Americans now $1 Trillion in credit card debt.........

[jltrent]

NBC News (NBC) -
A just-released federal reserve report shows credit card debt has reached a record one-trillion-dollars.
Couple that with survey results from creditcard-dot-com that found those in debt are outright pessimistic about digging their way out.
"About two thirds of American adults with debt aren't convinced that they're ever going to get out of it," Matt Schulz, Creditcard.com.
Matt Schulz says their survey comes at the beginning of a year where debt could get worse because interest rates are rising and wages are still stagnant.
"You add all of that up and it's a bit of a perfect storm when it comes to dealing with debt..."
But deal with debt, we must, he says and the most effective way out that he likes is a balance transfer credit card.
"Nerdwallet" just released its top ten balance transfer cards that Schulz says are attractive because they're interest-free.

"Including some that allow you to not pay interest on that balance for 15 months or even 21 months," said Matt Schulz.
Even though balance transfer cards can be tricky because of fees and strict deadlines, Schulz says they're still a god-send.
"That interest grows faster than you would believe."
So...that means making debt-reduction a resolution worth keeping.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I had everything on a spread sheet back in the 70's and 80's. A manual spread sheet. Interest rates were much higher back then. Balance, principle, and interest in columns month to month. Totals were on the bottom. Highest interest debts were paid off first. I climbed out for everything except the house and trucks by the late 80's. Extra job income and any other extra income went toward debts. I climbed completely out of debt. Then I bought equipment on credit. Bought another farm on credit. Credit debts for business was making money for me and I didn't mind that. If it doesn't earn money, I don't borrow. All equipment was paid for and then sold the farm for huge profit.

Debt is not bad if it makes you money.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-a ... ld-economy. Goes right along with this article. China's retail spending, according to this, is surpassing ours. But they are still saving. We are spending with borrowed money. And now with oil prices rising ,increasing the cost of living, what happens when the interest on all this debt rises?

 

[backhoeboogie]

what happens when the interest on all this debt rises?

My savings and CDs start earning a decent rate again. Stocks were excellent last year. Interest rates were not. I am to conservative to put it all in the market so I am blended.

 

[Craig Miller]

One of the worst commercials I hear on the radio "Don't let the credit card company TRICK you into thinking you have to pay them". Ya, don't let them trick you into paying them back for money you borrowed from them.... We have been credit card free for the ten years and have no intentions of ever having another one. Ever. We are paying out debt down using the same idea as bb said. With oil prices going up I should be able to get some overtime to help out with it. Higher oil is good thing for me.

 

[Caustic Burno]

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinese-are-now-buying-as-much-as-americans-a-game-changer-for-the-world-economy. Goes right along with this article. China's retail spending, according to this, is surpassing ours. But they are still saving. We are spending with borrowed money. And now with oil prices rising ,increasing the cost of living, what happens when the interest on all this debt rises?

This is our own fault for letting people get their debt to earning ratio upside down.
Good credit,bad or none come on down we will sell you a house or a car etc.
See how well that worked for housing went through the same thing in the 70's on land through the S&L fiasco.
All debt has to be serviced sooner or later.
Went and heard a leading economist talk one time, he stated take away everyone's money. Then give them all 1k each, Bill Gates would still be where he is at and the guy sleeping under the overpass still there.
It's not about what you make but how
you manage it.

 

[Brute 23]

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinese-are-now-buying-as-much-as-americans-a-game-changer-for-the-world-economy. Goes right along with this article. China's retail spending, according to this, is surpassing ours. But they are still saving. We are spending with borrowed money. And now with oil prices rising ,increasing the cost of living, what happens when the interest on all this debt rises?

It causes a collapse just like the housing market.

All this I'm so smart... I can manage debt... Sounds just like people with a drug habbit... It's ok... I can control it... :roll:

Debt makes our country weak... especially with lack of savings.

All these years of you don't talk about money have killed us. It's a new world. People need to be educated about personal finances. It needs to be part of the high school curriculum. Instead colleges and our government and shoving credit cards down kids throats.

Some one bought my son the monopoly game with the credit cards and I threw it in the trash.

When you buy a truck or some thing they don't even care about you paying cash. They make their money financing it. You have to sign up for a loan and pay it off on the first payment to get all the incentives.

 

[TexasBred]

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinese-are-now-buying-as-much-as-americans-a-game-changer-for-the-world-economy. Goes right along with this article. China's retail spending, according to this, is surpassing ours. But they are still saving. We are spending with borrowed money. And now with oil prices rising ,increasing the cost of living, what happens when the interest on all this debt rises?

