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Old 06-02-2023, 04:49 PM
 
Location: Ohio
24,623 posts, read 19,108,889 times
Reputation: 21738

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Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl View Post
Well, if you live paycheck to paycheck, and your car breaks down, and you don't have cash to get it fixed and don't make enough to save cash, and you can't get to work without a car, they are going to use a credit card if they have one. What would you expect people to do?

It's easy to be pious when you're not in a desperate way of life.
People live paycheck-to-paycheck by choice.

No one forces anyone to by an 85" TV. They refuse to save money for 2 or 3 months and buy a perfectly good 32" TV. Because they're hell-bent on satisfying every infantile urge right now this second, they charge it, and everything else, and then make only the minimum monthly payment because they spend all their money on useless crap like UberEats because they're too damn lazy to drive out and get it.

Then they end up paying $1,500 for a $700 TV and wonder why they ain't got no money.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl View Post
I just don't agree with that.
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.

Like on the UselessTube videos where people with $1,600 worth of butt-ugly tattoos whine they ain't got $400 cash for an emergency.
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Old 06-03-2023, 09:12 AM
 
50,489 posts, read 36,145,160 times
Reputation: 76359
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mircea View Post
People live paycheck-to-paycheck by choice.

No one forces anyone to by an 85" TV. They refuse to save money for 2 or 3 months and buy a perfectly good 32" TV. Because they're hell-bent on satisfying every infantile urge right now this second, they charge it, and everything else, and then make only the minimum monthly payment because they spend all their money on useless crap like UberEats because they're too damn lazy to drive out and get it.

Then they end up paying $1,500 for a $700 TV and wonder why they ain't got no money.



There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.

Like on the UselessTube videos where people with $1,600 worth of butt-ugly tattoos whine they ain't got $400 cash for an emergency.
I have to disagree with you simply because my experience is very different than above. Like I said when I was living paycheck to paycheck, I brought home $62 a week and I had to pay $50 a week in rent. I didn’t even have a car, hitchhiked, 5 miles each way every day and back to work. I didn’t have any TV, I didn’t even have underwear that didn’t have holes in it. It certainly wasn’t by choice.
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Old 06-03-2023, 09:22 AM
 
8,181 posts, read 2,771,780 times
Reputation: 6016
Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl View Post
I have to disagree with you simply because my experience is very different than above. Like I said when I was living paycheck to paycheck, I brought home $62 a week and I had to pay $50 a week in rent. I didn’t even have a car, hitchhiked, 5 miles each way every day and back to work. I didn’t have any TV, I didn’t even have underwear that didn’t have holes in it. It certainly wasn’t by choice.
Your experience can be whatever you like. The numbers don't support your narrative.

Medical debt is a tiny portion of total credit card debt as are broken down cars. An average credit card balance of $10k per household is NOT someone charging $50/week worth of groceries, especially when that average includes a substantial percentage of households who carry no balance on their credit cards.
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Old 06-03-2023, 11:29 AM
 
Location: Ohio
24,623 posts, read 19,108,889 times
Reputation: 21738
Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl View Post
I have to disagree with you simply because my experience is very different than above. Like I said when I was living paycheck to paycheck, I brought home $62 a week and I had to pay $50 a week in rent. I didn’t even have a car, hitchhiked, 5 miles each way every day and back to work. I didn’t have any TV, I didn’t even have underwear that didn’t have holes in it. It certainly wasn’t by choice.
Anecdotal evidence is not evidence. It's an anecdote.

And you had choices, you just didn't want to see or explore them.

Your claims are fanciful at best.

No one seriously believes you hitchhiked 10 miles round-trip to work a job for $62/week.

At the current federal minimum wage, you'd be working 8 hours a week.

And you hitch-hiked 10 miles round-trip to work less than 2 hours a day?

Even at $4.35/hour you'd only be working 3 hours a day.

What were you doing the rest of the day? Obviously not looking for a job that paid more or offered more hours.

Quote:
Originally Posted by albert648 View Post
Your experience can be whatever you like. The numbers don't support your narrative.
Well, there you go.

Quote:
Originally Posted by albert648 View Post
Medical debt is a tiny portion of total credit card debt as are broken down cars. An average credit card balance of $10k per household is NOT someone charging $50/week worth of groceries, especially when that average includes a substantial percentage of households who carry no balance on their credit cards.
Before anyone gets totally freaking stupid, the whole claim that people file bankruptcy because of medical debt was thoroughly demolished and debunked before a House committee hearing.

The entire claim by the fraudsters at Harvard rested on including people who had any medical debt whatsoever.

So, someone who had a $49 medical collection was the cause of their filing bankruptcy and not the $38,000+ in unsecured debt that they owed.

The Harvard fraudsters don't even understand how the system works.

Your medical service provider charges a 1000% mark-up on your medical bill. Your insurance company settles for a reasonable amount, even though it still typically includes a 500% profit margin for the medical service provider.

The medical service provider then decides that you ought to pay $69, except no one ever bothers to tell you that you owe that $69.

Then it ended up on your credit report as a medical collection, and the Harvard fraudsters said that's why you filed bankruptcy even though the real reason you filed a Chapter 13 was the fact that you were behind on your mortgage, couldn't get a loan modification, your car was under repo threat, and you had $18,742 of unsecured debt.

