Author |
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 12:23 pm
However, I could find a few links that say not to close your oldest accounts even if you don't use them, since it can shorten your available history. I was extremely upset when my husband paid something like $89 to open up a credit card with Capital One 7 years ago. 6 months later, he did the same, and 6 months later a 3rd one. The first two has no annual fees but a $5 monthly fee; the third card has an annual fee of $59 but no monthly fee. Chapped my chichis, but it was his money, his business. [we weren't married at the time.] BUT when he bought his truck in 2001, just under 2 years later, his interest rate dropped from 29% to 18% and the credit dude said it was due to his good history with Capital One. 4 years later he bought me a car and the interest is only 8%. Not bad considering his bankruptcy from his divorce was still on his record. [off now]. We just bought a house and the mortgage lady said that his good history with Capital One meant more than anything else. So if you are working on raising your credit and have a long standing credit card with good history, it might be worth the $1.50 a month to keep it. If you have good credit like Max, well then that's another story. I for one am happy they are raising the minimum payment. For the most part we always pay the minimum plus the interest plus a little more if possible. Every now and then if things are tight we pay the minimum, but not often. I can see where it would be hard for somebody who's not budgeting their money wisely. But you can refuse it, and yes they will cancel your card, but you don't have to pay it off in one swoop - the terms are still the same as before they double the minimum due - you just can't charge anymore.
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Max
Moderator
08-12-2000
| Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 1:50 pm
Gosh, there are so many factors in what makes "good" credit that it's nuts! Definitely there is no one right answer on this issue. Thanks for shedding light on another angle, Serate! I agree that raising the minimum payment calculations is, overall, a good thing. People are far too focused on how much the monthly payments are rather than how long it will take to pay off the complete balance. But in the short-term, it is going to cause problems for lots of folks. Last time I bought a car, the salesman really ticked me off because he kept focusing on the amount of the monthly payment and decreasing that without decreasing the top number -- the full price of the car. I planned to pay the loan off in just a few months, so I didn't really care what the monthly payments were. He just couldn't get that through his thick head. Of course, I'm not the kind of car buyer they want because they won't make much interest off of me! I've paid my share of interest over the years, narrowly avoiding bankruptcy after my divorce. Don't want to ever go there again!
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Denecee
Member
09-05-2002
| Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 2:38 pm
FYI, credit card companies make money even if you do pay your balance off every month. They get a percentage of every purchase you make from the store you make your purchase at. The company I work for pays 5% of every transaction paid by a credit card customer.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 2:52 pm
Denecee, that's a good point. Which is why if your credit card company tries to raise your rate, if you call them and complain, they usually back down. Happens to me every now and then. Heck, I had one start offering me all kinds of premium incentives to stay as well!
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Sheilaree
Member
07-19-2002
| Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 3:08 pm
Hmmm, I think I know what credit card company that Denecee work's for because I have that card 
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Denecee
Member
09-05-2002
| Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 3:34 pm
Oops, I didn't mean I work for a credit card company, we have customers who pay with a cc and we get zapped for 5% of the sale. Luckily, most of our customers pay with a check.
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Sheilaree
Member
07-19-2002
| Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 3:46 pm
ok.
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Sheilaree
Member
07-19-2002
| Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 5:18 pm
I don't think I would pay a credit card with another credit card, is that a bad thing to start?
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Max
Moderator
08-12-2000
| Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 7:03 pm
uh, yeah. The only time this would be acceptable is if you're using one card that has a lower interest rate to completely pay off the higher rate card and then cancelling the higher rate card's account. I did that a few times when I was inching my way back from the brink of bankruptcy. I would call the bank first to see if they would extend the "low, introductory interest rate" they had given me six months earlier. If they didn't, I opened a new account with another credit card company who had another "low, introductory rate" and transferred the balance. This, of course, only works if you have a credit score that's good enough to make credit card companies come after you on a pretty much continual basis trying to get you to use their cards. Fortunately, although I was in debt up to my eyeballs, I had always made at least the minimum payments, so my credit score was good. BUt if you're just juggling money between two different cards, you're not doing anything except paying lots of finance charges.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 11:35 pm
interesting that you guys are talking Credit cards. IN the Canadian NEws thread we were just giving warning out due to the new change in the interest charges. We now get charged interest even IF you paid the whole amount each month. No more grace period. of course the 'notice' was a small 3x4 insert put in the envelope with the bill. I never read mine until I was charged a chunk of interest! Very sneaky how they did that.