It causes a collapse just like the housing market.

All this I'm so smart... I can manage debt... Sounds just like people with a drug habbit... It's ok... I can control it... :roll:

Debt makes our country weak... especially with lack of savings.

All these years of you don't talk about money have killed us. It's a new world. People need to be educated about personal finances. It needs to be part of the high school curriculum. Instead colleges and our government and shoving credit cards down kids throats.

Some one bought my son the monopoly game with the credit cards and I threw it in the trash.

When you buy a truck or some thing they don't even care about you paying cash. They make their money financing it. You have to sign up for a loan and pay it off on the first payment to get all the incentives.

Don't know about now but use to the day you graduated from HS you got a credit card in the mail a couple of weeks later, then the same thing when you graduated college. For some like putting a free fix in front of an addict. Amazing how many don't even realize they have to pay it back. Credit is good only for things that appreciate in value even if some of it is inflation but buying a car and financing it for6-7 years is downright stupid. Amazing how many $70K pickup trucks are riding around here with all the bells and whistles and only 71 pmts. to go and it will be all mine

 

[jltrent]

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinese-are-now-buying-as-much-as-americans-a-game-changer-for-the-world-economy. Goes right along with this article. China's retail spending, according to this, is surpassing ours. But they are still saving. We are spending with borrowed money. And now with oil prices rising ,increasing the cost of living, what happens when the interest on all this debt rises?

It causes a collapse just like the housing market.

All this I'm so smart... I can manage debt... Sounds just like people with a drug habbit... It's ok... I can control it... :roll:

Debt makes our country weak... especially with lack of savings.

All these years of you don't talk about money have killed us. It's a new world. People need to be educated about personal finances. It needs to be part of the high school curriculum. Instead colleges and our government and shoving credit cards down kids throats.

Some one bought my son the monopoly game with the credit cards and I threw it in the trash.

When you buy a truck or some thing they don't even care about you paying cash. They make their money financing it. You have to sign up for a loan and pay it off on the first payment to get all the incentives.

Don't know about now but use to the day you graduated from HS you got a credit card in the mail a couple of weeks later, then the same thing when you graduated college. For some like putting a free fix in front of an addict. Amazing how many don't even realize they have to pay it back. Credit is good only for things that appreciate in value even if some of it is inflation but buying a car and financing it for6-7 years is downright stupid. Amazing how many $70K pickup trucks are riding around here with all the bells and whistles and only 71 pmts. to go and it will be all mine

I had to laugh as this is very true. :lol:

 

[Bigfoot]

Credit card= spending money you don't have, to buy things you don't need, to impress people you don't like.

 

[ddd75]

i used credit cards to buy my first rental houses. They are extremely helpful in certain situations.

 

[Brute 23]

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinese-are-now-buying-as-much-as-americans-a-game-changer-for-the-world-economy. Goes right along with this article. China's retail spending, according to this, is surpassing ours. But they are still saving. We are spending with borrowed money. And now with oil prices rising ,increasing the cost of living, what happens when the interest on all this debt rises?

It causes a collapse just like the housing market.

All this I'm so smart... I can manage debt... Sounds just like people with a drug habbit... It's ok... I can control it... :roll:

Debt makes our country weak... especially with lack of savings.

All these years of you don't talk about money have killed us. It's a new world. People need to be educated about personal finances. It needs to be part of the high school curriculum. Instead colleges and our government and shoving credit cards down kids throats.

Some one bought my son the monopoly game with the credit cards and I threw it in the trash.

When you buy a truck or some thing they don't even care about you paying cash. They make their money financing it. You have to sign up for a loan and pay it off on the first payment to get all the incentives.

Don't know about now but use to the day you graduated from HS you got a credit card in the mail a couple of weeks later, then the same thing when you graduated college. For some like putting a free fix in front of an addict. Amazing how many don't even realize they have to pay it back. Credit is good only for things that appreciate in value even if some of it is inflation but buying a car and financing it for6-7 years is downright stupid. Amazing how many $70K pickup trucks are riding around here with all the bells and whistles and only 71 pmts. to go and it will be all mine

That's exactly how we have gotten to that. Notice when they started loaning more money on college... cost of college went up. They started doing 7 years on vehicles... guess what... cost of vehicles went up. You can finance a lawn mower for 4 years now.... a lawn mower! :shock:

More lives are ruined by debt than drugs ever will. The problem is people have forgotten what bad in this country looks like.

