How much credit card debt do you have?

None. I pay it in full every month.

Zero debt on anything, I charge everything on my CC but I also pay off the balance every month and have for years. In my 20's I got into credit card trouble and I swore then that I would never again let that happen.

I view paying interest as worst than paying taxes.

ZERO

None.

R2 how much trouble were you in, and how long did it take you to climb out?

Every month, my bill is about $1600, and I pay the full amount. In 15 years, just ONE TIME, I missed the due date by a single day, and they jacked up my interest rate about 5%. So I haven't paid a dime of interest since.

I heard on a news magazine show that the credit card companies have a word for people like me: deadbeats.

$300 on a $42k credit line. I plan to pay it off soon.

Zero as well.

Had 60,000 in debt last year… Now I’m down to 15,000. Ill have that paid off by December.

2000

Zero - however, in my 20's and early 30's, I had racked up around $12,000.

Painful life lesson - so yes, I do my best to not get into that trap again. Took 18 months of very disciplined behavior to get out of it. It is so easy to do and it is VERY common, so don't feel bad.

I have known others with $25,000 to $40,000. My friend's sister probably has $100,000 on credit card debt - this is an estimate based on all of the problems she has (e..g. she and her husband combined income is $250K, but they can't afford groceries and their cards are declined for $100 purchases).

At my height, maybe 20 plus years ago it was $15,000. But, for the last 15 years, nothing (not even a car payment - paid cash). I pay the entire balance every early or on time

Stop trying to harvest my data, shill OP.

Zero. Not one cent. I got rid three of all my credit cards nearly five years ago and boy did it feel good. At one point I racked up about $25K in debt and then spent years just paying the minimum - which is exactly what banks want you to do. Then I decided to get rid of them all. I have never needed one in the last 5 years.

There is literally no good reason to have a credit card. There just isn't...

It’s very easy to get into trouble in the US. I immigrated here in 2015 and I’m shocked how much credit I have and the nonstop letters begging me to open more cards! I did run up $4k at one stage but luckily I was able to pay that off. Now I’m very careful.

To be honest, most people who have no debt will happily reply. Those with considerable debt will be embarrassed, despite the anonymity.

OP - what's your interest rate? If you can't pay it off, then consolidate to a lower interest / no interest for 18 months plan. Then you can really chip away at it.

Loads and loads. I keep shunting it round to zero % deals over 12 or 18 months on which I pay a small amount of principal every month but no interest.

R17 aren’t you getting whacked with balance transfer fees? That’s as bad as interest.

If you’re in trouble it might make sense to get a low interest loan, pay off the cards and then have a monthly installment. But people with bad credit usually can’t get those loans. Vicious cycle.

Zero. I pay regularly and in a timely manner.

Bad in my 20’s, too. I owed about $40,000 Of cc debt in the ‘70’s when that was how much I made annually. Stopped partying, stopped flying to Miami and NYC and LA to party, stopped doing coke while partying, met a guy, settled down, paid it off, and bought the first of three homes we’ve lived in since.

Right now I have $150,000 in available credit and pay off the one cc I use to buy everything ($3000 - $3500/mo) in full when the bill comes in. The only interest I pay is on a 3% mortgage which I may refinance if the rate w/o closing costs is low enough.

None. I pay the total monthly.

I also have no credit debt. I charge pretty much everything, have always paid the full balance monthly. I've never paid a penny in interest fees. And I went through plenty of very lean years of doing without rather than letting my head go under the water of debt.

My ex and I broke up and he defaulted on the house after I moved out and fucked up my credit. I filed bankruptcy and have never owed interest since. I don’t charge anything unless I can pay it in full and paid cash for my new car, Never get tied up financially with someone else. Never buy a house with someone.

A big FAT ZERO. But it wasn’t always that way.

R18 The transfer fees are 2%, one off.

R25 - exactly. I think for everyone who says they have zero now, you need to state your worst case.

Not everyone on this thread were making good money their entire lives and never had to rely on cc to get buy or did not get into a spiraling spending spree on credit cards when they were young.

Living in cities in your 20's and early 30's is very expensive and you're not exactly making a ton of money. You have to buy EVERYTHING to furnish an apartment, perhaps a vehicle, plus student loans - and then you're young. You want and are expected to go out and meet people and enjoy your youth.

That's when things can easily get out of control. Particularly when a single drink out costs $10 - more like $15 or more in big cities.

None.

[quote]There is literally no good reason to have a credit card. There just isn't...

Nonsense. The convenience alone is enough for me. Depending on the card, there's also cash back, purchase protection, extended warranties, travel insurance and more.

As long as you pay it off every month, there's a lot of advantage to it.

My ex and I were both train wrecks when it came to money. Lots of reckless spending with credit cards. I already had one bankruptcy behind me-credit card debt in my 20's. So when we split up in my mid 40's, I started taking responsibility for my actions, paid off my credit card balances and now actually have a very good credit rating and NEVER have any credit debt.

About $50. I'm one of those 'deadbeats' who pay if off every month. I try to use cash as much as possible for small things, gas, lunch, etc. so I don't fall into the temptation of whipping out the card and overspending. I basically keep the card for emergencies or to make the payment on big ticket items which I pay off the next month.

There's cash back, R14

R14 rewards. Which you cash/debit users pay for.

$2300 on one card. I pay $100 a month, and $45 of that goes toward the interest, so my balance only goes down by $65.

R17 that’s brilliant. I always wondered about trying that but too chicken shit.

R34 - it goes down by $55, not $65. Then you need to move that to a 0 interest/low interest deal. You'll have a one-time charge of like 3 or 4% of the total, but you'll be paying down $100 a month - almost double what you're doing now.

