Does anyone else eschew credit?

I build up my credit with a company then I get as much as I can at one time then I pay nothing. When they ask me to pay I say "No way scumbag." When the ask why I tell them that I am punishing them for usery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury

Then they say "well ruin your credit" But I know the next scumbag will be along looking for more free money offering me credit so they can try and screw me in interest and BAM I do it again.

Join my "Usery Doesn't Pay" Movement.

sorry, but I use credit and do nothing but benefit from it.

I buy as many items as I can with my credit card that's designated for regular use, even an item that costs a dollar or two.

In 3 years I've been using a card that earns points I have not bought anything I would not have bought if I had the cash, I pay it off each month and have gotten more than $1000 worth of gas cards and debit gift cards. I use it to take advantage of timing purchases to get the most for my money, I'm sure saving a at least another thousand dollars. Besides the purchases I would have made anyway with cash, I love it when I can charge a business expense on my personal card, getting reimbursed electronically within 1 or 2 business days, and being able to earn the points.

That's a tax free investment with no risk. Why shouldn't I take advantage of earning $700 a year from it?

Obviously there's not many people like me. But I'm proof credit is not always a bad thing.

Sure, I know people who do this. My mother has been doing this for a long time. And I'm not trying to say that you shouldn't do what you like in any way.

It's just, to me - those are just the crumbs they throw you to get a piece of EVERY transaction you make. They get a piece of all the business you do. I'm not really big on that.

Cycloptichorn

Cyclo I am with you... no credit card for me (only a debit card).

Chai, you are part of a gambling ring. They are betting that you will fall behind... and when you do they will extract far more that $700 out of you. Of course (as with any gamble) they may lose... but then they may win big. The fact that a few people make it ahead shouldn't surprise you, this was even true of the Bernie Madoff scheme.

I promise you they win big more than enough to pay for their jet planes and shiny tall buildings.

Should you really make it ahead, you should sleep well at night knowing that this money they are giving to you is being bled from some single mother who is just trying to keep her kids fed and clothed.

The credit card industry is evil.

You are not alone.

I have no credit cards and no need for one.
The last one I had, was almost 7 years ago.

I understand ( unfortunately) that you have to have a credit score in this society for major purchases...

but I do not understand the person with many cards maxed to the limit all the time for things they probably dont even OWN anymore.

I dont understand the people who feel they NEED something so bad that they will put it on a credit card just to have it. I think a lot of people spend and dont think....
They dont think about what they are buying
why they are buying
or HOW they are buying.

Its the american way

I have been hacking the system for the last few years and now have ALMOST enough credit cards in the name of quite a few A2K members to go ahead and abscond to Mexico and retire.

I don't like debit cards. You don't begin to get the same fraud protection, and they are more expensive for the merchant, thus vaguely increasing prices.

I use credit cards. Today, I placed a $260.00 order with netpharm in New Zealand. There's a currency advantage right now that lets me get the merchandise at 1/3 the local rate, and I'm including shipping and insurance when I say that. Again, eschewing debit cards, I buy all gas on plastic. Even in this small town, gas stations have gotten so untrusting you either use a card at the pump, or stand in line at the register, overpay since you don't know the final bill, go outside, pump the gas, wait in line again, and hope they haven't given your overpayment away to someone else.

Strangers and hostile vendors get AMEX, favored vendors get MasterCard. I could live without credit cards; I choose not to. I do not have interest or late fees.

I use my debit card constantly, I max out my visa and mastercard, I am patriotic.

How nice for you.

It's not always nice. It makes it harder to do some types of business, harder to own high-value items.

Cycloptichorn

Sorry, I do like you, cyclo, but see you as a spoiled brat.

That's an interesting comment to make, and I wonder why you say that.

I've worked for every penny I've ever had, and not had a three week vacation since the day I started at age 15. What about that screams 'spoiled' to you?

The truth is I got in trouble with credit when I was in college and learned the hard way how those companies really operate.

Cycloptichorn

I use credit cards extensively, I prefer them to debit cards as they usually have more protection against fraud and are more "disposable" (i.e. I'd rather cancel a card than a bank account) but I now no longer use credit (as in I pay it off weekly).

