This used to be a nice friendly place where people helped each other with credit and other financial matters.
I hate locking threads, Midnight, but...
This has been quite fascinating to follow! Unfortunately, I believe that the OP has ulterior motives and just keeps egging folks on in hopes of increasing discordance.
I'm fairly new to the credit scene and probably never paid any attention to how things worked prior to finding myself behind the 8-ball with late payments and collections (thankfully, this is all in the distant past!)
In reading these posts, I am grateful for the reasoned folks who participate in this forum and can provide useful information in how to deal with the current credit/cash environment. I know that credit has helped me enormously in prior times of need, but also taught me the advantages of having an emergency fund and how to better manage my funds (don't spend more than you earn!)
I use credit wisely and most often PIF so that interest rates are not relevant. When unusual circumstances arise, I am more than grateful for the existence of available credit to help me out. I have never felt that credit was there to be abused --- I owe the money and I need to pay, whether that requires occasional interest charges or not.
My thanks to those on this forum who maintain a cool head and reasonable approach to how credit works. It just reinforces that those who manage their finances can manage the use of credit without significant discord.
Starting Score: 696Forgot to mention that the FICO score in and of itself has no bearing on how I manage my finances. Just knowing that I can pay my bills and live honestly within my available means is reward enough----
Hi Kittygal! You hit the nail on the head...on many points. This forum is filled with knowledgable people that all want to see everyone succeed. And, yes, there are always the handful of anti's that love to ruffle feathers & get folks riled up, but what they fail to understand is....sometimes, several of us normally clam & helpful folks, are just in the mood for a good, old fashioned argument. (I got the picture in my head of Monty Python...Arguments...$5)
I don't believe this should be locked. (ducking from possible items being tossed from the MODS) I know that there is a thread from this same person who had mentioned locking his thread, (may have even been this thread, but I'm too lazy to go & look!), and to lock it would give him just what he wants.
So instead...let him rant & ramble on about the merits of cash in a matterss....I'm personally getting ready to head out for a bite & a well earned tottie on a Friday evening. But first...I'm filling up on the free tank of gas I earned from my Chase BP card.
TOUCHE' to the OP.
@fused wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@fused wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Yep Roybatty...Cash talks LOUDLY...plastic says Im not too smart!....I love to pay more and lots of fees!...stick it to me!
Not true, at least not today. The value of the dollar has been steadily declining since 1913. The federal reserve notes are backed by NOTHING. Your cash is about as worthless as CCs. Not only that, but cash and CCs are the same thing...DEBT. Money (CCs) = debt. No matter what you do with reserve notes, you pay some sort of a fee when you do something with them. Spend it, pay tax. Save it, pay tax. Invest it, pay tax.
Of course I realize that you are being sarcastic, but the law in our country requires us to settle our debts in dollars. Now a smart person might also want to hold Yen or other currencies to prevent the depreciation of their net worth and that is an excellent thing to do. I have been going to Japan on business for over twenty years and everything has gotten cheaper (in dollars) in that time. This effect is called deflation and it may be starting here where the value of our property and other assets may decline for a very long time because banks are not loaning enough money to the middle class to stimulate economic activity (even the President says this, so don't try another ad hominem attack unless you want to call President Obama just another "coolaid drinker" to discredit my arguments). Banks are borrowing money from our Federal Reserve at .25% interest and loaning it back to the government via the purchase of short to intermediate term bonds at 2-3% or more, or even worse, investing that government money---OUR MONEY, in the stock market!!! These bond purchases yield a guaranteed minimum 1.75-2.75% profit, so why bother lending money to us middle class schmucks! In this environment, the value of credit scores decreases immensely since less and less bank revenue is being generated from consumer lending. That means that small businesses in this country as well as normal consumers are being choked-off of credit regardless of their credit scores. Until that changes, our country is headed for deflation and all of its destructive effects.
Actually, I'm not being sarcastic.
Who did I attack? That isn't allowed in these forums. LOL!
Sorry, I was blaming you as the moderator for allowing people to insinuate that someone is crazy by referring to them as wearing "tinfoil hats" and "Kool-Aid" drinkers. People should strictly attack the points that a poster is making, calling someone names is an ineffective way to argue since it shows weakness.
Secondly, you can't be serious about equating plastic with US dollars?? You haven't traveled enough, my friend. I can use US dollars on the streets of any major city in the world--try a credit card in a foreign taxi. In some countries, like Indonesia, the locals prefer that you pay in dollars instead of Rupiah and will often give you a better deal for paying in dollars. Try using a credit card in Japan, mainly it is the airlines, the larger hotel chains, restaurants, and department stores that take them--most shops/stores/restaurants/hotels do not take credit cards. When you pay your rent in Japan, it is traditionally paid in cash or wire (not check). When you pay a debt, it is traditionally paid in cash, even if it is a huge amount of money. Japanese consider the use of credit cards to be a moral weakness and use credit only sparingly or when they are forced to (e.g. making a foreign reservation for travel). Of course, that is probably why the Japanese have the highest savings rate in the world--their total household savings is about 18 trillion dollars. Amazingly enough, that is just a little more than what our national debt totals. Perhaps our children will be able to borrow from them in the future to pay off the current roughly $60,000- per man/woman/child that every American currently is on the hook for--not counting, of course, their personal debts.
I don't want to depress people here with these facts about our oppressive debt in this country, so sorry if I upset anyone.
Hey fused -- you locked me out for saying caca.