Hooray!!! Less than $400 (au) left to pay off on my credit card!

@msolga,

Dunno about friendly.

My St George Vertigo seems to do ok on the ratings about such things.

Msolga, I bow before you, you da WOMAN!

1 Reply

@Tai Chi,

Thank you, Tai!

I can see I'm going to have to check out a variety of card options! Never heard of Quicken, either. Research, msolga, research!

(Hey, I haven't seen you for a while. Welcome back! Smile

)

1 Reply

@dlowan,

Quote:

Dunno about friendly.

Yeah I know. Neutral

Quote:

My St George Vertigo seems to do ok on the ratings about such things.

But it would probably mean I'd have to change banks, something I'd rather not do. But just out of curiousity, what annual rate do they charge?

Quote:

Msolga, I bow before you, you da WOMAN!

HaHa. If only!

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@msolga,

Quote:

You put that so nicely, Gala. But it's kinda true!

No need to have regrets about enjoying yourself and the things you've bought. Of course, there's a price to pay, but you're right on track, not only with paying it down, but knowing how to proceed in the future.

1 Reply

@msolga,

Nice to be back!

Re Quicken:

Quote:

Quicken is a financial management program developed and distributed by Intuit. In addition to standard financial management functions such as bill sorting, investments organization, and printing expense reports, Quicken also allows users to write checks, pay bills online, and interface with many online banking websites. Users can budget their funds, calculate gains and loses, and have reminders set to emphasize dates on which paper bills must be paid. Another notable feature is Quicken's synchronization interface with tax preparation software such as TurboTax. As both Quicken and TurboTax are developed by Intuit, data transfer between current versions of the programs is seamless. Both Quicken and TurboTax are available for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

I'm sure there are lots of other software packages out there. I use a really old version (and use hardly any of the functions) -- just basically keeping track of assets (few) and liabilities (many). The trick with so many things in life is balance Wink

1 Reply

@Gala,

Kind words, Gala, but ... (bursting into song) regrets, I've had a few ....

... like wishing I'd saved quite a bit more! But never mind! Onward, more sensibly in the future!

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@Tai Chi,

Interesting, Tai. I wonder if there's an Oz version? I'll look around & see what I find.

Thanks.

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@msolga,

http://www.stgeorge.com.au/credit-cards/vertigo-mastercard.asp?WT.srch=1&cid=SEM

Comparisons:

http://live.moneymanager.com.au/credit-cards/compare/?action=search&location=1&stype=all

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Thanks for all your suggestions, all. Quite a bit of food for thought here already. Off to bed now. It's late. Back tomorrow!

Night night.

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Maybe its just me, but I dont have any credit cards, and dont ever plan to.

I was always taught that if I cant pay cash, I dont need it.
Besides, I can often get a discount by paying cash, and there are no interest rates to worry about.
The only things I bought on "credit" are my pickup truck and my house.
The truck is almost paid off and the house has 15 years to go.

Having said that, congrats on getting your cards paid off.Many people go thru life never getting their credit cards paid off.

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@msolga,

msolga wrote:

Just curious: how are all the rest of you (not just Oz folk) doing with your cards? I recall a few months ago, during a recession belt-tightening thread, a number of you said you hoped to wean yourselves off them altogether. Have any of you actually managed to?

I have my normal bankcard ("maestro"), which is a debit card. (With my bank, I've an overcraft with no fees and just really low interest.)

Besides that, I have VISA (which I use quite often, on all internet businesses, when getting petrol etc) and a mastercard. Those cards are paid off once a month.
I've a rather small credit with both cards - $15,000 - but when going abroad, I fill my account there (gives a couple more % than elsewhere, too).

1 Reply

@mysteryman,

Quote:

Maybe its just me, but I dont have any credit cards, and dont ever plan to.

It isn't always that easy. Even my 80 year old mother got a credit card when she was going to travel because some things you just can't do without it.

Try renting a car without a credit card or booking a room at a hotel.

If you plan on traveling you almost have to have a card of some kind. Debit cards can work but for car rentals they can be the wrong thing. Rental companies put a hold(charge) on your card of more than the rental cost and it is returned when you return the car. Some people have found renting a car with a debit card leaves them with no cash available in their account.

To agree with many here..

No fee card that earns cash back or points of some kind. Pay it off every month so you don't have to worry about how high the interest rate is. Then PAY IT OFF EVERY MONTH or you will have to worry about how high the interest rate is.

My wife and I put almost everything on one card and get over $300 back each year.

Several years ago I knew someone that would get several thousands of dollars in traveler's checks so he could get the airline miles then cash the checks back in the same day. I think they have changed the rules on most cards since then.