0. i charge everything to it and make sure i pay it all off each month. i think i have like an 80k credit line because i always bother them to increase it. trying to get my credit score to 800. almost there.

It's better for your credit score if you carry a little on your cards every so often. Then pay them off if a few installments. Rinse, repeat. Banks want to see that you can carry debt "responsibly" by making payments on time. You also have a better chance at getting your credit limit raised if they see healthy activity.

My credit score is usually about 820, and right now I am carrying about 2k on a card with a low(ish) APR of 10.99. I've noticed that when I don't carry any debt for consecutive months, my score goes down.

R35 - it's not THAT brilliant - doing that can affect your credit score. Plus he's incurring 2-3% increments of his total debt each time he does it. It's not a long term winning plan.

If you're going to do it, do it once and be disciplined. Usually they have 2 offers - zero interest for 12-18 months or like 2-3% interest for 24-36 month payoff.

Do the latter if you can't pay everything off in 12 months.

I'm on my way back to zero, though at one time it was as high as $32,000. My husband and I went through a period of a few months when we had one unexpected bill after another (the perfect storm of medical, car and house). Luckily we had the credit limits available on our cards to keep the bills paid, but there was simply no way to keep up. Now it's down to $10,000 and should be paid off by the end of the year. With our mortgage being paid off in just four more months, we should be able to cover larger emergency bills in the future.

R29 plus no risk of overdrawing. Debit cards creep me out for that reason. I don’t keep that much in my checking account.

[quote] The convenience alone is enough for me.

The DMV wanted to charge me a $3 convenience fee on a credit card payment of $5 so I paid cash. The clerk drew a large black smudge on Jackson's forehead then retreated to the interior. I waited for about 20 minutes before the manager declared my $20 bill to be a forgery and she was sending it to the Secret Service. I informed the bank whose ATM I had used and they refunded me the $20. A couple of months later, the DMV called to say the bill was genuine and would I please come to collect it. I picked it up and took it to the bank to hand it in: the bank manager said there was no way she was going to be able to get the $20 dollars into the system and please keep it compliments of the bank. The bank manager also said to try to avoid using cash!

Too much.

I have around $3500 but it is at 0% until next year.

R40 - thanks for sharing.

Yes - there are a lot of reasons to incur cc debt - car breaks down, appliances, and for us special Americans - MEDICAL expenses! If you get sick at any point in time, they're not extremely forgiving of your medical debt and will send it to collection agencies really quickly.

Not all of it is mindless spending - but there's that as well. And that's also a common trap.

MARY! @r42

None. I only use it for booking flights and hotels, and repay as soon as possible. I hate being in debt.

Zero. I don’t own any credit cards.

R14 lives in a fantasy world. You have to have credit cards as a backup for life's emergencies. That's the stupidest statement I've ever read.

And some places are going cashless - like Sweden. There's no currency there anymore. You have to use cards. Granted, debit or credit cards and they have limits to the interest rates that can be charged. But you have to use cards there! You don't have a choice.

[quote] And some places are going cashless - like Sweden.

Go to Sweden if you want to get real sick real fast.

Zero - pay them off monthly.

And to add to R49, there are advantages to having a credit card over using cash or a debit card. When a purchase goes awry for whatever reason, you can dispute the charge with your credit card company and not be responsible for the charge (as long as your complaint is justified and supported).

I got into bad credit card debt in my late 20's / early 30's by hanging around with a bad crowd. "Bad" in that they all made a lot more money than me and went out to restaurants and bars a few times a week. I pretended I was just as well off and charged everything. It took me years to get out of debt.

Today I have no debt but on the occasions I need to charge something and can't immediately pay it off, I use a home equity line of credit (HELOC) through the same bank as my credit card. I make the purchase on the card and as soon as the charge hits, I "pay" it using the HELOC. It's the difference between around 5% interest versus 18+%. And using both the credit card and the line of credit has actually increased my credit score.

Still too much, but its steadily going down.

Add me to the list of folks with none now but who got into real trouble in my younger days because I was young and stupid and kept buying shit I couldn't afford. I paid the price for years and will never do that again.

I'm also at the stage of my life where I shouldn't ever need credit again, so I'm fine with my credit score dropping a bit (as it will, as I have no debt of any kind right now, having paid off my mortgage last year).

I went through a consolidation process with all 15 (I'll Mary myself) of my credit cards in February of last year. The debt was up to $56K combined on all of them. I had an invalid friend who'd had a stroke whom I was paying for caretakers for, and it kind of snowballed from there to retail therapy to letting my equally irresponsible ex use the cards when we were both in-between jobs. Essentially after 4 years of paying $850/month, I'll have saved about $15K. I pay this law firm directly, and they arrange settlements with each card. Thus far they've settled about half of them. Wells Fargo and AmEx both tried to sue me, and the law firm handled all of that and settled with them. It's been a learning process, and I doubt I'll have credit cards again for a long time. I also am glad I chose not to go the bankruptcy route, though I was advised to do that. I realized the spending had gotten out of control when I was cash advancing left and right, and balance transferring to hell and back. It's a vicious cycle.

$5000, one card. Not at my limit or only paying minimums.

....

None. I always pay cash. Except last year that I owed 3k and it was excruciating

$0.00

Zero. I was raised with the idea that paying interest was of the Devil.

None. Pay them all off each month.

None right now. At one point, I had close to 10k in debt.

