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if you do most of your spending on a credit card, how in god's name can you have too many transactions against your checking account?
As I said, I have on around 15~20 bills each month. Off the top of my mind, that is 4 student loan payments (they aren't consolidated), 5 utility bills (electric, gas, water/sewer, cell, cable), 2 health insurance bills, 4 credit card bills, rent and some other miscellaneous bills. There are also contributions to investment accounts and HSA made monthly (5 different accounts), those I do manually because the amount differs from month to month.
Also, the above is for two people. If someone has a lot less transactions and can do it mentally that's great, not possible in my case.
As I said, I have on around 15~20 bills each month. Off the top of my mind, that is 4 student loan payments (they aren't consolidated), 5 utility bills (electric, gas, water/sewer, cell, cable), 2 health insurance bills, 4 credit card bills, rent and some other miscellaneous bills. There are also contributions to investment accounts and HSA made monthly (5 different accounts), those I do manually because the amount differs from month to month.
Also, the above is for two people. If someone has a lot less transactions and can do it mentally that's great, not possible in my case.
This is what always makes me LOL.
The people who don't understand why I don't do credit cards have all this debt.
Whereas I don't owe anybody...
YEP, you enjoy those debt payments. I think I'll go eat a steak and then go ride one of my Motorcycles.
As I said, I have on around 15~20 bills each month. Off the top of my mind, that is 4 student loan payments (they aren't consolidated), 5 utility bills (electric, gas, water/sewer, cell, cable), 2 health insurance bills, 4 credit card bills, rent and some other miscellaneous bills. There are also contributions to investment accounts and HSA made monthly (5 different accounts), those I do manually because the amount differs from month to month.
Also, the above is for two people. If someone has a lot less transactions and can do it mentally that's great, not possible in my case.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Themanwithnoname
This is what always makes me LOL.
The people who don't understand why I don't do credit cards have all this debt.
Whereas I don't owe anybody...
YEP, you enjoy those debt payments. I think I'll go eat a steak and then go ride one of my Motorcycles.
Have all what debt?
Other than student loans (which have absolutely nothing to do with credit cards) where oh where do you see any mention of "debt" in the post above yours?
The people who don't understand why I don't do credit cards have all this debt.
Whereas I don't owe anybody...
YEP, you enjoy those debt payments. I think I'll go eat a steak and then go ride one of my Motorcycles.
Huh? I don't have "all this debt", the only debt I have is some student loans, I haven't paid them off because the interest rates are between .4~2.4% and its tax deductible.
Steaks and Motorcycles? Don't care for either of them....so enjoy yourself.
Our government runs on credit, and never worries about paying its bills. Most consumers should. If you default on a credit card, you shouldn't be in collections for years, you should be in jail for theft.
thanks for the tip. don't understand how that's related to using a credit card to get cashback rewards and paying your bill off each month. but ok!
You're just getting suckered. Car dealers offer promotional interest rates by rolling the interest into the price of the car, if you were a cash buyer the dealer would give you a cash-bonus instead of the promotional interest rate. Usually they explicitly advertise both, that is something like "1.99% or $1,500 cash-bonus". It usually makes sense to take the cash-bonus even if you finance the car, otherwise you pay the interest regardless of whether you pay off the car earlier, etc.
This is not to mention that even at 3% it makes sense to just buy the car cash. It would take around 5~6% return to match an after-tax return of 3%. You're not going to find a 5~6% risk free return anywhere else.
Anyhow, you're debtor so naturally you disagree with what I'm saying, most don't have the discipline to do what I'm suggesting. But that doesn't change the fact that the benefits are huge when you compound them over a lifetime.
no i'm not getting suckered. i've never paid a penny over invoice for a car. in fact, i go in knowing the dollar figure the dealership absolutely can't go below without losing money...including the dealer holdback percentage. also, the dealer has no idea how i'm paying for the car when i negotiate price. i tell them i'll pay cash, i get the price, then i finance either through the dealer or my credit union, whatever is better.
as for interest rate, 3% i probably wouldn't do, but getting a 0% loan is fairly easy. usually, 1.9% rates are available (you don't always have to finance through the dealer).
i'm not a debtor, you don't know anything about me. as for earning >3% after taxes, have you ever heard of muni bond funds or many corporate bonds out there?
i don't need risk-free. i just need low risk. it's very easy to use low interest rates to make credit work for you. businesses do this all the time. no reason why individuals can't as well.
As I said, I have on around 15~20 bills each month. Off the top of my mind, that is 4 student loan payments (they aren't consolidated), 5 utility bills (electric, gas, water/sewer, cell, cable), 2 health insurance bills, 4 credit card bills, rent and some other miscellaneous bills. There are also contributions to investment accounts and HSA made monthly (5 different accounts), those I do manually because the amount differs from month to month.
Also, the above is for two people. If someone has a lot less transactions and can do it mentally that's great, not possible in my case.
i'd start by simplifying things. but either way, it's still easy with your number of bills. your 4 student loan payments don't fluctuate correct? so instead of thinking of them as 4, just add up the 4, and you know the total that's coming out.
i pay my cell and cable bills with amex, to get my 1.25% cashback. but still, these are fixed bills every month.
i guess i'm lucky that electric and gas are one company. my insurance comes out of my paycheck. mortgage, like i said, is in a bank account with the exact amount taken out of our paychecks.
i'd still not balance even with your number of bills. i'd know the amount coming out of my top line, and i'd know the amount of cash i have after that.
i dunno - maybe i'm just gifted with numbers. but i don't need to write it down. i could tell you to the penny what every bill is i have, the date it comes out of my account, and the total dollar amount of bills i have. i guess i'm lucky.
The people who don't understand why I don't do credit cards have all this debt.
Whereas I don't owe anybody...
YEP, you enjoy those debt payments. I think I'll go eat a steak and then go ride one of my Motorcycles.
having a credit card payment does not equal having debt. enjoy your steak and motorcycle. i would have enjoyed both of those for at least 1.25% lower priced than you did.
Huh? I don't have "all this debt", the only debt I have is some student loans, I haven't paid them off because the interest rates are between .4~2.4% and its tax deductible.
Steaks and Motorcycles? Don't care for either of them....so enjoy yourself.
i love my student loan interest rates. i'm always tempted to pay them off early, but it's hard to justify paying off something that's 1.5% lol.
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