3 ms·

This is interesting and I am glad less people are using credit cards. It's really not a good idea for the majority of people in my experience. I got mine when

This is interesting and I am glad less people are using credit cards. It's really not a good idea for the majority of people in my experience. I got mine when I was 20 and I've never paid it late or gone over my limit. Most of the time I coordinate my payments with the day I get my direct deposit (I've tried automatic payments, but too paranoid that they might not work!). Discover gives me pretty good Amazon cash back too, so every few months I get enough points to get something small for free or very cheap. It wasn't until much later that I realized not everyone is like me and most of my peers had a lot of debt accrued over the years. They're definitely dangerous.

johnward 10y ago
Maybe I lack self control but it was really easy to go from paying off $30k in credit card bills every month, to not having that income anymore, to being $30k+ in CC debt.
- Bartweiss 10y ago
  This is probably a big concern for millennials in particular. The ability to "float" expenses is a nice way to smooth funds across a month, but for people without savings a sudden loss of employment can turn into instant debt.
- slavik81 10y ago
  Surely if you were spending $360,000/year on your credit card, you'd have enough home equity and other assets to refinance that debt. It really shouldn't be on the credit card for long, because CC interest rates are atrocious.
  - johnward 10y ago
    negative. I was living in my parents basement at that time (yes seriously).
    - slavik81 10y ago
      You sound quite adventurous. I don't think I'd have the stomach to try something like that.
- antisthenes 10y ago
  I'm almost afraid to ask, what does one spend $30k a month on? That just sounds like an exorbitant amount of money to me, maybe because I'm not in a developer salary bubble. You would almost have to be partying/shopping full time in order to rack up a $1000 daily bill.
  - johnward 10y ago
    It was basically advertising costs for different pay per click/impression ads. I was basically just doing arbitrage from lead generation to PPC. Though I did get a little frivolous and do some remodeling and got married and put a lot of that on CC. There's probably a vacation in there somewhere too. I used some of the money to pay off my car and put a downpayment on my house but I still have a negative worth. I didn't really plan this to spam my blog but I wrote about it on the site in my "about me".
brightball 10y ago
Like many other things, it boils down to impulse control. It's a lot easier to look in your wallet and see how much you have left to spend (and then decide you shouldn't) vs holding a credit card and deciding you can pay for it later.
swagv 10y ago
It's no more dangerous than spray paint is dangerous. If you're prone to be an abuser, avoiding them is probably not a bad thing. But credit cards in themselves aren't the problem: it's about self-regulation.

johnward 10y ago

Maybe I lack self control but it was really easy to go from paying off $30k in credit card bills every month, to not having that income anymore, to being $30k+ in CC debt.

Bartweiss 10y ago
This is probably a big concern for millennials in particular. The ability to "float" expenses is a nice way to smooth funds across a month, but for people without savings a sudden loss of employment can turn into instant debt.
slavik81 10y ago
Surely if you were spending $360,000/year on your credit card, you'd have enough home equity and other assets to refinance that debt. It really shouldn't be on the credit card for long, because CC interest rates are atrocious.
- johnward 10y ago
  negative. I was living in my parents basement at that time (yes seriously).
  - slavik81 10y ago
    You sound quite adventurous. I don't think I'd have the stomach to try something like that.
antisthenes 10y ago
I'm almost afraid to ask, what does one spend $30k a month on? That just sounds like an exorbitant amount of money to me, maybe because I'm not in a developer salary bubble. You would almost have to be partying/shopping full time in order to rack up a $1000 daily bill.
- johnward 10y ago
  It was basically advertising costs for different pay per click/impression ads. I was basically just doing arbitrage from lead generation to PPC. Though I did get a little frivolous and do some remodeling and got married and put a lot of that on CC. There's probably a vacation in there somewhere too. I used some of the money to pay off my car and put a downpayment on my house but I still have a negative worth. I didn't really plan this to spam my blog but I wrote about it on the site in my "about me".

brightball 10y ago

Like many other things, it boils down to impulse control. It's a lot easier to look in your wallet and see how much you have left to spend (and then decide you shouldn't) vs holding a credit card and deciding you can pay for it later.

swagv 10y ago

It's no more dangerous than spray paint is dangerous. If you're prone to be an abuser, avoiding them is probably not a bad thing. But credit cards in themselves aren't the problem: it's about self-regulation.