Zero

I don't carry a balance on mine. I have 25k available credit. I pay any charges off at the end of the month. I am never late, etc. yet my credit score never goes any higher than 770. WTF? I am wondering if what r38 does would work for me. I might give it a shot. I am going to buy a (nice, pre-owned) car this year, and want my score to be as high as possible to get the best rate I can on the loan.

Anyone want to share their credit scores? I'm curious where I place within my age group. (I rent, don't own and I am 54-I know, almost dead.)

I actually have -$95 credit, due to some autopays.

Zero, and I charge EVERYTHING. The benefits are too good to pass up. I got a check for $1300 in rebates last year just on one credit card (did a lot of traveling and it paid 3% back.)

r65, I'm 55, rent, and my score is 811. Check out Creditkarma- they'll tell you exactly what to do to build up your score, if you're willing to part with your personal info.

I second Credit Karma. I even do my taxes through them for free. Great outfit.

Zero credit card debt and I also just paid off my car so all I have left is my mortgage.

8k and I’m due about that much before end of the year in addition to my salary

Fingers crossed I don’t fuck it up

None. I once got it up as high as $16,000, and then I promised myself I would pay $1500 every month until I got it down to zero.

R65 I’m at 780. I’ve only had credit for 5 years and the thing holding me back is the length of my accounts. But once you are over 750 or so, there’s no difference in interest rates even if you get to 850. I do want to join the 800 club though.

Around $4000.00 but getting it down quickly.

I have NO debt. My Russian and Saudi friends are very good at taking care of that for me.

Maybe the only good thing about being broke: no credit and no credit cards.

my divorce is killing me and I am taking on all the debt as part of the settlement. Dicey for the next few years but it will come down to zero, bet on it! $13,000

$45 plus $65 is $110, not $100. It's hard not to make a joke at your expense, r34.

I don't wanna talk about it.

45,000

😢

0. House, vehicles, RV, everything else paid for too.

This of you who managed to pay down some serious CC bills, how did you do it?

Did you go through an agency? Did you just send payments in during the month

I had been sending an extra $100 a week to pay down my debt until covid hit. I'm curious how everyone has reduced their debt.

At one time I was $30,000 in the hole, mainly from gambling debts. It took me about 5 years on a strict budget to pay it off.

No regrets, I had a lot of fun pissing it away.

I use my credit card like a debit card... everything goes on it but I pay it off in full each month... however, I fly business class as a result a couple times a year because the points get converted nicely.

I agree it is impossible to live without a credit card in this day and age. If you fear having a card at hand try this: put it in a freezer container filled with water... you want to use it, you gotta thaw it and you can think about that while the ice melts.

R65 how many different types of credit do you have? That plays a lot in your credit score. If the only source of credit you have is credit cards that's probably why your FICO score doesn't rise.

One more thing R65. Do you wait to pay your credit card bills after you receive the bill? One good way to help raise your FICO score is to look up your balance on all your credit cards a day or 2 before the bills post and pay them off completely online. That way your monthly balance on your bills will be zero and the the credit card companies report that you're carrying a zero balance to the credit reporting agencies every month. Debt to credit ratio is another major part of your FICO score. If you start doing that you'll see your score start rising.

should have been "a day or 2 before the STATEMENTS post"

Carried about 15K on multiple cards through the early 90s. In 1995 I got a job offer with generous relocation money. Used most of the relo money to pay off the credit cards. Since then I don’t carry a balance. My husband (who I met after the relo) is very disciplined about that and was a good influence. Now I use AmEx platinum for everything possible and use the points for airline travel.

OP, my recommendations are these:

*NEVER just pay your minimum balance. That will keep you in debt for years and years and years--they calculate it that way. Always pay more.

*In fact, pay as much off of it as you possibly can, and promise yourself it will just be until you've paid it off. The more you can pay, the faster it will go down.

*If you can, don't use it unless you are on a vacation, because you will just rack up more money on it

$5k.

A year ago, $35k.

I was obsessed with paying it down before the inevitable Trump recession hit. I'm glad I did.

None. But I once had 14k

$25k

$42k across three cards. Earlier this year I switched bank accounts and switched the autopay on my credit cards. On the Citibank card, it didn't seem to save properly (hmmm...) so my auto payments just stopped and because the autopay happens the day before the bill is due, I didn't know until the next day when the bank sent me a "overdue!" note. I paid it immediately so I don't think it affected my overall credit score, but Citi jacked my interest rate up 12 % to 29.99% (!) This is after I've not paid any payments late for years and years.

I talked to them but they said I was SOL and to ask again in six months. So I have been paying massive amounts against the card each month as I can to get the balance down (was $20,000) to 0. I really want to cancel the card once it's paid off because Citi is the worst with that shit. Ideally I will pay it off by the end of the year.

I have two other cards too but their interest rates are much lower. However I've increased the amounts I pay on those as well to try to pay them down faster, but I'm mostly focusing on the Citi card.

Is it a good idea to cancel the Citi card when it's paid off? I have had it for twenty years but I don't want to risk using it again. My balances will be reduced on the other two cards by the end of the year to about 60% of maximum credit.

BTW all my cards have an option to "freeze" the accounts - I used it and froze them all once I found out about the interest rate increase, so I'm not increasing the balances on any of them.

I know a couple people who paid off large credit card balances by transferring to a card with zero interest introductory periods - often 18 months - and then transferred again if need be (and even again).

Yes, there's a transfer fee but it's nothing compared to the interest you save if you make decent payments.

The only caveat is, of course, to not use the new credit. I've seen the zero-interest transfer plan backfire where the person ran up the new card after using it as intended for a few months.

