Need advice with credit card debts.

[Kai]

Cascading is the most basic form of criminal thinking....very amateur stuff.

YOU ARE THE MOST BASIC FORM OF CRIMINAL THINKING

[Recon by Fire]

Kai; maybe I misunderstood you. If you meant to say consolidate them onto another credit card, that is fine, not the best way but it works better than paying several different ones. If you meant it as it sounded, cascading, that is just stupid. Blue collar criminals often do this and usually switch to doing it hot check writing, falsely inflating their bogus balances in order to further their hot check writing. It si a cascading effect taht floats a false balance until the processes clear and you are left with nothing but a welcher.

Try not to be so PBN-ish

[thecavemankevin]

Recon, let me ask you this sense you seem to know a fair amount. Should you close an account that has a zero balance when you are not going to use it ever again? For example: My wife and i purchased our wedding rings on a zales card. we paid it off and then i closed the account becuase i was not going to use it again. But of course all the stores say "save xxx when you open an account." Now i have never done that, but i know my in laws have when it is a fair amount of savings then pay off the card and never use it again....but they dont close the account. Should they close the account?

[SCpoloRicker]

You don't need to take him seriously most of the time.

/mostly

Kai; maybe I misunderstood you. If you meant to say consolidate them onto another credit card, that is fine, not the best way but it works better than paying several different ones. If you meant it as it sounded, cascading, that is just stupid. Blue collar criminals often do this and usually switch to doing it hot check writing, falsely inflating their bogus balances in order to further their hot check writing. It si a cascading effect taht floats a false balance until the processes clear and you are left with nothing but a welcher.

Try not to be so PBN-ish

[Pacifist_Farmer]

Recon:

1. Our taxes were done by a professional last year, no mention of your stated issues, but perhaps that is because her debit was not reduced, and interest rates were not affected. The debit managment company merely consolidated it too one payment and canceled the cards for her. Nothing else changed.

2. Which credit reporting company do you use Recon? I have used Experian in the past and they only report whether a payment is late, and then only over 30 days. They don't tell how much you are paying towards the debit each month (that I have seen)


Cavemankevin:

I was told the other day that store cards are frowned upon even if you don't carry a balance, although more allowed debit vs. used debit should mean a better overall credit score.

And all of this is why I'm not an Accountant

[Recon by Fire]

Recon:

1. Our taxes were done by a professional last year, no mention of your stated issues, but perhaps that is because her debit was not reduced, and interest rates were not affected. The debit managment company merely consolidated it too one payment and canceled the cards for her. Nothing else changed.

2. Which credit reporting company do you use Recon? I have used Experian in the past and they only report whether a payment is late, and then only over 30 days. They don't tell how much you are paying towards the debit each month (that I have seen)


Cavemankevin:

I was told the other day that store cards are frowned upon even if you don't carry a balance, although more allowed debit vs. used debit should mean a better overall credit score.

And all of this is why I'm not an Accountant

If the debt was not reduced then you did fine, problem is that so many of these places cut the debt and then drop the "savings" onto your taxes as earnings and the people are never told about it.

I use a source through Providian that checks all three major credit bereaus for personal use. I have a few others we use for financial investigatiosn that are not available to the public. Sounds like Experian does not like to give away their own secrets!

Sounds like good advice to dump the store credit account. It is a two edged sword, they want to see lines iof credit but too many is also bad.

It is a crazy system for sure!!!

[geekwarrior]

i would also suggest trying to finish school, even if it puts you in more debt....you'll have more opportunities later in life...and if you take a semester off, chances are you'll never go back...

[lord1234]

your FAFSA is not verified based on your credit, but based on your need. If you are looking for a way to consolidate take out an ARM via a company like www.loantolearn.com

[thecavemankevin]

Sounds like good advice to dump the store credit account. It is a two edged sword, they want to see lines iof credit but too many is also bad.

so just to clarify, say if i went into a store and they said if you open an account with us you'll save 10% off your first purchase. Say if i'm buying 1000 worth of stuff, thus saving $100. So i do it then pay off the card. Should i keep the account open, just not use it or should i close the account?

Like i said, my in laws have been known to do this and my wife thinks its a great idea if we're saving like $20. I have been able to talk her out of it, but i am curious if it is bad for my in laws to keep doing this?

Moreover, what if it is not just a merchant card, but an acutal visa or whatever? I know we did this several years ago when buying a TV at circuit city. It is a CC visa that is just sitting open, but with no balance.

[Pacifist_Farmer]

Now my thinking is the same as yours, save 100 or 200 bucks, of course I'll take a card. Buy all my clothes at JCPenny? 20% off several times a year? Of course I'll take a card.

But realators, I guess, see it in the negative,
The way it was conveyed to me was:

Having a store card says that you couldn't afford what you were buying but you were buying it anyways.

[thecavemankevin]

Having a store card says that you couldn't afford what you were buying but you were buying it anyways.

but wouldnt that pretty much be the same for anything bought on credit?

[Recon by Fire]

It's fine to keep an minor card that you would use. You just don't want to maintain too many lines of credit open, balances or not.