Credit Cards

[herm]

I look forward to the day when my FICO score reaches 0.  The whole credit industry has done a good markiting job of roping people into beliving they need a 'good score.'  Good score means you keep borrowing money at someone's dictated interest rate. i.e. you're a mark.

only if you borrow it.

[Statler]

I look forward to the day when my FICO score reaches 0.  The whole credit industry has done a good markiting job of roping people into beliving they need a 'good score.'  Good score means you keep borrowing money at someone's dictated interest rate. i.e. you're a mark.

good score meant our brand new business could borrow money at 4.5% versus not at all.

we put more than quite a sum through one card each year because of the percentage back we get.  A grand worth of stuff free is nothing to sniff at when compared to if we made the same purchases in cash.

but except for real estate, we don't carry a balance on credit/loans ever.  (ok...boat...but that's second house for tax purposes)

using the system to your advantage beats butting your head against the system.

[derby]

using the system to your advantage beats butting your head against the system.

 

[ducatiz]

yeah, i gotta run with Statler here.  I had a business a while back (20 years) that I started after college.  I had a great deal with my credit card company and got points.  I ran about 200 grand thru that card in the first year, and because I paid on time, it worked very well for me.  I ended up getting two trips out of that card (the ATT Universal Card, before it was run by Citibank.. I was a charter member.. woo hoo)

Anyhow, now I have the same deal with my Amex -- pay on time, don't spend more than you have to, and keep in touch with them.  It's not rocket science.

Yes, they make their money off the lazy folks who don't do their homework and keep their balances low (well, Amex expects you to pay it off at the end of the cycle or ELSE).  We just got back from Palm Beach off the points.  Amex has a great travel agency attached which gives you great benes as well.

It really comes down to watching your ps and qs and using it wisely. 

[Drjones]

They also make money through transaction fees hence why they offer incentives to users to keep using them.  Merchants don't eat that charge; users do.  You also have to figure that on average a person spends a hell of a lot more using a card than if they used cash.  Personally looking back on my finances and comparing just food expenses from when I did have a card versus now I'm spending $800-$900 less.  No reward points or cash back gimmicks required.

[nicrosato]

I hate banks, so about 12 years ago, I closed my personal and business checking accounts. I have money market accounts with a large financial firm. I get a Mastercard for each account. They are used exactly as credit cards, but they are limited to the available balance in the account (making them debit cards, I assume). I travel on business with them, rent cars, pay hotels and so on. I earn points for their use and pay no bank fees. I actually earn a little money on the money market side.

History: A divorce in the mid-90's shot my credit rating to hell (took time to pay off balances while I was dealing with the IRS). My antipathy towards the banks began with little things, like a $35 fee for paying a check against uncollected funds (who knew?).

Oh, I can write checks on the money market accounts. If I need to transfer money, I just e-mail or fax an authorization. The customer service is much better than a bank: A few times in the past, they actually called my cell to let me know of an impending overdraft on a check written against uncollected funds. Ironic...

Credit rating? Shot to hell as it was, one of my clients in Ft Myers hooked me up with one of his clients who, for several thousand dollars over a 10 month period, somehow scrubbed all those late payments off my credit history and left me at the point that I have easily gotten a mortgage approval in the last year.

Not to mention the niftly chain saw and Bose Wave Radio I* got with the points.

[redxblack]

I've been a bank hater since 1997 when my local branch deposited my paycheck in someone else's account. I was living paycheck to paycheck (22 yrs old, no college, shit wages) and it REALLY screwed me over. Insult to injury, they charged me $200 in overdraft fees for their mistake, then told me to try to sue them if I wanted, but the fee went up $5 every day it was unpaid.

I opened my account at the credit union the next day. My debit card is on my savings account. I've rented cars with it without a problem.

[herm]

two best bank stories
1- as an 18 year old, i moved to the mountains of colorado, with nothing but the snowboard on my back and about 4k in the bank. my bank back on the east coast mixed my account up with a small business, and i ended up with a -12k balance. so...broke/ in debt halfway across the country....luckily, a family member floated me rent/food money until i got my first paltry paycheck, and the bank eventually realized that it was in error and made everything good (including removing all the overdraft fees, etc.... and sending me a letter which explained their error, with apology)

2- in 1998 i made a little mistake paying my taxes, and put both checks in the envelope for the state. rather than return my FED payment, the state cashed both checks (frickin bank should never have let them cash it). i was none the wiser until i got a notice from the IRS a year later about failing to file/back taxes, etc,..,.took a good tax guy and a lawyer, but i got the money back from the state, with interest. and my late payment penalty to uncle sam was less than the earned interest, so win/win.