I think one of the payoff strategies for multiple card debt is tackle the smallest one first.

No, you should tackle the one with the highest interest rate first.

From CNN Money:

People usually take one of two paths to paying off their cards: The "snowball" or the "avalanche." With the "snowball" method, you focus on paying off the debt on your low-balance cards first, while paying the minimum on the other cards. Then you work your way up to the card with the next-lowest balance. This way, you build up momentum to tackle the bigger balances on other cards. The "snowball" approach usually helps people stay motivated as they pay down debt, says Jennifer Lane, a financial planner at Compass Planning in Boston. But it could mean you pay more in interest over time. The "avalanche" method requires you to focus on paying off the card with the highest interest rate first. That's the one that will end up costing you the most money in the long run. But it might be hard to stay the course with this strategy, especially if that card has the highest balance and takes a long time to pay off. "You're not seeing progress fast enough so it's really hard to stick with that plan," Lane said. But it can save you more money over time because you'll end up paying less in interest.

$0. Up to $16k in the 90s when I was in my 20s. Paid it all off by 2008 and never had a balance since then.

Partner had $23k. Made him tackle that head on before we moved in together. He's since paid off $8k and has stopped accruing more debt.

It blows my mind how little Americans know about basic finances. Then again we have a country of idiots freaking out over masks.

plus we're a country of gimme.

I mean, Black Friday, for God's sake. Purchasing is the supersizing of everything you can't eat.

Zero credit card debt and zero debt if any kind.

And maybe R14 is not to be trusted with a credit card but they are great when used responsibly or even as a safety net for potential emergencies for people who have little cash at hand.

I charge almost everything except cash tips which are customary where I live, something very cheap like a newspaper or a cup of coffee, or paying people for small tasks like delivering a chair across town. Bills are paid by credit cards on bank transfers. I carry cash but a few hundred will often last months.

0

I couldn’t tell you. I throw my statements in the trash and changed my email address. Hee hee

I recently retired, and paid off my credit cards in the process. The only debt I carry is for my car (0.00 % financing) and a Home Equity Line of Credit (4% interest, and almost paid off). When I told my Financial Advisor I was ready to retire, he sold off some poorly-performing funds so I could pay off my $13K CC balance.

I’ve paid all my debts. You should visualize that morning, you’ll wake up with no debts.

I pay my credit cards off every month. I (mostly) live within my means and if I splurge or have an emergency, I go into my savings. Student loans, I have about 35K left. Thanks interest!

OK, R27. In my early thirties, I owed over $80K on credit cards. At one point in time, I was writing those convenient check the credit card companies sent me to myself, so I could pay the minimum due on a bunch of the credit cards. It took them months to catch on and over a two week period, I got notices from all my cards that my balances were my newly reduced credit limits. Almost as though Citibank, Chase, Wells Fargo, Columbus National Bank, Mellon, BankOne, BofA, all of them got together and decided to act together!

I made an appointment with an AmEx financial advisor (for 100K MileagePlus miles), who looked at me for a long time then slid a business card for a bankruptcy attorney across her desk. I met him the next week and, within two months, I appeared in federal court to finalize a chapter 13 bankruptcy.

I had to pay a fixed amount for 36 months to a court trustee discharge my debt. Immediately thereafter, I was bombarded with new credit card offers, some of which I accepted. Twenty years on, I still have a couple hundred thousand dollars in available credit card debt, but I have not carried any credit card debt from month to month since. I have a 3.25% mortgage and a 0.9% car loan, though.

I'm one of the I pay off every month types but let me say I wasn't always. I fell into the trap too. Our advice and our approach may sound easy but I respect we can all make mistakes with our finances, especially when we're young or need to get by. I made such shit once I had to use my credit card to pay for the oil changes on the car I had to have to hold the job. Don't anybody think if you're in debt it's reflection on your character - so long as it's a situation, not a habit. Because if you're putting yourself behind the eight ball, rather than trying to get out from behind it, you've got a solvable problem to solve. And even then you're not a bad person, just a kinda dumb one with respect to managing your money.

My ex could outspend Tori; I was working two jobs, and extra weekends just to keep our head above water. He was supposed to be building our dream home. Then he developed a secret gambling habit. I ended up loosing everything but my car, and had to file bankruptcy.

Sixteen years later, I am a year from paying off my house, have another little place outside of DC where I work (paid for), a decent retirement plan, and no credit card debt. My cars are paid off, and the savings account has a nice cushion.

I am very aggressive about my budget, worked two jobs and any extras I could get up until five years ago. I never paid just the minimum on credit cards, never buy new cars, and vacation in nearby beautiful areas of the state. I've even traded house/pet sitting for two weeks of bliss in the mountains.

Looking forward to retiring next year.

Good for you R108. You deserve it.

Like most here, I got into trouble in my 20's when I was going to college. I didn't party or anything like that...I simply wasn't make much money and so, I resorted to credit cards to pay for groceries and basic stuff. I owed about $20,00 at one point and realized I had absolutely nothing to show for it. No big tv's, no fancy stuff, nothing. I claimed BK right after college in the 90's because my student loans became due and I was in trouble. I have never once been late on a payment to a card or loan. So the BK reset things for me and was the best thing I could have done at the time.

I vowed to never get into that trouble again. I have credit cards but the most I've owed on them was about $3000. Right now, I owe only $570 and it's interest free until 2024, but it will be paid off in about 3 months. I have one card I use to make purchases to get the travel points so at some point in my life I can travel (I never have). I pay that balance off every month. I'm 51. In two months my car will be paid off and I will, for the first time in my adult life, be debt free. I've managed to build up a hefty savings account of about $15,000 so that's what I will be using for any emergencies. My credit score, last I checked was 770.