In case anyone was wondering, effective March 30 of this year, credit reporting agencies are barred as a matter of law from reporting medical debt less than $500.

Also, effective September last year, credit reporting agencies are prohibited as a matter of law from reporting medical debt less than 1 year old.
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Old 06-03-2023, 12:26 PM
 
5,535 posts, read 2,255,580 times
Reputation: 4769
Quote:
56% of all active accounts carried a balance in the third quarter of 2022, the most recent quarter for which we have data. That’s up 3 percentage points from the second quarter of 2022. Even with the recent increases, however, that percentage is still below pre-pandemic levels. For example, 60% of active accounts carried a balance in the first quarter of 2019
https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-c...bt-statistics/

Last edited by Variable; 06-03-2023 at 01:14 PM..
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Old 06-03-2023, 12:41 PM
 
986 posts, read 769,114 times
Reputation: 1200
Theres nothing wrong with credit cards as long you're smart when using them and pay them off within a month.
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Old 06-03-2023, 01:02 PM
 
4,153 posts, read 2,447,886 times
Reputation: 6495
Most Americans are financially illiterate. Ask someone to tell the difference between yield and return; a bond and a stock, to explain compounding interest on their savings and they can't. Ask many homeowners how to evaluate a proposal for work and they aren't aware of how to evaluate them and terms of payment. Learning how to say no to a child or spouse clamoring for something takes skill and perseverance. Of course, one can take it too far...I hold onto a quarter until George Washington screams.
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Old 06-03-2023, 01:28 PM
 
8,181 posts, read 2,771,780 times
Reputation: 6016
Quote:
Originally Posted by webster View Post
Most Americans are financially illiterate. Ask someone to tell the difference between yield and return; a bond and a stock, to explain compounding interest on their savings and they can't. Ask many homeowners how to evaluate a proposal for work and they aren't aware of how to evaluate them and terms of payment. Learning how to say no to a child or spouse clamoring for something takes skill and perseverance. Of course, one can take it too far...I hold onto a quarter until George Washington screams.
Truth. That's the only plausible explanation for why Socialist Insecurity continues to exist despite being well on its way to insolvency and they trust a perpetually bankrupt entity (Government) to manage their retirement savings.
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Old 06-03-2023, 01:37 PM
 
50,489 posts, read 36,145,160 times
Reputation: 76359
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mircea View Post
Anecdotal evidence is not evidence. It's an anecdote.

And you had choices, you just didn't want to see or explore them.

Your claims are fanciful at best.

No one seriously believes you hitchhiked 10 miles round-trip to work a job for $62/week.

At the current federal minimum wage, you'd be working 8 hours a week.

And you hitch-hiked 10 miles round-trip to work less than 2 hours a day?

Even at $4.35/hour you'd only be working 3 hours a day.

What were you doing the rest of the day? Obviously not looking for a job that paid more or offered more hours.



Well, there you go.



Before anyone gets totally freaking stupid, the whole claim that people file bankruptcy because of medical debt was thoroughly demolished and debunked before a House committee hearing.

The entire claim by the fraudsters at Harvard rested on including people who had any medical debt whatsoever.

So, someone who had a $49 medical collection was the cause of their filing bankruptcy and not the $38,000+ in unsecured debt that they owed.

The Harvard fraudsters don't even understand how the system works.

Your medical service provider charges a 1000% mark-up on your medical bill. Your insurance company settles for a reasonable amount, even though it still typically includes a 500% profit margin for the medical service provider.

The medical service provider then decides that you ought to pay $69, except no one ever bothers to tell you that you owe that $69.

Then it ended up on your credit report as a medical collection, and the Harvard fraudsters said that's why you filed bankruptcy even though the real reason you filed a Chapter 13 was the fact that you were behind on your mortgage, couldn't get a loan modification, your car was under repo threat, and you had $18,742 of unsecured debt.

In case anyone was wondering, effective March 30 of this year, credit reporting agencies are barred as a matter of law from reporting medical debt less than $500.

Also, effective September last year, credit reporting agencies are prohibited as a matter of law from reporting medical debt less than 1 year old.
Kind of surprised to be accused of lying but whatever. It was around 1980, and yes I did hitchhike to work and back. In fact it was my primary mode of transportation since I was 15 or 16. It was much more common back then. The rest, we’re just gonna have to agree to disagree. I know how fast that kind of humor late from a medical problem from my own experience and from working in healthcare for 25+ years. It’s quite clear that your mind is made up and not open at all so there’s no point in continuing.
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Old 06-03-2023, 03:23 PM
 
30,024 posts, read 18,600,956 times
Reputation: 20808
Quote:
Originally Posted by banksock View Post
Theres nothing wrong with credit cards as long you're smart when using them and pay them off within a month.
We use our credit card for A LOT. We probably charge between $7-$10K per month. However, we pay it off every month and use the points accumulated for other things.

My wife travels every six weeks to visit my daughter. She, in many instances, has her flight and hotel paid from credit card points. She flies Delta almost exclusively and so is upgraded to first class often (she is too cheap to buy first class up front. I only fly about 6 times a year anymore and so just do first class).

Don't borrow money you don't have.
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