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Bandit
Member
07-29-2001
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 8:49 am
It's really frustrating for people like DH and me, who purposely don't have credit cards because we don't want to be in debt. (I'll be honest....I've had credit cards in the past and I end biting off more than I can chew.) Plus, we're just not keen on the idea of paying people to 'use' their money. If we don't have the money for something, we don't have the money. Period. We stay out of debt that way. My point is that it sucks that society requires one to have credit cards to survive. Without credit, you're nothing. And yet I despise credit. Paying your bills and having cash should be enough. Maybe I'm alone in my principals - pun intened.
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 8:53 am
You can't make hotel reservations in advance w/o a credit or debit card. Heck alot of the hotels we've stayed in you can pay cash when you get there, but you still have to have a credit card or debit card on file for incidentals, or pay a huge cash deposit.
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 9:16 am
You also can't rent a car without a credit card.
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 9:18 am
DO NOT rent a car on your debit card either. They will hold back 350 dollars, and will not release it until they are damn good and ready to. Always rent with a credit card.
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Sheilaree
Member
07-19-2002
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 10:07 am
I kind of thought it wasn't a good idea to be paying one card with another. Make sense Escapee, about the rental car, alot these days you need a credit card.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 10:59 am
My sis just used her debit card to rent a car last week. Turned it in Tuesday and by Wednesday it was all clear. She couldn't rent the car online with just the debit card, but she was able to call the local Enterprise place and do it with no prob and no need for a real credit card.
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Sheilaree
Member
07-19-2002
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 11:01 am
How do they know when it a debt or credit card, alot of times I use my debt card as a credit card so I don't get a fee to use it as debt?
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Mictay
Member
09-29-2006
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 11:05 am
Most times you have to enter a pin # in order to use debit and for credit you have to sign your name,but they both come right out of your account don't they?
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 11:12 am
They can do the same thing to a credit card Sheilaree but if you use your bank card as a debit card or a credit card it ties up your available cash, whereas if you use an actual credit card it ties up your available credit. HUGE difference. Some debit cards can only be used as debit cards, like our new bank that we have an account at to just have a local bank if needed. Our other account is 2 hours away but near my family. Even when in KY we kept that account for my husband's disability checks. The debit card there can be used as debit or credit, and their online banking [never used the paying bill thingy just checking which transactions have went through and what our current balance is, and for transfers to/from savings/checking.] One time we did use our card from there to rent a van and never had a problem, but I think that's because it can be used as debit or credit. And we had tons of $$ in the bank at that time. wish we still did!
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Sheilaree
Member
07-19-2002
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 11:40 am
I don't enter a pin # I just do it as credit. Mine can be use either debt or credit, but I would rather use it for credit so I don't be charge that fee. Dont we all wish we had $$$ in the bank
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Denecee
Member
09-05-2002
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 11:49 am
Hmm...I use my debit/credit bank card as a debit mostly and never get charged a fee for it. I wonder if it is a store by store thing to charge for using a debit card?
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Sheilaree
Member
07-19-2002
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 12:01 pm
Could be, but I thought if you use your debt you would be charge a fee, and if you use it as a credit card your not. I learned the hard way on that. I kept wondering what that fee was for. Trust me it did not take me long to figure that out.
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Chiliwilli
Member
09-04-2006
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 12:28 pm
I've never been charged a fee for using my debit card whether it was used as a credit or debit. I've never heard of any fees on debit cards. The difference that I know of is if you use it as a debit card the store pays a smaller fee than if you use it as a credit card. Debit is to the store's advantage and credit is to the bank's advantage.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 12:32 pm
Denecee, some places charge ya to use the debit card, some don't. The cheveron up the street has a cash machine inside. If you use that to pull $20 you pay something like $1.25. But if you to the counter, buy whatever and get $20 cash back it's free. The last time I went to just pull cash, I bought a pack of gum for like a quarter, lol. After a dinner oopsie last night I ran to Carls Jr and they charge .75 to use the debit card there. I don't like to be charged for using my own money, so I avoid using my debit card in those places.
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Denecee
Member
09-05-2002
| Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 2:48 pm
Well I won't be going to those places that want my business and then want to charge me extra for not having cash on hand. I'm being a stinker because I could still use a check. Funny thing, I was at costco once and for some reason my debit card wasn't working. So, I'm standing there thinking oh crap, what to do and then it dons on me that I can write a check. lol!
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