily some people needed their work trucks repaired-because it was the middle of winter in WI. So he was able to make some cash, which helped pay our $1,200 cobra payment.

I'm sorry but you can't dig ditches in WI or do construction work in the middle of winter in WI. Many, many construction workers lay off workers in winter, so jobs are really hard to come by in winter around here.

I know all about unemployment - been there, done that, never used CCs to finance our life. BTW we pay our own health insurance and have a $2000 per person deductible. So I do know what I am talking about. If DH is unemployed and DW does not go right out and flip burgers to add to his UCI while he is looking for a job and looking after the kids, but would rather us e CCs to pay the bills, well that is their choice. CC debt should be a last resort not a first resort. When DH is working we live below our means so that we can not use CCs to pay for necessities when he is unemployed.