Debt is slavery.

Like anyone of you even have a single paid off caftan in your closet .

Zero for 25 years.

[quote]There is literally no good reason to have a credit card. There just isn't...

There are a lot of good reasons to have a credit card. and the performative Thrifty Wealthy Gay act here on Datalounge is exhausting in part because of the bumper-sticker wisdom like this that is, in actuality, false.

Everyone on DL is always bitching about virtue signaling and people bragging or lying on social media, and yet every three weeks we have this exact thread, and it's hundreds of replies from Boomergays trying to outdo each other with their claims of being perfect debt-free single-digit millionaires with $3M saved for retirement, and their only big worry is which of their four houses they'll retire to.

Don’t spend money you don’t have has been my motto for many years. And the only reasons why I have credit cards are for credit score and the perks (rewards, points, cash back etc.) as I pay off each month’s statement entirely.

The only ‘debt’ you should have are for large item ticket items like property or a car (oh and student loans).

0. I only spend what I can afford to pay off at the end of each month.

[R66], I saw 'autopays' as 'autopsies.' It took a few cognitive blurry moments to realize the correct word.

Zero credit card, zero mortgage and 5k on auto loan. Perfect 840 credit score. What will happen to that score when I retire and no debt?

Thank you to those who have shared your success in paying down your debt. It’s my secret shame and one I can’t seem to get ahead of. Your stories gave me hope.

So what’s your plan, R119? You need more than hope — you need a plan.

#1 in your plan should be to stop buying things you don’t need. Unless it’s a necessity, don’t buy it. Wanting something is not a reason to buy it, and neither is “deserving” it.

Growing up it was a tenet that going into debt was stupid, like throwing money out into the street. Always lived within my means, and the man who I spent the better part of my life with felt the same. Paid cash/check for everything, and that's why we had trouble getting our first credit card( some mad queen my husband spoke to on the phone, explained our situation and he couldn't have been nicer. He speeded up the process to get us an AmericanExpress card) and eventual mortgage. We had no credit/debit history to show we were good risks. The only thing we bought on time was our house. Never paid a dime in interest on any credit card we had. I don't think I'd be able to sleep if I had debts hanging over my head.

I don't know what my credit score is, never been interested enough to find out. I don't foresee buying any big ticket items, at my age I don't need anything, so what's the good of knowing if I'm 420 or 760?

[quote] $45 plus $65 is $110, not $100. It's hard not to make a joke at your expense, [R34].

Gosh. Thank you for not making a joke at my math error. Or typo. I know it must be difficult not to be a cunt.

None, i cut up all my cards 9 years ago. i have one $500 limit card now and i don't use it too much.i don't need to.

R110 if you have 15k in savings and you only owe $570 on a credit card, why are you taking 3 months to pay it off? Just write the check and be done with it.

[quote] Perfect 840 credit score

A "perfect" FICO score is 850.

R125 i don’t even know what that is.

I have a credit card I never use which was hacked earlier this year, and then a week after I got the replacement card that too was hacked. No idea how it was possible, neither card had been used. I would guess someone at the credit card company itself is responsible. When I was getting this all straightened out, I was told that the company now had a policy to cancel all cards that weren't used at least once every six months, and for some reason they did not legally have to tell their customers about that change to their policy.

The whole thing is fishy and I'm now looking for a different card, and don't really want to cancel this one, but might just for safety. The last card I cancelled caused a 70-point drop in my FICO score.

[quote]Zero credit card, zero mortgage and 5k on auto loan. Perfect 840 [850] credit score. What will happen to that score when I retire and no debt?

Why should anything happen to it unless you stop making credit card purchases or are late with payments?

My score goes up and down between 830 and 840 even though my situation doesn't change: no mortgage, no loans, no balance carried over on credit cards (something near 300,000 in available credit but on rare occasion I reach maybe 10,000 in a month and pay it in full immediately.

The normal small fluctuation isn't related to anything obvious in my card payment history or credit inquiries, etc.

I've had the same employer for ages. Maybe credit bureaus will figure out when I retire but my credit worthiness should remain the same, the credit limits perhaps adjusted. I don't think they penalize people with long established credit history for not having a car loan in their retirement years.

I have no debt- I pay it off monthly.

The credit card company still gets a lot from me as I make a lot of purchases and stores have to pay about 1.5% to the credit card for each purchase. In turn they jack up the price about that much.

R 128, your score changes because it’s based on the debt to credit ratio. If it scores you when you have debt you haven’t paid off yet (like in the middle of the month when you haven’t yet paid your credit card bill) your debt will seem higher

Zero

R126, the FICO is the most important measure of your credit worthiness. It’s what anyone who loans you money uses to determine your interest rate. The lower the score, the less trustworthy you are, the higher your interest rate.

While credit card and credit tracking companies may often try to sell you their own rating of your credit, your actually FICO score can be found at MyFICO.com

It’s worth checking out at least once so you can try to fix it if it’s low. It’s based on how much debt you have divided by the credit you have. The larger the debt, the lower the score.

Too much.

Medical and dental bills in 2019 left me over a barrel.

But I’m paying it off, bit by bit.

Not much to spend money on now anyway.

70 bucks

Don't be gullible enough to spend money on any of these sites that give you your FICO score, like myfico.com. There are too many places you can get your score for free. First of all check your bank app. Many banks these days provide a very up to date FICO score for free. Also your credit card apps will do the same in many, if not most, cases. I have Mastercard, Discover, and American Express and they all provide a FICO score.

