What is your credit card utilization

[Anonymous]

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I look at it this way: If my heat pump & furnace blow (and oh please heat pump don't be reading my mind) 

It would cost me about $12000 ish to replace both. Better to put that on a $25,000. card, cause I would need to carry a balance for a bit.    

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Good example and one that I agree with and can identify with.  I need about $15k of work done on my house than can wait no longer than the upcoming spring to deal with.  I've wrestled with going the home equity loan route, scooping up a 0% card route, or just using a CC.  I'm likely going to go the CC route since I do have high enough limits to absorb it and because I have the cash to pay it off quickly.  If I had low limits I'd have to max out my card(s) to accomplish this, dropping my FICO scores 70-100 points in the process.

[CreditCuriosity]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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In some sense, I don't really see the point of having huge limits if you never come close to needing them.

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How do you know when you'd come close to ever needing them?  Almost everyone at some point in their life is surprised by some major financially-straining event... loss of job, death of loved one, medical expenses, etc. all of which are of course unplanned. 

In fact, using what I just said above with the law of averages, anyone that's never come close to needing them [never having experienced one of these events] could argue that their chances of actually needing them at some point are increased

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But there are limits as well, as you have to pay it back..   So, if you have say $1M in total CL, if emergencies meant that you had to utilize $800K, most people would be in trouble and would probably have to go the BK route.   In some cases, getting various types of insurance would be a better protection than just-in-case CLs which couldn't necessarily be used

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Well lets say you get sick and insurance only covers say 100k and your life depends on it and you can charge 300k lets say to have said operation and treatment and save your life or not and one passes away.  I would certainly lets the charges fly and if I had to do a BK then so be it.  Kinda my feelings on the subject and I am very anti BK.  If my life came down to it the though the choice would be simple.  Extreme and not a fun example, but an example none-the-less

[Anonymous]

I share the viewpoint of CC above.

It all comes down the the classic saying, "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it."

[wasCB14]

When an individual consumer and the general economy are healthy, lenders may be happy to extend a lot of credit on favorable terms.

But the quantity and terms of credit may not be available when it's actually needed in a disaster. Cash, decent insurance, and a plan to cut expenses seems more reliable.

Yes, some lenders have a reputation for usually not dumping their stressed customers (Cap One even discloses to investors they are intentionally subprime-heavy). Lenders do dump some stressed customers, and generally flexible practices can certainly change...generally at the time lenders are facing big losses.

And then there's the nasty little part of repayment.

Sometimes (and I have no particular user in mind in saying this) I sense a bit of a vague philosophy here of "because I can borrow a lot in good times, I don't need to save for bad times".

[CreditCuriosity]

Just saying life throws people curve balls and even people with ALOT of savings in the 100 of thousands can be drained pretty quickly.  No one is ever prepared enough unless you are worth many millions of dollars.  Anyways getting a bit off subject

[Nayola]

I'm currently at about 25% because I'm carrying/paying down a 0 percent balance transfer.

[Anonymous]

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But the quantity and terms of credit may not be available when it's actually needed in a disaster. Cash, decent insurance, and a plan to cut expenses seems more reliable.

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Absolutely, those things are the "plan."  The backup plan, however, IMO would be to use credit as a last resort.  The point here though is if one doesn't have high credit limits, that last resort doesn't exist.  I don't view [high] credit limits as a replacement for the plan of saving money or cutting expenses... I do however strongly believe that having them available during a time when savings, insurance and expenses aren't cooperating with the situation at hand is not at all a bad thing.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Have them and use them

[Anonymous]

My UTI is currently less than .01 %. I owe $15 on my Cap1 card. I've gone AZEO for the holidays!! (My gift to myself)

[Talonwildstar]

My CL is 17,600 at this time I Owe 105.00 so it CCU is at .6%.