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Do you use a credit card? Why or why not?
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this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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A lot of the stuff Ramsey says is good for Ramsey; not anyone else, and certainly not the public. I 100% agree with him that (most) debt is bad, but having no credit is worse than bad credit. If you want a strain on the system (what we have now), you deny credit to people that aren't credit worthy (*people without credit) so that they cannot afford to purchase homes. A mortgage is debt, but it's not "bad-debt."
Sure, and Ramsay argues that a mortgage is fine. His contention is that ideally you wouldn't need to have any debt. So once your retirement is on track, you would pay down the mortgage because it's no longer needed.
I disagree with him, but that's probably because I'm very disciplined and have never had an issue where I have more non-mortgage debt than cash on hand. In fact, I was very nervous about my mortgage debt, so I aggressively saved after getting a house to build up investments so they would exceed my mortgage (I can now theoretically pay it off if I liquidate my retirement accounts). I have never financed a car (my cars are both 15+ years old), never paid credit card interest, and never needed a personal loan. I have maintained an emergency fund since I was 16 (didn't call it that until my late 20s). I see debt as a tool, if I can get lower interest debt than I can make with guaranteed returns, I consider it foolish to not take it. In fact, I have a few thousand in 0% credit card debt right now because I refuse to pay it back until the promo is about up.
That said, many people have a problem handling debt, so if that's you, Ramsay's advice is perfect. I actually like listening to his show, and I recommend him all the time, despite disagreeing with him on practically everything. He offers a very structured program that works for a lot of people, and that's way better than trying something perhaps mathematically better but relies on discipline.
Yea I mean, I don’t want to entirely shit on everything Ramsey says, it’s just incredibly rudimentary. Great for people starting out… but if his listeners continue to listen to him forever they are doing themselves a disservice.
Yup, the goal should be financial literacy, not consistency following someone else's program.
You clearly listen to too much Ramsey. No credit is a credit score of 0. Bad credit is 580. It is going to take time to repair either one but if you’re running a race, do you want to start at 0, or 2/3 of the way to the finish line?
Even if rates are 10%, ownership is better than paying a landlord rent. Equity, equity, equity… High interest rates are when you upgrade or purchase more property to build wealth. Just ride it out and refinance when the rates come down.
Having a high credit score makes everything easier. A high credit score is also something required for certain jobs. Ramsey comes up with “workarounds” for when his advice about not having credit doesn’t work out.
They're not moving the goal posts from good debt to own vs rent, the reason a mortgage is good debt to have is because it is better than renting. Consider taking out a loan for something that has zero benefit, like a statue or yourself or something stupid. That's bad debt because it provides no benefit. Being in a home builds equity. Your putting your money into a 30 year hole very slowly but it's better than a bottomless pit.
When I checked my credit score last month, it was 847. I’m sure I’m doing better than 99% of people in that regard.
When interest rates are high, there’s less demand and as a result prices are lower.
Keep listening to Ramsey. This conversation has devolved into something I’m no longer interested in, so I’m checking out… have a good one.
I lost interest when I realized I don’t care if you’re fucking up, and I don’t care if you think I’m wrong either. I don’t want to argue with you. Waste of my time. Like I said earlier, have a good one.
A debit card is not recommended for day to day. If it gets picked up by a skimmer or otherwise used in a fraudulent manner, your bank account gets debited until the investigation is done.
This can take months and can involve large sums of money.
With a credit card, no money leaves your bank account during the investigation.
I'm glad that your one single experience trumps the experience of hundreds of thousands of other people who've gotten in a jam with a debit card. Good for you.
I didn't miss that part. I was responding to your main point about "propaganda from the credit card companies". If it's not propaganda and you got your money back almost instantly... then why are you still jumping through hoops to protect your money? 🤔
In Europe there is a Card Stop number you can use to block your card as soon as you noticed it's stolen.
From the rest of the thread, it seems that US laws protect credit cards better than debit.
Ramsey told folks to keep making payments on student loans when the payments and interest were paused. He does not give sound financial advice.