I had to put the brakes on my plan due to a change in income, but I went from around $30,000 in credit card debt to $2,000 last year by adopting a much more frugal lifestyle. Now I'm more interested in saving (since I have none to speak of) and am in no hurry to pay off the last $2,000 preferring instead to try to save all I can (I've seen the light and I think I'll save the rest of my life) as I have no safety net of any sort to fall back on.

I was a big credit user in the past, and spent whatever I felt like and just made sure my income rose to meet my growing expenditures. But after quitting poker and deciding to start my business and settle down I have adopted a very conservative fiscal approach to my finances.

Right now it's gotten to the point that I like saving more than spending from an enjoyment perspective. As in if I save $100 I actually enjoy that more than if I'd spent it on something.

I've seen the light, and intend to make savings a fundamental part of my lifestyle. I went looking for freedom when I started playing poker, but was still tied to expensive car loans and credit card bills before I realized that freedom means not having all that.

So before I was the guy who would be bored and buy a car (my last car was the result of a bored Sunday where I told them I'd buy the car at sticker price if they'd just do all the paperwork in 20 minutes so I could leave) driving an old beater that I intend to run into the ground.

I like it, it feels so good to be free of all of that because it ends up being a snowball that requires me to continue to grow my income. Now if I want I can live off very little. I just need to get to the next step: sell my condo and be truly free of all loans.

I don't even know if I'll ever buy a house or condo again. I love not having the need to earn a high income and being free. Instead of slaving away at a job you can't quit due to debt you are free. It means so much more than all the garbage that I could buy (hell I hate the things now, I want few things so I can move if I need/want to).

I just wish I'd started this a year or two earlier, and I'd not be worried about this financial crisis at all.

Employers have to report that sort of activity to the government here. It's considered a taxable benefit.

This (the reporting requirement) was one of the fall-outs of Enron here.

So?

They don't make any interest off of me. They only make a few cents off my transaction.

I benefit a lot more than they do as an individual than they do on me individual. They bank on the premise I will not pay off my debt each month, but I do.

The problem with credit is when you go into debt.

Yeah, that's the problem alright!

Ebrown explained my position above a little more eloquently than I have so far, actually.

Cycloptichorn

After many years of credit card abuse, I got married and my husband insisted on 'cash and carry'. We have one credit card which I use mainly for business. When the client pays me, I send a check to the credit card company. Everything else, clothing, food, furniture, entertainment, etc., we pay for with cash. I prefer it.

I'm not gambling. I pay off my credit card(s) each month, period, end of subject.

A gamble is when there is risk involved that I will not pay my debt. That risk does not exist for me.
I can say with 100% certainty that I will never owe interest on the credit card I use for my daily expenses.

I am not starving a single mother who is trying to keep her children fed and clothed. She made the decesion to not handle her money properly If she had come to me looking for advice I could have prevented her from falling into her debt trap, of this I have no doubt.

Why is it that when people are smart with their money, it means they are cheating someone else?

I am taking advantage of the fact that credit card companies do not have faith that I will pay my debts. That's their fault.

So, instead of benefiting from my good spending habits, I should pay cash and not reap the benefits of those life long habits?

That, is foolish.

Would you be happier if I was a single starving mother?
Sounds like I'm damned if I do and damned it I don't.


Roger, I agree with you, I do not have, or use a debit card. I have never been able to see the sense in them, and for me they would serve no purpose.

It's only gambling if the individual lacks the self-control to avoid the debt. Maybe Chai doesn't have that problem and has no issue with using it as a payment instrument without incurring any interest charges.

I personally intend to have credit cards with nice high limits for the rest of my life. I don't intend to ever run up debt on the cards again, and have no concern at all about my ability to control my finances.

It's only gambling if you lack the self-control. I think what ebrown said makes a lot of sense for a lot of people. But it doesn't mean it's a gamble for all. I know a lot of people who use credit cards as a tool, and it's financially no different than using a debit card for them, and it comes with more security and other perks.

I certainly think it can be a wise part of personal finances, as long as you have self-control.