My other name on here is AzzSqueaks - you know, tight, tight, tight!
I've been on a fixed low (disability) income since two years ago. I thank my depression-reared parents for teaching me how to pinch pennies. I can do this.
I have a credit card. I use it. Do I pay interest? Noooooooooo. I am spoiled with paying for my gas at the pump. I hate going inside to pay, especially if someplace allows smokers to stand inside the store in front of me in a line to the register. I love the convenience of my credit card. When the bill comes I pay off the full amount. I'm not interestedin paying interest. Unless I know I can pay the amount off at the end of the month I don't make the purchase.
I saved up--and it took quite a while!--to finally buy a new computer a few months ago; the old one was really sick. No way would I ever put something that expensive on my credit card; I can't pay that off in short order with my monthly income level. For the heck of it I decided to fill out the credit application in the store just to see if they'd laugh me out of the place with my current income. I figured if they did that I'd just pull out the checkbook and buy the damn thing. Surprise! Despite my meager income, but thanks to good credit history, they approved the purchase on a six-months-no-interest deal. Fine, I took advantage of it and kept my money in the bank. I figured I'd rather do it that way than take my balance to near nothing. You just never know when you'll need some money unexpectedly. So tonight I'll write and mail the check for the last interest-free payment to Best Buy before I go to bed.
I fear there could be some day when I'll have an emergency and I'll have to rely on the credit card to cover an expense I might not be able to pay off quickly. In that case I guess I'll just have to be grateful to have the card available to use. Of course, first I'd see if there was another credit option available with kinder terms than a bank credit card.
I do not feel smug about having very little debt and easy credit available to me. I know how close to the brink I live. That's why I'm very careful. My very good friend needed an emergency surgery when he was unemployed a few years ago. He had no medical insurance. Overnight he went over ten thousand dollars in debt. That would devastate me.
More troubling, [Ridout] said, some banks are doubling interest rates on customers who are current on payments but considered a credit risk because of changes in their credit profile. The hikes apply to credit-card debt already racked up.
Yes, THIS is very troubling. I think this practice should be made illegal. This is something that our government should be regulating. What possible justification could there be for creditors to have such power?
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