R135, they are not your true FICO score but still a good approximation, using similar metrics

It’s amazing that without our permission, all these credit companies know all our Financial information, rate it, and sell it.

I’ve been pretty good with money and understand the importance of paying off credit cards and such.

I do fear a long illness or losing my job. That would cause me to start putting debt on to my card

The key is to have only 2 cards. This way you can see your debt easily and can attack it easily

I was planning on paying off the almost $1500 I accrued over the holidays in February or March. Covid freaked me out and I paid the minimum for a couple of months. Paid it off with my stimulus check in June.

I’m not eating out or traveling- so I’m actually saving money now.

I never used to have credit cards until a couple of years ago after I lost my debit card while in Greece and the exchange bureau refused to recognise my Scottish notes as proper currency! Now I have three in case of emergencies, I like the feeling of security they give me, should I find myself stuck in a foreign country again with no money.

I was horrible in my twenties. Maxed out my cards and my score dropped to 500.

Started working on it in my 30s. I’m 35 now and owe 2k with a 700 score. Hoping to get to 750 less than 1k in debt.

My husband used to be terrible with money. After I met him, I started applying Suze Orman’s principles.

It wasn’t that he was bad with money ; he just didn’t understand it. Although he still eats impulses to buy shit he doesn’t need, at least it’s been tempered and he thinks a lot about buying now.

Thankfully his credit is sterling now

[quote] they are not your true FICO score but still a good approximation, using similar metrics

The only difference in those scores and the ones you pay for is that the scores provided by banks/credit card companies, etc. are pulled once a month and the sites you pay for pull the scores daily. If you haven't done something that would greatly affect your credit score between the days a bank or CC company would pull your score you can be confident the free scores are a good representation of your credit rating.

Another good reminder why credit cards are useful R141 even if you don’t think you need one. If you’re traveling aboard, some credit cards do not charge foreign translation fees whereas your debit card will. And its never advisable to carry large amounts of cash when traveling.

oops, ‘transaction fee’ R145

I know someone who is a textbook case for someone the credit card companies love.... 30k or more on at least one card because he constantly buys CRAP he don’t need. He only pays the min payment. Several times now he’s rolled that debt into his MORTGAGE despite me telling him not to. 60+ years old and not a pot to piss in. The house was sold... what little profit there was all went to pay off credit card debt... which is way up there again)

None. I pay it in full every month. I also monitor my spending for each month and try to say within a certain budget range.

Growing up I had a charge card linked to daddy’s account. It was paid in full each month by someone, not me! Boy do I miss that card.

4200 on 0% interest. It was 9800 3 months ago but half is paid down I have 9 months left at 0 percent. It will be paid off by November.

I have about 300K in available credit. I do use one cash back card and rack up about 2500 a month religiously. I get 2 percent cash back on it so I use it in place of a debit card for my daily expenses. it's paid in full every month.

[quote]This of you who managed to pay down some serious CC bills, how did you do it?

Despite years of my accountant telling me not to do it--and all the mathematically valid, long-term reasons not to--when he retired I finally made a big withdrawal from a retirement account and paid it off.

I just needed that clean break and chance to start over. That was four years ago, and I haven't had a balance since.

Yes, I had to pay an early withdrawal penalty. Yes, I had to pay taxes on the withdrawal. Yes, that retirement money is no longer growing, and I will have less capital and income when I retire.

But I had not been able to reduce expenses enough to significantly pay down that credit-card debt. Something always came up.

The peace of mind from having no debt has been exquisite for me, along with confidence and control that come with paying everything off each month. And the bonus of being able to build an emergency fund for when the car or house or family inevitably need something.

I will just have to deal with having a little less money at retirement than I could have had.

Thanks, r151. I was the poster who asked how people paid it off.

I have some stocks I could sell and pay it off but then I'd be left with no emergency funds. So it's a little scary.

I hate having that debt hanging out there. It's an accumulation of mom's funeral (she had no life insurance) and my brother's move to Florida. Since he doesn't have a CC, the rental company wouldn't rent to him so I had to put up my card for it.

He's been paying me back but once you get behind it's hard to get ahead of it again.

Add on top of that vet bills and medication and the interest and I have issues. I was doing ok until the last four years when all of this happened.

Thanks for the advice. I might consider it.

R152 isn’t the interest on the credit card debt much higher than what you’re making on the stocks tho?

I'm in the "always use a credit card, pay it off in full every month" club.

And I play the points game -- not to the extent that some do, but it does add up. I got two emails today saying my Southwest credit cards would be earning 5x points on groceries and gas through September. There was the same deal from a Chase Freedom card April-June.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are great for travel, because if you use Chase's travel portal instead of the airlines', your points are worth half again as much. My best score was finding a 5-hour cross-country round trip first class ticket for $600, and using the travel portal it got down to $400 worth of points, which was cheaper than coach.

But I wouldn't carry a balance month to month.

My credit ranges from 780-810 with no rhyme or reason to it.

There are 3 credit rating agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You score can vary slightly between the 3. Last time I applied for a mortgage, I had a perfect 850 at Experian and 840 at the other two. I never carry any credit card balances or auto loan. I check my score monthly (free from one of my banks) and noticed that it has dropped to as low as 785 one month. The only change that month that I could figure out was that I sold a place and paid off the mortgage, and had charged a bunch of furniture so that on my credit card statement cutoff date had utilized more than 30% of my available limit (and then paid it off in full on the due date). I think the mortgage payoff negatively impacted the score because suddenly my average age of credit accounts decreased, and simultaneously my utilization ratio temporarily increased. Both of those have a negative impact. Now my score is 816, and I think next month it will go back up because it will have been more than a year since the last "inquiry" on my credit.

