How much credit card debt do you have ?

[Dad]

Just curious to see how Knoxville Topix users compare to statistical household averages. Thanks

[Murderer of Bools4it]

Good Gawd 10 to 20 thousand dollars?

man, i couldnt sleep at night.

[Murderer of Bools4it]

not makin fun though.. ive been there - it sux.
i hope you dig out.

[Insider]

I have zero debt, all credit cards are paid off, no child support, no nothing and have excellent credit.

[Montrose 1973]

NONE.....Take care.

[Woman of the Lake]

$0

zip, zill, nada, goose egg, double naught

=)

[NightSerf]

Hats off to Dad for one of the few well-designed polls I've seen since Topix introduced the feature. What an unusual group of respondents, too--59% free of credit card debt!

[Big Ed]

You have to have one if you travel today. Just don't give in to spend money that you don't have.

[Dad]

NightSerf wrote:

Hats off to Dad for one of the few well-designed polls I've seen since Topix introduced the feature. What an unusual group of respondents, too--59% free of credit card debt!

Thanks, Night Serf.... I agree, the 55%+ no credit card debt was surprising to me as well. Congrats to all those who have ZERO !! For those that have credit card debt, please do what you can to get them paid off.... YOU CAN DO IT !! Transfer balances to a zero into rate card, then pay anything you can above minimum. Call your current high interest rate card company and tell them if they don't lower the rates, you'll transfer the money out. If they refuse, ask to speak to their manager, and so on. Take the lowest balance amount, tackle it first. Pay it off as quickly as possible with any extra money you can find in your budget, or have a garage sale. Once that one is done, take that money and pay extra toward the next. Credit card debt can drain what little bit of household cash flow you have. Paying minimum payments takes as long as 20 years to pay off. Don't fall for it !

Thanks to all who voted.... if you haven't voted yet, please do !

[NightSerf]

Falling behind can escalate in another way: if you look at the fine print on the offers of low or no interest on transfers, you will almost always see that they don't apply to trasfers from accounts that have any recent record of delinquency.

Another way to get rid of debt more quicly is to get a bank loan to pay them off--the key to paying them off more quickly is to convert high-interest debt to low. Taht way, if you keep paying at the same rate, and you will pay the debt off quickly because more than half of your payments are applied to the principal instead of being frittered away on interest.

The other key is to avoid accumulating new debt while you pay off the old. If that means wearing old cloths, driving old cars, listening to old music, and play with old "toys," you're still living better than 95% of the wold's population. Staying at home more and cooking your own food also cuts cost--we spend so much on mortgages or rent, yet so many don't really live at home. go figure...

[Lucky]

Zero, thank goodness! I was raised by Depression-era parents, they taught me to be very careful with money. I think long and hard about anything I put on a credit card. I think debit cards are even more dangerous, though. It's too easy to lose track of what you've used them for. I only got one because so many places no longer accept paper checks (for example, Wal-Mart).

[Dad]

Great comments and very true, Night Serf....

The other gotcha with fine print is that even after ONE late payment, they can jack up your interest rate and apply fees at will.... very dangerous. Also, if you pay off the debt, but DON'T change your bad habits (spending more than you make)... the problem will return, and you'll have credit card debt again... as well as the bank loan.

Lastly Debt Consolidation services are just that.... Debt Cons. Don't fall for it. You're just paying them a fee for something that you can do yourself. Their answer is to let the debt go delinquent, take the credit score hits, and then settle with the collection company for pennies on the dollar.

According to the Fed, the average household in 2007 carried nearly $8,500 in credit card debt.... 2 cards at over $4,200 per card holder.

[Montrose 1973]

Exactly! I know a Fellow that took a Loan to pay His Plastic debt and turned around and maxed the Cards out again.....Go figure.

[Montrose 1973]

My Father told Me a long,long,time ago...It's not the point of how much Money You make,It's how much Money You can save.

[Dad]

Montrose 1973 wrote:

My Father told Me a long,long,time ago...It's not the point of how much Money You make,It's how much Money You can save.

Your father was a very wise man.... People don't realize until later in life how very important that is. Check this out:(Both cases here are at a 10% annual rate of return compounded monthly):

At age 20, I start saving $100 a month. At age 40, I have saved $1200 per year times 20 years=$24,000, and now have $76,570. At age 60, I have saved a total of $48,000 and now I have $637,676 !!!

[Montrose 1973]

Dad wrote:

<quoted text>
Your father was a very wise man.... People don't realize until later in life how very important that is. Check this out:(Both cases here are at a 10% annual rate of return compounded monthly):
At age 20, I start saving $100 a month. At age 40, I have saved $1200 per year times 20 years=$24,000, and now have $76,570. At age 60, I have saved a total of $48,000 and now I have $637,676 !!!

You're gettin' old like Me ain't You!!....Take care Dad.

[Dad]

Montrose 1973 wrote:

<quoted text>You're gettin' old like Me ain't You!!....Take care Dad.

The figures above are not actually me, that would be theoretical. Sorry, I guess it looked like it.... should have said IF I start at age 20.... THEN by 40 I would have $76K, but by 60 I would have $637K. Point is, ya GOT to start early to benefit from that compounding! I'm tryin' to play catch-up now, and it's a lot harder than if I HAD started earlier.

Thanks, have a good one !

[Montrose 1973]

Dad wrote:

<quoted text>
The figures above are not actually me, that would be theoretical. Sorry, I guess it looked like it.... should have said IF I start at age 20.... THEN by 40 I would have $76K, but by 60 I would have $637K. Point is, ya GOT to start early to benefit from that compounding! I'm tryin' to play catch-up now, and it's a lot harder than if I HAD started earlier.
Thanks, have a good one !

Dang Dad,I was needin' to borrow some Gas money from You! Not the first time I've been let down though...Take care Friend.

[Big Ed]

Pre pay cards are a good option to travel with. They work the same as a credit card and all major credit names have them.

[Dad]

Pretty interesting results so far:

Over 13% use cash/money orders only, which indicates no checking accounts.
Over 53% have NO credit card debt, hooray !!
Over 31% have cc debt of $10,000 or less
Over 15% have cc debt greater than $10,000

Surprising was the over $30,000 ones. I wonder if that's due to misfortune, like medical debt, or just radical spending habits.... makes me woner what the true amounts would be. Anyone else surprised by any of the other results so far ? Comments ?