The banks are not our friends. Every one wants to curse big oil and all this... banks are paying out way more to their people and its dirty money from taking advantage of people who don't know any better and no one bats an eye at it.

 

[TexasBred]

It causes a collapse just like the housing market.

All this I'm so smart... I can manage debt... Sounds just like people with a drug habbit... It's ok... I can control it... :roll:

Debt makes our country weak... especially with lack of savings.

All these years of you don't talk about money have killed us. It's a new world. People need to be educated about personal finances. It needs to be part of the high school curriculum. Instead colleges and our government and shoving credit cards down kids throats.

Some one bought my son the monopoly game with the credit cards and I threw it in the trash.

When you buy a truck or some thing they don't even care about you paying cash. They make their money financing it. You have to sign up for a loan and pay it off on the first payment to get all the incentives.

Don't know about now but use to the day you graduated from HS you got a credit card in the mail a couple of weeks later, then the same thing when you graduated college. For some like putting a free fix in front of an addict. Amazing how many don't even realize they have to pay it back. Credit is good only for things that appreciate in value even if some of it is inflation but buying a car and financing it for6-7 years is downright stupid. Amazing how many $70K pickup trucks are riding around here with all the bells and whistles and only 71 pmts. to go and it will be all mine

That's exactly how we have gotten to that. Notice when they started loaning more money on college... cost of college went up. They started doing 7 years on vehicles... guess what... cost of vehicles went up. You can finance a lawn mower for 4 years now.... a lawn mower! :shock:

More lives are ruined by debt than drugs ever will. The problem is people have forgotten what bad in this country looks like.

The banks are not our friends. Every one wants to curse big oil and all this... banks are paying out way more to their people and its dirty money from taking advantage of people who don't know any better and no one bats an eye at it.

I know what you're saying but bankers only do what they're suppose to do. They cannot make your decisions for you nor plan your future. Only make sure their money is secured and repaid. Can't blame anybody for that.

 

[Brute 23]

Don't know about now but use to the day you graduated from HS you got a credit card in the mail a couple of weeks later, then the same thing when you graduated college. For some like putting a free fix in front of an addict. Amazing how many don't even realize they have to pay it back. Credit is good only for things that appreciate in value even if some of it is inflation but buying a car and financing it for6-7 years is downright stupid. Amazing how many $70K pickup trucks are riding around here with all the bells and whistles and only 71 pmts. to go and it will be all mine

That's exactly how we have gotten to that. Notice when they started loaning more money on college... cost of college went up. They started doing 7 years on vehicles... guess what... cost of vehicles went up. You can finance a lawn mower for 4 years now.... a lawn mower! :shock:

More lives are ruined by debt than drugs ever will. The problem is people have forgotten what bad in this country looks like.

The banks are not our friends. Every one wants to curse big oil and all this... banks are paying out way more to their people and its dirty money from taking advantage of people who don't know any better and no one bats an eye at it.

I know what you're saying but bankers only do what they're suppose to do. They cannot make your decisions for you nor plan your future. Only make sure their money is secured and repaid. Can't blame anybody for that.

Bankers and loan officers have become sales people now. They are a smiling face to represent the machine. They are not what they use to be. Their job is to smile, promote the bank, and enter the numbers in to the computer. A lot of these banks purposely hire incompetent people so they can train them to say what the bank needs them to say.

Not all banks are this bad... but its heading that way.

I use to be ok with saying let people make their own bad choices its their problem but now that my tax dollars are used to prop these people up when they fail their business has become my business.

 

[TexasBred]

Bankers and loan officers have become sales people now. They are a smiling face to represent the machine. They are not what they use to be. Their job is to smile, promote the bank, and enter the numbers in to the computer. A lot of these banks purposely hire incompetent people so they can train them to say what the bank needs them to say.

Not all banks are this bad... but its heading that way.

I use to be ok with saying let people make their own bad choices its their problem but now that my tax dollars are used to prop these people up when they fail their business has become my business.

After banking 18 years I couldn't disagree with you more. Bankers do not make your decisions for you other than to turn you down which is a decision you did not want. As for smiling, promoting the bank etc. that pretty much applies to any line of work if you want to keep getting the jobs to keep your company going. Incompetence?? Hardly. You may not understand what they're doing or why but I assure you they do, like it or not. You have no idea the tens of thousands of regulations they operate under. Reason I left....not worth the headache any longer when you do everything right yet are written up for violating some off the wall insignificant regulation. Brute, given a free hand to operate most banks would not make 25% of the loans they make today and it has nothing to do with their board of directors, officers and staff....it's gov't. There is your incompetence.

