Official DIS Debt/Finance Support Thread

[disneysteve]

Someone mentioned somewhere on these boards about another savings plan that offers great rates (better than ING). What is the name? I think it was another "direct" company.

There are lots of places that pay better than ING. Their rate is rather lousy actually.

Emigrant Direct 5.15%
AmTrust Direct 5.15%
HSBC Direct 5.05%

 

[nowellsl]

This is defintely good advice. Pay off the CC's - great! But get rid of all but one and don't use it except in emergency or necessity (renting a car, etc, where debit cards are not accepted).

Someone mentioned somewhere on these boards about another savings plan that offers great rates (better than ING). What is the name? I think it was another "direct" company.

I think I'll start another thread asking about "where are you finding great savings rates?"

Sally

HSBCdirect is offering 5.05% it's a pain to open though!

 

[mousefanmichelle]

Ok so I have a Sears Gold MC - I called yesterday to find out the current balance and the message while I was on hold talked about signing up for free rewards program - gift cards for Sear and restaurants and various other rewards. This sounded good - but out intrest rate for this card is outrageous - so I go out to get the mail and low and behold there is an offer from Disney (Chase or something like that) for 0% til
12-07 on new purchases and bal. transfers plus rewards sounds good except that the rate is not fixed - which I like it is variable 13.99% or something like that. I know that if I transfer my Sears balance on this card that I will have it paid off before 12-07 and I know that if I charge something on this card that I will make sure I pay if off monthly since it is free - but is this a good thing to do open more credit or should I stick with what I currently have??? This is where I get into problems - sounds good to me, but is it really a good idea?
TIA for your ideas!

 

[!@#$%]

I must admit I havent read the whole thread, (plan to later) but were debt free. We considered buying a new house 3 years ago, but decided it would cramp our lifestyle too much. (see some of our extreme home on the budget board "My disney ceiling fan".) We use credit cards HEAVILY and cash in the reward points. I make about $500 a year off credit card rewards, and never pay any fees.

I put EVERYTHING on credit cards and rake in the rewards. They are GREAT!

All of my vehicles are paid for and older. I can do a heck of a lot of auto repairs (including engines and transmissions) for what I'd pay for just ONE new car payment. It cost me $650 to get my transmission completely rebuilt to better than factory specs in one of my vans. Thats less than an SUV payment.

HUGE houses, new vehicles, debt... dont need it! I'm too happy being debt free!

 

[ldb1030]

What cards do you have that give you the best rewards?

 

[disneysteve]

Ok so I have a Sears Gold MC - I called yesterday to find out the current balance and the message while I was on hold talked about signing up for free rewards program - gift cards for Sear and restaurants and various other rewards. This sounded good - but out intrest rate for this card is outrageous

I think the interest rate is irrelevant. If you carry a balance, you will pay far more in interest than you will earn in rewards. I honestly have no idea what the rates are on our credit cards. I wouldn't suggest getting any reward card (except possibly a 0% one) if you can't afford to pay the bill in full each month.

 

[disneysteve]

What cards do you have that give you the best rewards?

We love our Marriott Visa. We recently upgraded to their Premier card. We earn 5 points/dollar spent at Marriotts, 2 points/dollar at restaurants and 1 point/dollar for everything else. Points earned with the card get combined with points earned by staying at Marriott properties.

The card does have an annual fee, but each year on the anniversary of your account, you get a certificate for a free nite category 1-5. A category 5 can easily run close to $300/nite, so that way more than makes up for the annual fee.

 

[carymomof3]

The card does have an annual fee, but each year on the anniversary of your account, you get a certificate for a free nite category 1-5. A category 5 can easily run close to $300/nite, so that way more than makes up for the annual fee.

Steve - We just passed the first-year anniversary of our Marriott Visa and didn't get a free-nite certificate. Do you have to do something to get it? I sure would like to have that.

 

[disneysteve]

- We just passed the first-year anniversary of our Marriott Visa and didn't get a free-nite certificate. Do you have to do something to get it? I sure would like to have that.

