AOPA credit card --- WARNING.

"Mike V." wrote in message
news:KZRpd.150167$HA.59696@attbi_s01...

Were you born a prick or did you learn to become one?


Neither. Were you born a poor judge of character or did you learn to
become one?


Sorry. My mistake. I thought you were a prick but evidently you are a
douche bag.

I answered your question. Why wont you answer mine?

Chuck wrote:

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

Chuck wrote:


"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...


In a previous article, "Chuck" said:


"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...


Anybody who carries a balance on any credit card is an idiot or a

sucker.


Or isn't as wealthy or well off financially as you are...

Nobody is *forcing* you to buy what you can't currently afford, you

know.

Back before credit cards existed, people actually saved up money ahead

of

time for major purchases, instead of all this "buy now and pay later"
instant gratification stuff.




Ya know... I didn't say that paying the balance off was a bad thing. I

guess

what kinda ticked me off about your post was you said that people were
idiots or suckers for not paying the balance. I merely pointed out that

some

people can't do that.

If I get a new job and have to go to Sears and buy $2,000 worth of

tools, I

will not be able to pay the balance off in one month. But I gotta have

the

tools if I want the job.

That is exactly why any financial advisor worth their salt recommends
that you save an amount equal to 3 - 6 months of expenses as an
"emergency" cash fund. Yes, it takes time to do this and a lot of
self-control, which most Americans no longer have, but that eliminates
the need to ever use a credit card for a situation like this ... or a
transmission failure in your car ... or a leak in your roof, etc.

Rather than save, most people use credit as their emergency fund. And,
as Paul said, that is a sucker play.



And some people like me are financially strapped and do not have the money
to save after the bills are paid. In fact, I was putting $20 a paycheck into
the credit union at work trying to save a little bit and had to stop making
that deposit because I needed that $20 per pay period just to make bills. In
the last 3 years, our health insurance at work has gone up 135% and co-pays,
etc have risen also. I have 3 prescriptions, my wife has 5 and our son has
one. That's around $150 per month or a little more. Both vehicles are paid
off, so no car payments. We rent a house and it is actually about $100 below
the going rate for our area. Electric bills are out the roof. Do I need to
keep going? In otherwords, by me living paycheck to paycheck, and my yearly
raises at 3% if I am lucky that don't even cover cost of living, I am doing
everything that I can to stay afloat and will resort to whatever means I
have to to provide for my wife and son. I wish that you people that make
$100,000 a year, own airplanes, drive Lexus and Mercedes and live in half
million dollar houses could understand...

I truly feel sorry for people in your situation. However, it doesn't
change the mathematics. If you have no excess income to save, where do
you find the extra money to pay the interest on the credit card?

Matt

Chuck wrote:

"John Galban" wrote in message
om...

snip

I've almost never kept a balance on a credit card. If I can't get a
real loan (i.e. bank loan with reasonable terms), then that means I
probably can't afford whatever it is I want to buy.



Must be nice... I don't have the option of very many luxuries, so I need
credit from time to time for necessities...

I still don't see how this works as the interest you pay means that you
can now have even fewer necessities than if you paid cash for them.

Matt

Judah wrote:

Matt Whiting wrote in
:


Judah wrote:


Matt Whiting wrote in
:



Mike V. wrote:


Snip

... The unknown downside is that this passive
approach likely would have encouraged more 9/11 like attacks and the
cost of them would have been horrendous.


Matt


Your presumption is that there will not be anymore 9/11 like attacks.

Your presumption is wrong. My presumption is that there would be more
attacks under an administration with Clinton-like policies than under
one with Bush-like policies. Since the Twin Towers and Pentagon attacks
were conceived, planned and partially executed (the flight training)
under Clinton, I count a good portion of that against him as well. I
never suggested that we'd be free of attacks. I don't think that is
likely anytime soon.

Matt


Even if you count the Twin Tower and Pentagon attacks against Clinton, your
missing the point. We have had as many attacks on US soil during the first
4 years of Bush Presidency as we had in the entire 8 years that Clinton was
in office. Why would that lead you to believe that Clinton-like policies
would produce MORE attacks than Bush's?

Because there is a lag time for these large attacks due to the planning
involved. It is well documented that the worst attack on Americal soil
was conceived, planned, and partially executed under Clinton. I haven't
tried to count, but what is your data to claim more attacks on US soil
under Bush than under Clinton? I can't think off-hand of any that have
been conceived, planned and executed since Bush was in office.

Matt

Chuck wrote:

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
k.net...

"Chuck" wrote in message
news
I've almost never kept a balance on a credit card. If I can't get a
real loan (i.e. bank loan with reasonable terms), then that means I
probably can't afford whatever it is I want to buy.


Must be nice... I don't have the option of very many luxuries, so I need
credit from time to time for necessities...


Is your computer a luxury or a necessity?




I said "very many luxuries". Never said that I didn't have *any*

My PC is a luxury as well as my DSL, although it's only $5 more a month than
dial up, and so is my Dish Network, but I only have the basic package. Those
are my luxuries... What are yours?

I still use dial-up and have only the 3 channels I can pick up with the
antenna on my TV. However, I do have no debt other than my home
mortgage and I'm making additional principal payments each month that
are equal to the monthly payment so I can get completely out of debt
reasonably quickly. Then I can buy another airplane! :-)


Matt

Chuck wrote:

"iflyatiger" wrote in message
...

Chuck

I feel for you man ... I hope this turns around for you soon...

My theory is that peoples complete financial future can be determined to
some extent by their financial start. You can start out the plus side or

the

negative side of it . And it can all be changed by the opportunity you

were

given in business, maybe by the help your parents gave you when you were
young ( helping you to buy your first car, etc..)
or on the flip side by any bad turn of events that might have happened to
you along the way.

