4 ms·

For me, having to put it on a credit card is effectively not being able to cover it, so the numbers do check out, from this perspective. Again, we are talking a

by why-el 7y ago

For me, having to put it on a credit card is effectively not being able to cover it, so the numbers do check out, from this perspective. Again, we are talking an emergency, not a mortgage.

patejam 7y ago
https://twitter.com/p_millerd/status/1118071182534660096 https://twitter.com/p_millerd/status/1118071182534660096 Response #1 and #3 equal ~80%. I'd count those as being able to cover it. Many people use credit cards and pay it off in full on time (including me).
ghaff 7y ago
Except that, in addition to the 41% who can pay in cash (or from their bank account), 39% would put it on their credit card and pay at the end of the month. https://twitter.com/p_millerd/status/1118071182534660096?s=20 https://twitter.com/p_millerd/status/1118071182534660096?s=2... I expect that many of the people who can best afford an unexpected $400 expense would just put it on their credit card which they pay off every month. After all, might as well get the airline miles at least. Even if they could just write a check. So the 40% is really misleading. It's more like 80%.
thrower123 7y ago
Why? That's exactly what credit cards are for. The couple of dollars in interest that you would pick up on a purchase of this scale is peanuts, even if it took you a while to pay it off. Although I am not sure why you would pay cash for anything if you could use a card (for the same price) instead and get cash back or points.
geezerjay 7y ago
> For me, having to put it on a credit card is effectively not being able to cover it, That may be your personal opinion but that contrasts with both the facts and pushes a narrative that doesn't fit reality. For example, I routinely charge unexpected expenses on a credit card although I am more than capable of easily covering them with my savings. I'm sure thay the sheer convenience of charging expenses on a CC drives the decisions of regular CC users, specially as some CC plans charge 0% interests under some conditions.
- SilasX 7y ago
  Per my other comment [1], that's why such surveys (and, I'll add, their reporting), should sidestep these judgments calls and just find out in what precise sense someone can or can't cover the expense. In your example, where you are putting something on the CC while already having the cash to cover it, that would count as my category 1, and you don't have to resolve the (irrelevant) question of whether using a credit card "is [inherently] debt". [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19994836 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19994836
suresk 7y ago
I think this is one of the reasons it is hard to interpret this data. You view it as effectively not being able to cover it, but I (and possibly a lot of people responding to the survey) view it as a normal mode of operation to put something on a card and pay it off when it is due (and thus pay zero interest). I keep an emergency fund that is in the tens of thousands of dollars, yet I would cover a $400 emergency in this way - put it on a card and pay it off when due, pulling the cash out of my emergency fund to make the payment. The way the responses are worded makes it hard to get too much meaning out of it.

by why-el 7y ago

For me, having to put it on a credit card is effectively not being able to cover it, so the numbers do check out, from this perspective. Again, we are talking an emergency, not a mortgage.

patejam 7y ago

https://twitter.com/p_millerd/status/1118071182534660096 https://twitter.com/p_millerd/status/1118071182534660096 Response #1 and #3 equal ~80%. I'd count those as being able to cover it. Many people use credit cards and pay it off in full on time (including me).

ghaff 7y ago

Except that, in addition to the 41% who can pay in cash (or from their bank account), 39% would put it on their credit card and pay at the end of the month. https://twitter.com/p_millerd/status/1118071182534660096?s=20 https://twitter.com/p_millerd/status/1118071182534660096?s=2... I expect that many of the people who can best afford an unexpected $400 expense would just put it on their credit card which they pay off every month. After all, might as well get the airline miles at least. Even if they could just write a check. So the 40% is really misleading. It's more like 80%.

thrower123 7y ago

Why? That's exactly what credit cards are for. The couple of dollars in interest that you would pick up on a purchase of this scale is peanuts, even if it took you a while to pay it off. Although I am not sure why you would pay cash for anything if you could use a card (for the same price) instead and get cash back or points.

geezerjay 7y ago

> For me, having to put it on a credit card is effectively not being able to cover it, That may be your personal opinion but that contrasts with both the facts and pushes a narrative that doesn't fit reality. For example, I routinely charge unexpected expenses on a credit card although I am more than capable of easily covering them with my savings. I'm sure thay the sheer convenience of charging expenses on a CC drives the decisions of regular CC users, specially as some CC plans charge 0% interests under some conditions.

SilasX 7y ago
Per my other comment [1], that's why such surveys (and, I'll add, their reporting), should sidestep these judgments calls and just find out in what precise sense someone can or can't cover the expense. In your example, where you are putting something on the CC while already having the cash to cover it, that would count as my category 1, and you don't have to resolve the (irrelevant) question of whether using a credit card "is [inherently] debt". [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19994836 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19994836

suresk 7y ago

I think this is one of the reasons it is hard to interpret this data. You view it as effectively not being able to cover it, but I (and possibly a lot of people responding to the survey) view it as a normal mode of operation to put something on a card and pay it off when it is due (and thus pay zero interest). I keep an emergency fund that is in the tens of thousands of dollars, yet I would cover a $400 emergency in this way - put it on a card and pay it off when due, pulling the cash out of my emergency fund to make the payment. The way the responses are worded makes it hard to get too much meaning out of it.