Do you have the regular Visa (silver card) or the Premier (black card)? It is the Premier that does the free nite certificate and I don't think that card has been around for a year. We just got ours about 1-1/2 months ago.

Here's the link for info on the Premier card. All I had to do to switch was call them. Just keep in mind that annual fees aren't refundable or pro-rated, so it is best to switch just before you are due to pay your annual fee.
http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/web...iott_premier&page=cont&mkid=617T&MSC=Z0048856

Existing Marriott card members don't get the free nite for signing up but you do get the golf coupon. I got $22 for mine on ebay.

 

[carymomof3]

Do you have the regular Visa (silver card) or the Premier (black card)? It is the Premier that does the free nite certificate and I don't think that card has been around for a year. We just got ours about 1-1/2 months ago.

Here's the link for info on the Premier card. All I had to do to switch was call them. Just keep in mind that annual fees aren't refundable or pro-rated, so it is best to switch just before you are due to pay your annual fee.

Existing Marriott card members don't get the free nite for signing up but you do get the golf coupon. I got $22 for mine on ebay.

You're right. I just have the silver one. We've been banking points for a vacation - big points since we're putting our daughter's college tuition on it and then paying it off immediately! I'll make a note to switch over before the next fee is due. Thanks for the ebay tip, too.

 

[!@#$%]

What cards do you have that give you the best rewards?

Chase, Advanta and Bank One are the best Ive found.
I dont do travel miles cards. I drive to WDW, and thats all I do. I like the 3 I mentioned because they give cash rewards.
Oh, and actual percentages are better than points for each dollar spent. points often means they dont translate into much.

The best thing to do is go to Google and type in "credit card 5% rewards". Ignore ANY cards that say "UP TO ___%". Up to is garbage. Also note that you have to tell the teller at Walmart if you want it to count as grocery. That goes for ANY credit card!

 

[ldb1030]

Come on people! Keep my motivated! I need more stories!!

 

[Rhia]

We have been talking about doing a budget. I started slowly 2 weeks ago. Pulling out the grocery money for the month. $100/week. I take $120 with me in case I accidently go over. I shopped yesterday and spent $96. YAY. I saved $16 using the bonus card and I am gona chcek out that grocery game site! I am looking forward to snowballing my debt.
I can say something that really changed was that we didn't have a church we called home. Just couldn't find one we liked. Soo.. we started sending a monthly tithe to dh's brothers church. He had just started a church in NC. Immediatley, things started happening for us. We were able to get a house, had extra $$ popping up all over the place. It was amazing. I think once we started giving even though we didn't really have it, we were and still are blessed with not having to wonder how we are going to pay our light bill, lol.
We have debt, not oo bad, but enough where we are not comfortable. Dh got a new and better job and for the first time is putting in 401K. 9%, that feels really good!

 

[Stein]

I noticed the exact same thing, and it is plain wierd. We now tithe 10% like clockwork, which is a huge amount for us, and send in a bunch to retire debt every month. We seem to have more money than every before, which is a very strange thing. If you asked me 6 months ago, I would have sworn that we couldn't even afford 10%, much less the amount we send in for debt. It is simply amazing what a written budget and the cash system can do for you.

Many people say that blessings come down on people headed in the right direction. Who am I to argue?

 

[!@#$%]

Rhia... Where in NC?

 

[jenr812]

Paid off my car Thursday!! Woohoo!!

 

[Helene]

Paid off my car Thursday!! Woohoo!!

Congrats!! We are so far away from that moment in our world.

Keep up the good work!!!

Helene

 

[Rhia]

!@#$%
He started a new church in Lake Wylie called Living Waters. He just left that one once it was on it's feet and is helping to start one in Charlotte called Next Level West. What part of NC do you live in?

 

[ameraumi]

WooHoo, jenr812!

 

[babynurse1]

Does anyone know if I switch a credit card debt to one with rewards, does that money count towards the rewards programs? Is transferred money exempt from the rewards and only new charges count?