How much do you owe CCs?

[MIGrandma]

We owe nothing on our credit cards, and it feels really good to be able to say that. DH has one in his name (for business) and he pays it off each month. We have a joint one that I just paid the balance (just under $900) off a couple of months ago. The only thing that regularly goes on that is the Netflix charge, and I pay that each month. DH did pay off a big school loan for our DS (the bank was charging him 19% interest ) and he used his credit card to pay it so we get the points but he will pay that in full this coming week. We'll probably use the cards some while we're on vacation next month, but will pay them in full when they come due. We are so happy to finally be out of credit card debt, and plan to keep it that way. Cash is now king!!

 

[Goldenbear6]

No debt.

 

[mill4023]

We were advised to get a few new credit cards and begin running moderate balances to bring up our score. We did that and within 3 months my score went up over 100 points.

Do you mean carrying a balance?
If so, that is not necessary.

Having active revolving credit accounts shows potential creditors that you can handle credit. But there is no reason you need to carry a balance. Paying off your cards in full every month is good.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Do you mean carrying a balance?
If so, that is not necessary.

Having active revolving credit accounts shows potential creditors that you can handle credit. But there is no reason you need to carry a balance. Paying off your cards in full every month is good.

LOL - yeah, but not using credit cards is bad somehow. That is my point. Even with a perfect credit history (mortgage, car loan, student loans), having not used our credit cards in a few years brought down our credit score. Since when is paying for things with cash a bad thing for a credit score?

The answer - since the banks got into the credit card industry. If you don't use credit cards, your credit score goes down. Having them is not enough. That is absurd...

 

[comicguy]

We have about 3800 (at 2.9%) in CC debt, 34000 in SL's plus two car payments that total about 500/ month for 5 years (1 loan at 1.9% and the other at 0%) plus the mortage and we still go on vacations to WDW each year.

We do that by taking any proceeds from my "wheeling and dealing" and applying it towards WDW. We only go when we have enough to pay for the trip.

The houshold fund pays eveything else.

Yes, if I did not go to WDW I would be out of debt much quicker but my DS is 17 and will be going off on his own in the next couple of years, so I value our family time at WDW.

 

[Pigeon]

We've got a modest mortgage (under $75,000) and one modest car loan (three years, payment under $280). That's it. No credit card debt. We use a credit card for convenience, but pay it off every month.

If I were you, I'd use the refund toward the cc debt, provided you have a little money in an emergency fund.

 

[wvjules]

Thank you, I am, my sister's dentist will do a payment plan. Interest free for 18 months. I could afford $100-$200 a month, I could not afford a large sum of $2000 at once.

Umm, HELLO!?!?!? Yes, you can. You are getting a huge sum of money. Use it for necessities like getting your teeth taken care of then have fun with it. Its not rocket science.

You posted on the BB about needing money for the dentist, a new car, disney, etc. The dentist trumps the car and Disney.

 

[Planogirl]

Umm, HELLO!?!?!? Yes, you can. You are getting a huge sum of money. Use it for necessities like getting your teeth taken care of then have fun with it. Its not rocket science.

You posted on the BB about needing money for the dentist, a new car, disney, etc. The dentist trumps the car and Disney.

That depends on the car. I need dental work, a car and Disney too but I agree that the dental work and car trump Disney.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I have debt and not afraid to admit it.

2 store credit cards but each have only a $150.00 line of credit. Some times I can pay it off, sometimes it rolls a few months.

1 personal loan at $6900.00 at zero interest rate. Combined bills when DH was laid off for 3 years (trust me it was much higher back then) but it was put a zero interest rate when I became disabled. I pay the minimum each month, why not, no interest accrues??

Car loan and a house note. Both are at a reasonable interest rate and at this time I do not double up or pay extra.

2 children in private school, each month there is a payment fee of $5.00 for each kid or $10.00 per month. I do not have the option to pay off in full.

I do not have an actual credit card, all other purchases are done via our debit card and that includes our Disney trips.

So OP, yes I am a member of the debt club.

 

[princesspiglet]

I would say 90% of America has some kind of debt. Of course those other 10% are all on the DIS.

We have debt. DH and I both have a 0% interest credit card that we each have a $10k limit on. We only use those for emergencies and his balance is about $200 and mine is $400. We also have 2 car payments and a house payment. We also have a line of credit from our bank for $10k- the balance of which is $800 with 2% interest.

We also have a savings account, a 529 acccount and 2 401k's...and yes, we still go to Disney every year even with our debt.

 

[bettymae1121]

DH and I have CC debt, all from our 2005 wedding. Not the brightest move, perhaps, but one I don't regret. My mother didn't live to see our 2nd aniversary, and I know that our wedding and reception was one of the happiest days of her life. I'd spend that money again in a second.

I don't wish to disclose the exact amount, but it is higher than the national average. We are working to pay it off, it is slow going as we are also rehabing our 60 year old fixer upper house (mostly needed updates and repairs, not too much cosmetic). That said, we have a low monthly mortgage payment, no car loans and my DH can do all nessesary repair work for nothing more than the cost of parts, a good size balance in our 401k's given our ages. Other than trips to Home Depot, our monthly expenses are also quite low. A good expample, we spend in a year what most people spend in a month on cell phone bills.

