this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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[–] bss03@infosec.pub 6 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

They often are, yes. I'm not sure exactly what "in debt" means to OP. But, when I use it like this I generally mean "negative net worth" not "carrying a line of credit".

I currently have a balance on a CC, but I don't consider myself in debt, because it's smaller than my checking account balance, and that's smaller than my investment account balance, and that's smaller than my retirement account balance.

I don't own a home, but I also didn't really consider myself "in debt" when I purchased my current car.


Oddly enough I would say I am "in debt to" my CC company, because I do owe money to them and they do not owe money to me. The "to X" part of the phrase restricts my consideration to just two-party financial relationship, in my mind. When you leave off the "to X", I consider all the financial relationship I have and (roughly) sum over them.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Same here, funny carry a balance, but at least for a couple of weeks I owe my credit card company.

Simply because if I use my debit card, i get nothing. Use my credit card and I get 2 to 3 percent off...

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 1 points 13 hours ago

Yeah, I pay it off about twice a month, but usually between the day I schedule a payment and the day it arrives I've used the card again, so it's rare for me to have a zero (or negative!) balance.

I do like the CC rewards, but they get that my "shorting" / charging the merchant. So, if the merchant is part of your community, try to avoid involving a CC processor by paying in cash. (I think cash is a pain to deal with, so my in-built preference is for some sort of card / phone payment system.)