Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Credit Card debt

Wowzers !! Just read that total Credit Card Debt in the US has reached $986 Billion !!!! A Good Chunk of that Debt is for young folks 20-35 years of age. Also read that 40 percent of the same age group is partially reliant on their parents for a place to live, or rent, car payments or even spending money.

We have a couple Credit Cards but only use them to get miles to fly, with us paying them off immediately when used. Other than that, we live using our Debit Card for all purchases.

But I have noticed Disney is not only advertising more but offering Discounts to stay in their Hotels. (Go Woke, Go Broke - recently laid off 5000 employees) We also have been receiving lots of Discount Offers for Travel both in the US and the Caribbean. JetBlue Vacations just recently had a large Discount campaign trying to get more business. Local Casinos have been sending more offers for free gambling dollars to us also. Are we starting to see Money getting tighter for folks and a reduction in recreational spending? Our local Gun Shop has told me things have screeched to a halt with only ammo and necessities selling.

Have two that I use on a regular basis & pay off when they are due monthly -0- interest

Another trick......your CC cycle ends on the 24th.......

Make a large purchase the 25th.....

No payment due for 7+ weeks

Then pay it off......use their money for free

We use a credit card for most of our purchases, and always pay it off as soon as we get the bill. Never have paid a late charge, and always get money back due to the rewards programs.

I'm close with my local shops owner and the last two months have been slow for them. He's hoping it's just people recovering from Christmas. He was busy right through the holidays.

-Jake

just out of college I made the same mistake alot of kids make - easy to get credit card, low monthly payments

took me a decade to get out of that cycle.

Then I married my second wife, took me another 5 years of getting her out of it.

We use cards now for rewards programs and I have a handful sitting around that we don't use in case of emergency. The low % money owed of total available credit used helps my credit score from what I understand too. At least that is what the Credit Karma app tells me.

I wonder how many husbands don't know that their wife is juggling huge credit card debt.

A banker friend tells me this is a common scenario.

That's us almost exactly.

I think all the credit card companies are gun hating liberals but some things you have to live with. We still have to live in this world and choking down the garbage is part of it.
That said, if you're an Amazon shopper, they offer a card through Chase bank that gives you a 4% discount on all Amazon purchases. So, you can choke down both liberal Amazon and liberal Chase to save a little money.

Almost never use plastic of any kind.

Except for monthly utility bills.
All of them are direct payed from a rewards card.
None are ever missed, we get rewards, only ine check to write, one stamp to buy.

Yes Hastings, Got a Son-in-Law who buried his Family in Debt because he felt he "Deserved" to buy or spend whenever because he had a decent job. He always got the mail so she did not see the Bills. I kinda broke that cycle accidently when we visited by grabbing the mail for a couple days and giving it to her. She was shocked to see the Bills for cards she did not know that they had. They are now working to dig their way out of debt but they had a very rocky year with her confronting him about other new surprising bills.

Last quarter of '22 my Amazon/Chase card offered me 10% reward on all fuel charges

So I used it strictly for fuel

Amazon purchases are always 5% rewards

The problem with using credit cards to pay utilities is they tack a 3% charge for using the card which negates the rewards earned.

Don't have a CC, haven't in 15 years. Only debit cards from 2 different banks. One Visa and MC.

There are downsides to no CC but I'm not tied to any institution at crazy interest rates

debit cards since about 1980 mainly....

avoid " credit card discounts"..

my second wife had a Sears CC. She didn't use it much, but discovered they did a scam, and got away with it...

she paid the card due amount 3 weeks before it was due, and Sear held the amount and then applied it AFTER the due date and charged her for a late payment. They told her, that her payment was $25 a month.. so she paid that... then they charged her another $25 for a " late payment"... she didn't know what to do and so kept paying them....

I found out about this crap, paid the $500 in full they had on the account charging her....Told them it was the end of that scam...

so 20 months later, she gets collection action on her owning them $500.00. The money order I had sent them was way before the due date of her next payment, but once again, they held the funds until it was past due and then charged her a $25 Late fee again....then did that every month for 20 months.. with out even sending her a bill...

They threatened to take her to court.. My response was " Let's go! Quit talking about it and do it.. I've got all records and you can explain your scam to the judge".. Never heard from them again....

I don't rack up debt, haven't for 40 plus years... don't even get car loans. I buy used cars, pay cash for it, no loans...
When we bought this house, we had to pay higher interest due to having NO Credit Rating... two years later refinanced the place with a 1.75 interest rate, and dropped the 30 year mortgage to a 15 year one... paying just a $100 more a month...

I don't buy into this debt crap... What made me see that light? I've paid my $3500 college student debt 3 times... Paid it off in full after I got out of the military.. they sent a receipt, so never thought about it afterward... 10 years later I get a collection crap from the Dept of Education.. Where's your receipt? So paid that off again....to get them out of my face... Saved that receipt for a long time... then it went MIA in a move after my divorce from my first wife.... Dept of Ed shows up again, making same claims... gets away in court with "where's your receipt?" I paid it off once again....
Ten years later they pull the same stunt again... This time I sent them a copy of the receipt and told them to shove it us their A*S...

Saw that as a perfect example of the credit racket in this country. I quit playing. Last vehicle I ever financed was in 1987, when I got divorced..
Paid that off quickly, still have the 4 Runner... 590,000 miles on it...

Why use a debit card for anything when your credit cards earn back something?

this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

it's not only credit cards that people are falling behind on, it's also car payments and house payments. My wife works in the mortgage industry and they are seeing more and more people defaulting on their house payments.
Bad times ahead and many aren't prepared for it.

Don't have CC debt. Never did.

On major purchases I ask " cash or credit the same?" If the answer is yes I ask for a cash discount for part of the CC fee Often get a discount.

Using the Credit Cards is great for large purchases - we bought a $28,000 Swim spa on a credit card, them paid it off. But for daily crap at the store or other small purchases, we would rather just pay for them. We are though going on a couple trips this Spring with all the airfare paid by points - One for $1700 and the other for $2000 with no money out of pocket.

Using a debit card online isn't smart. Unless you don't purchase anything on the internet, you pretty much need a CC.

Getting points/rewards/cash back is better than not.

You don't have to carry a balance, just spend what you would with cash on the card, reap the rewards, and pay it off every month.

Anyone with half a brain could see the fall out with mortgages and car payments coming.