[Bun-bun]

One of my subcontractors (Plasterer) got hit HARD by the bank mess last year. His business dropped by 60-75% (Like mine). He hadn't saved much of anything during the good times, and had run up a lot of credit card debt ($35k+). The lack of work made it impossible for him to pay even the minimums, and he fell behind and started accruing late fees, overlimit fees, etc. It finally got to the point where some of his balances had increased by half just from the monthly fees! He went to a debt management company, and found out that what they do is to let all of the debt accrue without payment until it get sold to a third party collection agency. The management company then contacts the collection agency, and basically buys the debt from them with the money they collected from you while they were waiting for the original lender to sell it. They collect a 15% fee for this.
My buddy Mike decided he could do that himself, and started putting money away in a seperate account. Last week he settled two accounts with Bank of America. He owed over $13k, and paid $2600 to settle both accounts.
The only downsides are that his credit rating is screwed (But it already was) and that BoA will send the IRS a form 1099, and he will have to declare the difference as income next year.
He said to me "Face it, my credit's already screwed with all the late payments, the worst they can do is get a court judgement against me. There ain't no debtors prison anymore, and in seven years, I'll be new again."

[cyrus buelton]

we put more than quite a sum through one card each year because of the percentage back we get.  A grand worth of stuff free is nothing to sniff at when compared to if we made the same purchases in cash.

yeah, i gotta run with Statler here.  I had a business a while back (20 years) that I started after college.  I had a great deal with my credit card company and got points.  I ran about 200 grand thru that card in the first year, and because I paid on time, it worked very well for me.  I ended up getting two trips out of that card (the ATT Universal Card, before it was run by Citibank.. I was a charter member.. woo hoo) 

+3 but at a much larger scale.

I am a corporate card admin for around 700+ cards. We were with US Bank, but moving to AMEX right now.

Our Parent Company (5 divisions) all will be required to use AMEX globally. The rebate we get back is fantastic, but you have to hit certain spend quotas, pay turns, etc.

With US Bank, we got a nice rebate last year.

it paid for our divisional president's NBA tickets and my unit president's NFL and MLB tickets 

[ducatiz]

The only downsides are that his credit rating is screwed (But it already was) and that BoA will send the IRS a form 1099, and he will have to declare the difference as income next year.
He said to me "Face it, my credit's already screwed with all the late payments, the worst they can do is get a court judgement against me. There ain't no debtors prison anymore, and in seven years, I'll be new again."

Forgiven debt is only reportable as income to the extent of the PRINCIPLE.  I bet they are screwing him and forgiving principle and keeping the interest as income.  Bastards.

[ducatiz]

Our Parent Company (5 divisions) all will be required to use AMEX globally. The rebate we get back is fantastic, but you have to hit certain spend quotas, pay turns, etc.

I don't know about your deal, but our deal at Bear was to roll all the cards into a single account which had a single spend quota for the entire account.

I think it was something like 300 k / month.  We would easily blow that in 2 weeks with 2000 cards issued.

[cyrus buelton]

I don't know about your deal, but our deal at Bear was to roll all the cards into a single account which had a single spend quota for the entire account.

I think it was something like 300 k / month.  We would easily blow that in 2 weeks with 2000 cards issued.

I knew about our previous deal, but probably shouldn't go into detail. But it was a yearly spend across all cards issued in North America (probably >2000).

Ours do roll into a single account for all divisions across North America and then the rebate is broken out based on what percentage of spend belonged to each unit.


I have to do this with UPS, Staples, and a few others.

It's a royal make the beast with two backs pain in my ass.

[metallimonster]

Jud,

Next time you have to deal with this at work just head over to the fridge and pick up some refreshing Breast Milk

I'm sure that will make you feel better

[redxblack]

isn't ALL milk breast milk from some animal or another? If the thought of suckling from a cow seems weird but milk from a carton doesn't...