Congrats from me as well. It's a wonderful feeling to have the cards paid off. I was happy when I got mine paid off. Now, start paying that interest to yourself.

1 Reply

@msolga,

Congratulati0ns, Olga, on your repayments! It feels good to get control of your credit card, doesn't it?

Speaking for my wife and I, we are the types that pay off our card in full at the end of each statement. We treat it as cash, and would never spend more than we can pay off each month.

Years ago, we put a reasonable limit on the card and told the bank to freeze it at that level.

We have the Classic Visa Rewards card. No annual fee (wouldn't take anything else). The reward points are nice. I save up 3000 points (quite easy to do) and get a $25 gas gift card. So, I save a bit of money as well.

1 Reply

@msolga,

msolga wrote:

I have been really, really strong & have resisted buying anything (even shoes!) on credit, for months now .... Just been steadily paying off my debt, bit by bit ...

Whoa! Not even shoes? You take this too far msolga!

I know the feeling. I had nearly $30,000 in credit card debt a little over a year ago. Now I have it down to under $2,000 (could take it down all the way but I redirected my efforts to savings just to have something in the bank).

It got to the point where it is more enjoyable for me to "spend" the money on fiscal sanity than things, and it changed my financial outlook forever.

Quote:

I intend to ditch Visa when I pay off this debt. Their interest rates are truly exorbitant.

Can any of you suggest a more user-friendly card? I considered not having one at all, but I prefer to have access to credit "just in case". For emergencies, really.

I don't think there is any card that is good anywhere with any bank, and I don't know Australia's card landscape. But what I'd recommend in America is to use one of the many card comparison sites out there. Here's the most popular one I found for Australia:

http://www.creditcardfinder.com.au/

1 Reply

@msolga,

They're either spoofing you, or things are different in Australia. In the US, there is no standard "Visa Rate". It varies depending on which bank issues the card, and unless things have changed earlier this year, they charge different rates to different people. Look of a better Visa, but do it carefully. If you start applying for cards, your credit rate goes down (US again), and if you are rejected, that hurts more. Around here, the worse your rating, the higher the interest.

None of my cards have an interest charge if paid in full every month. I do keep one with an annual fee. That's American Express, which does have a fee. Reason: it is my first card, and I've had it since 1984. That's considered a positive on the credit report. Also, it's a nice color, and when you're real poor, sometime you have to pay a bit to maintain some 'front'.

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@roger,

roger wrote:

[...] American Express [...] it's a nice color [...]

Does it match anything you wear? Laughing

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@msolga,

Thread title:

Quote:

Hooray!!! Less than $400 (au) left to pay off on my credit card!

Well as of 5 minutes ago, the amount owing is less than $300 ! Wink

Hey ho! Progress! Very Happy

Thanks for all your responses. I haven't the time to read them through properly right now, but I certainly will later on today!

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@msolga,

msolga wrote:

Well as of 5 minutes ago, the amount owing is less than $300 !

I sense an enormous amount of pride in this accomplishment! Wink

[clap, clap, clap]

1 Reply

I think some of the smaller banks, e.g. Bendigo Bank, have decent credit card deals. Or try the credit unions.

As a result of a multiplicity of irritations, including Qantas no longer accepting points transfers from American Express, I changed my credit cards - to Westpac Qantas Mastercard and W'pac Qantas American Express. Westpac is definitely not my preferred bank (old irritations!), but offered the best deals for what I wanted, so I didn't change my bank - they're all equally crap so I stayed with the NAB. There's an annual charge - $75. Interest rate on purchases is 17.74, but I'm very strict about paying it off.

When I tried to cancel my existing credit cards, both the bank and American Express have almost begged me to keep the card for free, i.e., no annual fee. No points accrual, though.

Perhaps if you try to cancel your bank will do the same.

I don't know if there's any winners with banks (apart from banks). Occasionally the Sunday papers will do a bit of a comparison in the finance section.

Good luck!

PS - as Robert said - not even shoes Shocked

1 Reply

@msolga,

msolga wrote:

Thread title:

Quote:
Hooray!!! Less than $400 (au) left to pay off on my credit card!

Well as of 5 minutes ago, the amount owing is less than $300 !

Hey ho! Progress!

Thanks for all your responses. I haven't the time to read them through properly right now, but I certainly will later on today!

Progress indeed.

I have just found out my strata fees have doubled!!! I was having trouble paying them before...what I am gonna do now I do not know.

THAT was the money going to pay off my credit card.

1 Reply

Hooray!!! Less than $400 (au) left to pay off on my credit card!

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