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Well, I finally just paid my credit card off from college. Took me over a year and a half after graduation, but I fucking did it.

Those bastards took a young, naive, horny student and let him have credit. I didn't understand the concept I guess - bought drinks, bought gas, bought college textbooks, bought food, etc..

I remember I charged up a lot because I liked getting rewards points. I did it just to get myself a digital camera. Ironically I barely used the digital camera, and it probably cost me 10 times as much because of all the interest I ended up paying the Citi Bank. I never once missed a payment, or was even late. I just paid a LOT of minimum payments.

It was funny too...every time I would get near the ceiling of my credit, Citi would send me a kind letter letting me know my credit line had been increased. They really wanted me to dig myself into an impossible hole. To give you an idea - my current credit line (with an obnoxious 24.99% APR) is $14,000.

I know people have had worst credit blunders - but I'm happy I never once asked my parents or anyone for help paying it off. I'm glad the US came up with stricter rules giving college students credit. The fact is, college students can be pretty retarded. Also, credit companies love it because their parents will often bail them out (a guy I know had his parents bail him out of $20,000 worth of credit card debt in college...yikes).

I'm too scared to have a credit card. I want to pay with money that I have rather than money I don't have but may have later. I did just apply for the Chase Sapphire card, does anyone know anything about it/have one themselves?

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As a young retarded newly wed I had 9 or 10 credit cards. Several department stores as well as visa, mc, amex. I never got a discover for some reason though. At one point the combined debt was around 18k. I was handling payments until I got "made an example of" at a job and was fired for being late whne the rest of the store had been late for years, but one person complained and mine was the only time on hard record because of the security system, but thats a long story. Back to the point. When I lost my job, payments started being late and I was getting hit with interest, late fees and over the limit fees. Once I got on my feet I took a second job just to pay off the cards. Two years, alot of hard work, and I made the last payment with my tax return. Since I have been free of all credit card debt and only have lines of credit for my home and car. Its a much better world when you dont buy gas on a card for convenience and realize you just paid 12% interest on a full tank of gas.

TLDR - If you get a credit card and find the desire to buy gas and playstation games on it, cut the mother fucker up.

9 level 90s and 10 85s, Damn I need another hobby.

College is a scam.

Well, certain majors are a scam.

I never used a rewards program when I was in school but I remember carrying a pretty hefty revolving balance. My interest rate wasn't nearly as high as yours (and I didn't even know they could go that high without missing a payment) but it was tough to pay down on a month to month basis. I think I eventually had three credit cards totaling five or six thousand dollars. I was telling my wife about my credit situation (during out senior year in college) and she said she would help me develop a plan to pay down my debt. She was pretty serious about it, too, since at that point we were engaged and she said she wouldn't marry me if I had a debt. She helped me look at my monthly expenses, my income, and my credit card bills and she set up a plan where I could pay them off ASAP. She first started by telling me she wouldn't see me on the weekends so I could spend all my weekend time earning money, so increasing my income was key. Second, she helped find ways in which I could limit all unnecessary spending; no skateboards, dates, dinner trips, etc. Lastly, she told me to pay off my credit cards which had the highest interest rate while making the minimum payment on the others.

I knew how serious credit cards were in high school and my parents would give me activities to help me learn how to budget and manage my finances. I remember driving around one day with my mom and she was explaining the importance of having a high credit score and how, if she wanted, she could roll into any place and buy anything she wanted because of her credit score; but, in doing that she had to be capable of paying it back. That's where I got stuck - I was making minimum payments for so long and holding whatever was left over for fun. I remember once I sold my PS2 and all my games to this chick so I could pay my bills but I did what I had to do so I never missed a payment - my credit was surprisingly good after it all.

Now things are much better! I put every single Amazon.com purchase on my Amazon.com Credit Card so I get a $50 check in the mail whenever I spend about $1400 (not on a single purchase, but total)... and all my other purchases go on my bank Credit Card (I used to use my debit card but I don't get points for that) which I earn points that I can redeem for a cash check. On both of those credit cards we've never paid a single month of interest because we pay it off at the end of each month... and since we get checks from them (the largest was from the bank and it was $500), it's like they're paying us to spend our money! We also will take advantage of 'No Payment, No Interest' periods from Lowes, Home Depot or furniture stores... as long as we pay off the purchase by the time the promotional period ends we pay no interest and we don't get the sudden drop in saving/checking funds (which is nice since we're collecting interest on that money from the bank, although it's such a small amount normally). We do make some good money each month so paying off credit cards is super easy for us... and I guess it could be super easy for anyone as long as they don't break their monthly budget. It requires a discipline I didn't have in college.

Pro Tip about No Payment/No Interests: At many retailers that offer this program, you can speak to a manager or customer service rep and request that the promotion be applied to the purchase even if the program isn't available at the time. They'll contact the stores credit department/company and flag the purchase with the promotion. Just make sure it's a big ticket item and nothing small - the store and the creditor wants your money so they'll give you what you want in hopes that you fuck it up and pay them interest.

Looking back, I can't blame anyone else but myself for my irresponsibility. I signed the agreement to get the credit cards. I'm the one who abused them and bit off more than I could chew. I guess I think the same of everyone, too. I don't subscribe to the 'predatory lending' idea since everyone who receives a credit card or loan has the terms and conditions in their hand - Hell, I'm not blaming Capital One for giving me a credit card that I maxed. Even if they gave me a $10,000 Limit knowing I could realistically afford $2,000, the fault for maxing it out lies with me and no one else. It's just another opportunity we're afforded as teens/adults and it's up to us to make the right decision.

Glad you paid your shit off. Keep it that way

Apply for loans for 3 years, find out that all the loan money not used goes into a school bank account, transfer money to a high yield savings account, slowly siphon off money for the rest of the 2 years...

but right now i just need a job to kill some time...either that or a girlfriend...not sure what is easier.

Engi-nerd

wtb college credit wtf, I need new ps3 games

It used to be 19.99%. When the government passed all the new credit card legislation, credit card companies raised interest rates while they still could for a whole bunch of customers (specifically the one's like myself who carried balances and always made the minimum payment). It was funny, I was getting charged 19.99% on purchases pre-legislation and 24.99% on any made after the legislation.



I guess I agree with you here. It was me being irresponsible and not thinking about the realities of interest etc. I guess I do support legislation though because of a few things:

1.) I was lucky, I figured out the type of hole I was digging myself into. Like you, I had people motivating me to work on getting it paid down etc. and explaining the realities of it all. Not everyone has this luxury, and so some of them just get owned.

2.) Prior to the legislation, I think it is effed up if they give a stupid college kid a $10,000 limit. The companies know the student could never afford such a thing, but they hope he runs it up so his parents can step in and bail him out. I guess you can argue "well that kid was a dumb shit" and he was...but it's still the credit card companies taking advantage, which I don't like.



Definitely. I think I'm going to open a nice cash rewards card and pay the balance off each month. I've been using my debit card for everything for the past 2 years, so I may also just try to find a cash rewards debit card.

It was a really expensive lesson - but one I'm glad I learned.

I've had a credit card for almost 10 years and pay the full amount owing every single month. It's pretty easy if you treat the card as a debit card rather than as something that magically makes you richer.

Laelia Komi Anomalocaris

osap

I do that, except with a debit card. I should switch to build up credit, it seems pretty easy to do considering what I'm competing with.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

What are you competing with?

The American public.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

Oh I see.

It actually can be a pain to build up credit. My sister never had a credit card or any student loans or anything. When she was finally able to get one at like age 23, her credit limit was $300. Pretty comical.

If you're paying/going to pay your student loans that's all you need to make your credit golden.