And we do *gasp* take vacations. Usually it's a trip to see family with a side trip to some place fun for just DH and I. Last year it was a trip to see MIL and we spent a day in nearby DC. This year my DB is getting married and we are going to Disneyland for a few days before hand. DH's father died young, and he and MIL put off almost all of their travel and "fun time" figuring on doing it all during a retirement he never lived to see. DH has health problems of his own, so we don't want to fall into the same trap. We aren't taking huge trips, as you can see. Big ticket vacations will wait until we are debt free, but I see no reason to put off smaller trips, especially when we are also visiting out of state family at the same time.

While CC debt should be avoided if possible, I don't see a problem with short term manageable CC debt. DH and I could live on just one income (not including unemployment) and still make the miniums on our CC debt and make all our other obligations, so we feel in our situation, the risk is low. Of course we want to pay it off, and our goal is to be CC debt free in the future. But I'm not losing sleep at night over our current sitation, either.

 

[wdwfan16]

I would say 90% of America has some kind of debt. Of course those other 10% are all on the DIS.

We have debt. DH and I both have a 0% interest credit card that we each have a $10k limit on. We only use those for emergencies and his balance is about $200 and mine is $400. We also have 2 car payments and a house payment. We also have a line of credit from our bank for $10k- the balance of which is $800 with 2% interest.

We also have a savings account, a 529 acccount and 2 401k's...and yes, we still go to Disney every year even with our debt.

According to this site your numbers are way off.

http://www.bcsalliance.com/debt_amerstats.html


Fact 1: Most Americans (55%) owe nothing to credit card companies.
Fact 2: Only 1 out of 20 Americans carries too much credit card debt.
Fact 3: About 25% of Americans do not have a single credit card at all.
Fact 4: About 56% of those who use credit cards pay the balances in full each month and this percentage is expected to increase dramatically over the coming years as people become smarter about carrying credit card debt.
Fact 5: Only 6% of the Americans who do use credit cards are carrying too much credit card debt, but only about 1% of these debtors have credit card balances over $20,000.


Another that has many statistic. The % of home with mortgages I posted below.

http://www.money-zine.com/Financial-Planning/Debt-Consolidation/Credit-Card-Debt-Statistics/

Roughly 70% of homes that are occupied by their owners have a mortgage.
Of those homeowners with a mortgage, 22.6% of them have either a second mortgage or a home equity loan.
Only 0.4% of homeowners have both a second mortgage and a home equity loan.


And one more:

http://www.americandebtadvisor.com/questions/howmanyamericansareindebt.shtml


So how many Americans are in debt? Excluding minors, the total is somewhere in the neighborhood of 80% if we include secured debts like homes and cars. Excluding those particular purchases puts us closer to 50% of the adult population, and half of that 50% has thousands of dollars owed.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

According to this site your numbers are way off...

Not the addressed poster, but these stats only address CC debt. The PP said "some kind of debt". I know that the thread is about CC debt, but still...

 

[natenapril]

I would say 90% of America has some kind of debt. Of course those other 10% are all on the DIS.
.

I have never seen as many debt free people as the disboards

 

[creativeamanda]

I have never seen as many debt free people as the disboards

 

[SaraJayne]

I have never seen as many debt free people as the disboards

I never said I was debt free. I said I was credit card debt-free. There's a difference.

We have a mortgage and a car payment, and that's it.

 

[Katieinwonderland]

I have never seen as many debt free people as the disboards

I know!

 

[ccgirl]

I guess I am in the minority as I have $20,000 in credit card debt. No idea how it got there but it did. Could be that I was laid off twice within the past 18 months. We also have a mortgage, a $500 car payment, student loan bills and I send my DD to private school. I know most people will say to pull her out of private school and pay off the debt but NO WAY! I want to school to be an extension of the morals we teach her at home. I do finally have a plan to pay off the CC's but they are there. And....I am going to Disney in May. Life is too short if you ask me. I am disappointed that we got into cc debt again. Have been there before and rolled $40,000 into the house. I'm sure there are others out there like me that are just too embarassed or ashamed to post. Just because you have credit card debt does not make you a bad person. To all those that don't have debt, kudos to you.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I guess I am in the minority as I have $20,000 in credit card debt. No idea how it got there but it did. Could be that I was laid off twice within the past 18 months. We also have a mortgage, a $500 car payment, student loan bills and I send my DD to private school. I know most people will say to pull her out of private school and pay off the debt but NO WAY! I want to school to be an extension of the morals we teach her at home. I do finally have a plan to pay off the CC's but they are there. And....I am going to Disney in May. Life is too short if you ask me. I am disappointed that we got into cc debt again. Have been there before and rolled $40,000 into the house. I'm sure there are others out there like me that are just too embarassed or ashamed to post. Just because you have credit card debt does not make you a bad person. To all those that don't have debt, kudos to you.

Say 10 Dave Ramseys and 25 Suze Ormans. Go forward and borrow no more...

(j/k )

 

[marcyinPA]

Marcy, I feel for you.
We are now debt free but it took almost 5 years. My husband was laid off 2xs in 2 years when his field tanked. We did what so many people had to do or are doing now we lived on credit cards.

I will say a prayer for you.

Thank you! Our situation is hard, but not impossible. Prayers headed your way too...