Everyone can tell you how foolish it is for you to use a credit card but
from your description of your situation it is understandable that you do
what you have to do... It is easy to tell other people what they should do
but until they are in the same exact situation as you it doesn't carry as
much weight.

I have been very lucky to have been given a few breaks when I was young

that

allowed me to start out on the plus side of the money curve. And I have

made

sure that I thanked both of my past bosses for the break / opportunity

that

they gave me back then.

Good luck and take care.




Thanks Jon...

I'm glad that you have had the opportunity to become financially stable. I
am confident that someday, I will finally be there also! Just wondering
when!! haha

I have made a few bad choices in the past (waiting until I was almost 40 to
go to college, etc...), but hopefully it is all behind me...

sarcasmI know that I can count on the moral support from my fellow
aviation buffs.../sarcasm

Actually, the folks here arguing against paying credit card interest are
being VERY supportive of folks in your situation. Calling a spade a
spade may not make you feel good, but the advice is excellent if you
really want to be in control of your finances. If you just want folks
to make you feel good, then that is a different goal...

Matt

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...

1. Saddam has weapons of mass destruction - LIE



Not a lie. It may have been wrong but it was definitely not a lie. The one
point before the war on which there was agreement was that Saddam had WMD.



2. Saddam has ties to Al Queda - LIE



Not a lie, Saddams ties to Al Qaeda were demonstrated.



3. Saddam is a threat to America - LIE



How so? Saddam with WMD is certainly a threat to America and it was agreed
that he had WMD.



4. Saddam was attempting to buy Uranium from Niger - LIE



Not a lie, Saddam did attempt that.



5. Deposing Saddam will make America safer - LIE



Not a lie, the whole world is safer without Saddam.



6. The Iraqi people will greet American troops as liberators and there
will be no need for massive numbers of troops to secure the country
afterwards - WRONG



Many Iraqis did greet American troops as liberators.



Ok, which reasons do you think I missed?



I don't know, but it doesn't matter. You were wrong on all counts.

Unfortunately, when your only view of the world is through the
mainstream media, it is very easy to be wrong on things like this. Very
few reports have been made of the many Iraqis who greeted the US with
open arms, or helped out captured and wounded American troops, but this
has happened all of the time as conveyed by the troops themselves. If
things were as universally bad in Iraq as the liberal media portrays,
you wouldn't have had the military overwhelmingly supporting, and voting
for, Bush.


Matt

Ron Rosenfeld wrote:

On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 14:52:32 -0500, Matt Whiting
wrote:


How is Canada these days? I haven't visited since before 9/11 due to
the hassles at the border. It was bad enough before.


Hassles? Where?

Niagara Falls.

Matt

John Harlow wrote:

I have an MBNA credit card and I hardly feel like I'm being screwed.

To feel even less screwed get a rewards card and actually get paid to use
it.

Getting angry on them does not pay off because they do
what is "usual and customary." As a matter of fact in an
impulse one year go months ago I was also angry with them
and thought of asking AOPA as their member to look for
a new partner. Than however I rather informed myself
about the situation of customer rights versus credit
card companies and I discovered that this is how they
run the business.

Here is the punch line:

1) If your spending seem to be larger than usual, or
if they see that you are on vacations (remote billing
pattern) somehow miraculously the due date is shorter
by two-three days than usual. They have a *probability*
that a few hundred thousand payments will come in a few
days too late and yield them (say) in each instance $25
late fee + their interest. Eeeeasy money! Millions flow
in from suckers.

2) They tell you about the percentage on unpaid balance,
but they do not tell you *percentage of what amount*!!
This is even worse than raising percentage alone!


This latter trick took me by surprise. I am around 50,
and yet I have never ever before had unpaid credit card
bill in my entire life. Thus this trick was not obvious
to me. This is how it works:


As we bought a new in Dec car, we made a down payment
using the "rewards card" from MBNA, which you recommend.
How "clever"! We will collect thousands of points toward
that next Hawaii flight!

But than, as it happens, we got around Christmas a few
spending and a medical bill, and I was short by one
single thousand toward my CC bill.

So what! No problem. The next paycheck was only 7 days
later. I even did not sold any stock to pay this bill.
What for? I thought. $1000 for 12.99% annually is approx.
$129.9 per anno, the one week will cost me $2.50 in
interest.

Wrong wrong wrong!

MBNA takes 12.99% all right, but of the largest amount
which occurs on the card at any given time *during the
entire month,* and even than after the payment, a few
dollars will incurs one more fee for the next month!
Suddenly we paid almost $100 total to MBNA for being
late for mere 7 days by $1000. How "clever," but of them.

However, we suckers have now a few thousands more of
these reward points toward our next Hawaii flight :-)

This enraged me so much that I contacted lawyer through
our legal insurance and I demanded from AOPA to take my
demand under vote to ban MBNA from AOPA as a fraudulent
company.

Wrong wrong wrong. All this what they did is in writing,
give to each of us. And, every credit card company do the
same. Such law suits agaisnt banks were attempted thousands
of times and they failed.


Like someone said: Be clever enough to never ever have
any late payment with these hooligans. If you go for
vacations or travel, pay at least the expected minimum
payment in advance, if not the entire expected bill.
Use online services to pay on time, even remotely.

Be clever, earn some money from your money, instead
of feeding these credit card companies with noticeable
part of your income!

Happy Flying!

Thomas
PAO

ThomasH wrote:

[...]
As we bought a new in Dec car, we made a down payment
using the "rewards card" from MBNA, which you recommend.
How "clever"! We will collect thousands of points toward
that next Hawaii flight!


hey, all these typos and grammar... I am still angry with them!!