Also r155 paying off a mortgage or even a car can mean "lack of installment loan" - which is somehow bad, even when there is a history right there of managing installment loans superbly.

Credit scores are a puzzle. I've had $500k in student loans, mortgage, and car payments that I'VE NEVER MISSED A PAYMENT ON.

Have about $80k in credit card lines of credit that I always put charges on and pay off monthly.

Yet my credit score just finally went north of 800. The queens above who have none of these are getting 840-850???

$0 in credit card debt, and I own stock in Visa, Mastercard, and Amex. So OP, keep paying the minimum balance every month. That money is going straight into my pocket.

$0 bitch - paid in full every month

- Also paid off all my student loans

- Also rent so no mortgage

- Also no car so no car payment

- Also all my financed things (bed, computers, etc) are paid off well and early

And I have like, 150,000 miles that I'll use once we can finally fucking travel again

Coronavirus gave us a huge surplus of money we wasted on eating/going out so may as well use it to smash away all our obligation.

ALSO, OP, why not open a new card with 0% APR, do a balance transfer from your current one, and then pay off that 4k without worrying about interest?

It astounds me in this day and age when savings accounts are paying basically zero in interest that people still run up credit card debt at 16.9% interest and pay the minimum balance.

That explains a lot about our national problems - we are a national that cannot delay gratification.

My credit score dropped from 810 to 725 in past 3 months. All I did was apply for a mortgage with Chase - who approved it then went into Covid panic and had to completely redo it and do an anal cavity search to make sure I was still making income as a self employed person. I think Chase totally screwed over my credit score and I’m pissed. Now I’m going to pay the cost of a lower credit score because Chase had a panic. I hate banks.

R162 your Fico dropped because your mortgage is now a new account. It effects the average age of accounts. It’s not chases fault.

Did Chase charge you more for the mortgage than they would have pre-pandemic, R162? Or did that happen after the mortgage was issued? I've read that 740 is the cutoff: anything above that gets the best rate so there's no advantage in having, say, an 820 score over a 750 score. So few people in the US have scores over 740 that lenders for the most part don't bother slicing the pie up even further- everyone over 740 gets the best rate.

That said, I've no doubt lenders like Chase do things like seeing to it your credit score is dinged so you'll have to pay more interest. If you think what they did is fraudulent, or even just fishy, have you talked to your state's consumer protection agency or AG's office?

[quote]Credit scores are a puzzle. I've had $500k in student loans, mortgage, and car payments that I'VE NEVER MISSED A PAYMENT ON.

[quote]Have about $80k in credit card lines of credit that I always put charges on and pay off monthly.

[quote]Yet my credit score just finally went north of 800. The queens above who have none of these are getting 840-850???

R157: I carry no installment debt, have credit card limits of about 400k, and don't have a large salary, but my score is uniformly in the 830s and 840s range. In recent years I had a mortgage once briefly for a house I paid 60% in cash and settled the mortgage a year later. Later I bought a house all in cash, eventually taking a modest bank line of credit to free up money to purchase a second house in cash (intending to sell the first house after completing the purchase of the second, so a very quick turnaround.) Otherwise it's just credit card purchases, paid in full every month. My only installment credit in many years was a year I paid on a home mortgage before settling the balance in cash, and a small line of bank credit repaid within two months. Having little installment credit payment history hasn't done my score any harm. Nor has having a middling salary. I have though had the same employer for many years yet that sort of stability isn't reflected directly in the big credit scores. So yes, a mystery why my credit history is so good except maybe that it appears I have never stretched it very far.

In any case, everyone says that a score about 760 or 780 is in the same tier as a perfect 850. Bankers and lenders have told that that once above 800 the difference is that scrutiny shifts simply to curiosity on the part of the reviewers, to see what put you in such good stead. (Though Covid probably tightened the scrutiny at all levels.)

What’s crazy is Chase still haven’t notified me what is going on with the Mortgage. At this point I don’t want it - but I’m waiting to see what they do. I’m also trying to avoid being charged for the “costs” they are sure to charge me for their fucked up application process. I am so pissed and am debating hiring a lawyer to ensure that I don’t have to pay costs for the mortgage process - because they are the ones who fucked it up and took almost 5 months and still no decision.

I didn’t really even need the mortgage - but was going to use the money to invest in other real estate because rates were so low.

$150k and growing. It’s not my fault AMEX allowed me to have a black card with virtually no limit.

$150k and growing. It’s not my fault AMEX allowed me to have a black card with virtually no limit.

Are people still playing the AMEX Black/Red/White/Blue prestige game? Isn't that like so 1995?

Aren't the elite cars the ones that cost money and get you tons of perks in airport lounges & the like. My dentist blabs on about it, clearly status obsessed.

Does anyone even notice your card these days, if you even pull it out. I use Apple Pay all the time. No need to catch Rona thanks to my CC.

Tory is that you @R168 ?

Paying last payment on a Lowe's 2-year, no-interest loan this Monday ($6,000. It was a big project.). Then about $5k between BoA and Amazon/Chase, but I'll pay them on Monday, too. Beginning of the Month ritual.

I use my credits cards for everything possible, but then pay them off in full each month. I usually make about $2000 in cash back benefits, plus some FF miles and Marriott’s rewards. The Marriott card is the only one on which I pay a yearly fee. I don’t believe in paying a fee to make other people money.