 

[Brute 23]

Bankers and loan officers have become sales people now. They are a smiling face to represent the machine. They are not what they use to be. Their job is to smile, promote the bank, and enter the numbers in to the computer. A lot of these banks purposely hire incompetent people so they can train them to say what the bank needs them to say.

Not all banks are this bad... but its heading that way.

I use to be ok with saying let people make their own bad choices its their problem but now that my tax dollars are used to prop these people up when they fail their business has become my business.

After banking 18 years I couldn't disagree with you more. Bankers do not make your decisions for you other than to turn you down which is a decision you did not want. As for smiling, promoting the bank etc. that pretty much applies to any line of work if you want to keep getting the jobs to keep your company going. Incompetence?? Hardly. You may not understand what they're doing or why but I assure you they do, like it or not. You have no idea the tens of thousands of regulations they operate under. Reason I left....not worth the headache any longer when you do everything right yet are written up for violating some off the wall insignificant regulation. Brute, given a free hand to operate most banks would not make 25% of the loans they make today and it has nothing to do with their board of directors, officers and staff....it's gov't. There is your incompetence.

I don't disagree on the govt part.

Im seeing these guys that are getting hired that are my age. They are the flunkies... the rejects... they are incompetent... I wouldn't hire them to maintain my yard.

Give you a prime example. Guy I know went to A&M and has some kind of accounting degree paid for by Grandpaw. After 6 years or what ever he got out, couldn't pass the CPA exam, bounced around from here to there couldn't get a job. Still lives in grandpaw's "rent" house. Grandpaw finally gets him a job as a loan officer at a bank GP is on the board at. Now this guy who has not done any thing with his life is a financial expert. He his now coaching all his other lazy, good for nothing buddies and getting them banking jobs also. These guys don't know jack about jack. They spit out what ever the bank tells them to.

The problem with credit cards is people have so many misconceptions about how they work vs debit cards. I go round and round with people until finally they just admit they like using them because they think its a safety net. They say they are safer... and they are not. They say they get points... so I tell them you can get DC that do the same thing. They say they need it for work... I show them I use a dc for my company expenses. People will say I like using other people's money... your not using other people's money... your paying a bank to let your use your own money at a later date.

The fact is you spend more when you walk in with a credit card. Why else would a business pay for that service if they didn't think they would make it up off the customer.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I know what you're saying but bankers only do what they're suppose to do. They cannot make your decisions for you nor plan your future. Only make sure their money is secured and repaid. Can't blame anybody for that.

I guess I am not much different. It would be nice if everyone who owes me would pay me.

I sold 48 tons of patio stone to a guy from out of town. He wrote me a hot check. It took me 4 months and two 100 mile trips to get my money. He tried to renegotiate the price on the stone the whole time.

 

[Nesikep]

Credit card= spending money you don't have, to buy things you don't need, to impress people you don't like.

and you didn't like it when you got it home anyhow.. George Carlin said that many many years ago and it's true to this day

I worked like heck to get out of CC debt.. I had to use it to pay rent and live for a whole winter when I was unemployed, living out of the back of my Chevy Blazer by the end of it.. Haven't been in debt since and have a little money in the bank.. Feels a whole lot better

 

[Brute 23]

Credit card= spending money you don't have, to buy things you don't need, to impress people you don't like.

and you didn't like it when you got it home anyhow.. George Carlin said that many many years ago and it's true to this day

I worked like heck to get out of CC debt.. I had to use it to pay rent and live for a whole winter when I was unemployed, living out of the back of my Chevy Blazer by the end of it.. Haven't been in debt since and have a little money in the bank.. Feels a whole lot better

My boss, a young sales guy around my age, and myself were eating lunch one day. The other young guy and I were talking about buying homes, debt, ect. He and I had a lot of the same views. My boss was just laughing a long and joking with us. At the end my boss finally said (in a serious tone)... Ill never be a real wealthy man. I tried rolling the dice in my younger days and looking back I have always been the happiest when I didn't owe any one a damn thing even if I didn't own a damn thing... You could tell that was 100% honest. :nod: That is true, honest, wisdom.

 

[Nesikep]

With the way the real estate market is around here you just CAN'T make any money at it, even with low interest... a million bucks doesn't get you a place you can make a living on, and if interest rates are ever raised to a reasonable level again it will completely tank the market and everything.
On the other hand you can't save any real wealth (not money) because of the current inflation without real estate. The game is rigged and you just can't win if you're starting off around here now.