I have about 1400 in 0% interest from Home Depot, Lowe's and Best Buy. I pay enough monthly that they will get paid in full before any interest. As a precaution, I have put the end dates in my calendar, with reminders (which has failed me in the past: once my Google calendar didn't sync and send alerts and I did not notice).

I had to get my partner's financial life in order. About 2 years into our living together partnership, he would receiveall those paper statements, and left them unopened, on counters, shelves, and the sock and underwear drawer. I had enough. One Saturday, I gathered ALL that paper shit into a MOUND on the table. We started going through it. I discovered, he had a balance on his AE; which he didn't pay for 3 months, and incurred 3 late fees ON $14.50 THAT HE OWED. I was beyond livid. How fucking lazy can you be? So, painstakingly started creating online access to his accounts ( OMG HE NEVER DID THAT ALREADY) and autopay. And paperless statements. I put every financial app on his phone. My fingerprint for access works everywhere. We brought his credit score from about 580, to 4 years later, CreditKarma says 760. And he qualified for AE Gold. You are welcome.

Curious about Credit Reporting. His Credit Karma and various 'free' bank credit checks show him in that 760 range. We went looking to buy a truck (not going to now in bad economic times) a credit report comes back at 690. While 690 is good enough, why the difference? I think it was Experian. Is the 690 the FICO score? When applying for car loans, is there another way they calculate your credit score?

R173: In short, Credit Karma uses its own scoring system; it's not a FICO score. The three main credit score providers are listed in R155, including Experian.

Through the FTC you can get a detailed free credit report from each of these three agencies (it's free once a year.)

Some banks, for instance, offer credit score info that's a sort of FICO-light, similar to but not quite the same as the TransUnion score or whatever reporting agency is behind it.

0, I pay my cc of every month plus I've paid off my car and mortgage 5 years ago I was pleasantly surprised how little I need to live on once all major debts are paid off. I use a debit card for most purchases now. I'm saving for a new car and will have a large downpayment when I'm ready to buy. My FICO score is 832

Mine usually runs around 840 but is occasionally listed as 849, making me think WTF did I do so’s to be dinged for the one point?

It’s all bullshit really, designed to keep us in debt because apparently that’s the only way you can prove yourself worthy of a loan - to have many other loans.

Do I understand correctly that someone here financed . . . a bed?

So you do R178. Odd.

r178 It was probably deductible as a business expense.

R178, a high end bed can run north of $10k. People do finance them.

Call me fiscally conservative (for once), but if you have to finance a bed, you really shouldn't. And if you're one of those world's most delicate sleepers, I'll suggest you'll still sleep like shit and complain in equal measure.

I've had zero credit card debt for a decade now. I also just sold the home that I had bought for my mother, so I no longer have a mortgage. I have no debt other than my monthly expenses. From my twenties through my early forties, I had consistent credit card debt between $5000 and $8000 sometimes a bit more. Like many people, I made myself believe that because I had the credit line, I had the money to spend. So I bought all kinds of things that I couldn't actually pay for in full, but thought it was ok to 'put it on the card'. Once I began really being mindful and stopped spending money I didn't actually have, the debt began to go down, but it took years. Finally, the debt was all gone, and it felt amazing.

The old rule was that it was okay to finance capital goods, such as a mortgage, a car, and furniture, (meaning carry a balance, if necessary).

It was not good to finance things, carry a balance, I mean, on things like clothes and food.

As I said in R172, I use my cards for everything possible; however, I pay the cards off in full each month. My car is paid in full, and I choose to carry a mortgage, rather than pay it off.

I’m the transfer balance QUEEN 👸. I move my debts faster than you can say, “ How did she do that “. Yeah, I have over $100k in debt I’m moving and shaking around. If I want something I just buy it, life’s too short to worry, right?

R185, before the crash of 2008, I did $100,000+ balance transfers all the time. But they were interest free for months, and fee-free. I had the money in the stock market and did well with it.

Today, credit card transfers all include fees and interest, right? You’re just throwing money away. I’m guessing $3000-$5000 every time you move the whole sum in fees, plus maybe $25,000 in interest a year. That’s just plain nuts.

Am I missing something?

Yes, Pierre, you are: that he's full of shit.

That was me, R178. We got a $4k bed + additional adjustable base we *could* have paid cash for (more like charged for points/miles then paid off cash) but instead financed it at 6y (max allowed) at 0% APR.

Why not? You get to have the line open to up your max revolving credit lines in the interim. We paid it off in full in 1 year while keeping our liquid available for other debts/vacations/et cet.

There's nothing wrong with using credit when you do it responsibly. No point in burning all your liquid which you could use toward the stuff that HAS interest, like loans, or for your emergency/rainy day fund.

R188 you should’ve taken 6 years. The present value of those payments would’ve been far less than the total cost.

Don't think of it as debt.

Think of it as happy pain.

I have 6,200 left. Three years ago I had 50k in debt. I'm paying this off and I'm NEVER accruing debt like that again.

What did you spend 50k on, and was it worth it?? R191

Zilch, nada.

Zero. But I was having trouble keeping it that low until i inherited money from my late father.

No, it was not worth it. I accrued that debt after the crash of 08, little by little when my work hours were cut back and I couldn't get more work and I had a mortgage to pay. Eventually I had to sell the house, move somewhere much smaller, get a different job and climb out of debt. Never again (I hope).

I have 10K. But I still have 775-790 credit score.. I would probably hit 800 if I pay this off. Its all less than 5% interest. But I need to.

Im have around 12K and my score is 750, which is fine for me. I also rotate balances to zero interest cards. I have no plans of paying them off until I get rid of my student loans.