AOPA credit card --- WARNING.

Another "we'll screw you for paying cash" item is cell phones. Just
try and buy one for cash; i.e. no contract.

You'll find you pay 3-10x per minute for the priviledge of paying
in advance. And of course, the phone is not "free" either..

{In the EU, prepay phones are both common and inexpensive..}
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

mike regish wrote:

Taking responsibility for screwing up is what I'd like to see. Show me
where he's done that. Any idiot knows he's responsible for getting us there.
Saying that he'd screw up again is not exactly reassuring.

I'd like to see ANY politician admit they've screwed up. I don't think
I've ever seen that happen.


Matt

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.

Matt

Chuck wrote:

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

Chuck wrote:


"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...


In a previous article, "RS" said:


If you have an AOPA/MBNA credit card then you should check the APR on

your


last statements. MBNA has been raising the APR on AOPA cardholders,

even

if


you pay on time.

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

sucker.


snip

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

Just the opposite. Someone who is wealthy could afford to carry a
balance, it is folks who aren't who shouldn't be. I'm with Paul, I've
never paid a cent of interest on a credit card in nearly 20 years now.
People who carry credit card balances, for anything other than a real
emergency, are suckers as he said. And people who are smart, will save
up an emergency fund so that even emergencies don't require carrying a
credit card balance.




Maybe I am in the wrong newsgroup to be discussing this. I would imagine
that most people in this newsgroup make damn good money and can afford to
have a nice chunk of change in the bank.

Unfortunately, I am not in that situation.

Actually, it has little to do with how much you make, at least once
above a truly subsistence income level, which varies by locale. Someone
below this level, truly has no options, but running up credit cards
doesn't help. They need to seek help from a charitable agency, etc.
until they can restore sufficient income to live on.

The real issue in 95% of situations, is that spending is simply out of
line with income. I've taught financial management seminars in my
church and studied this topic for about 20 years. Admittedly, their are
people who simply don't have enough income to live on, but that is
really a fairly small percentage of the population. In almost all
cases, spending can be adjusted to live within one's means and even save
money, however small amount that may be at first. Living on credit
means you are paying money for interest that gives you no value in the
long run. Over the course of your lifetime, you are even poorer for it.
That is a simple fact.


Luckily, we don't use credit cards other than Sears, so we don't worry much
about interest on credit cards.

Smart move.


Matt

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

David Lesher wrote:

Matt Whiting writes:


Actually, there are lots of other valid reasons. One is that in many
places you can't do things like rent a car without plastic. Many car
rental places won't take cash.

Years ago, Hertz wouldn't even allow a _2nd driver_ who didn't have
one. They gave me all kinds of BS reason.


Last time I rented from Hertz they required *2* credit cards! Lucky I had my
Visa (debit) with me and they took it because my MasterCharge is the only
credit card I have.

--
Frank....H

Dave Stadt wrote:

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

Jay Honeck wrote:


If you have an MBNA credit card, look at your statements...if you like
being screwed by the credit card company then ignore this thread and do
nothing.


You talk like MBNA owes you something. If you don't want to use their
damned card -- don't.

If MBNA charges you 20% interest -- and you're dumb enough to use their
card -- who cares? It's not like there aren't 100 other credit card
companies begging for your business, so either pay the bill off each

month,

or tell 'em to take a hike.

We haven't paid a nickel of credit card interest since 1985 -- and that

was

to pay for our wedding. (And I've felt stupid about paying *that* ever
since.) The ONLY valid reason to use a credit card is to consolidate

all of

your bills into one easily payable check each month.

Actually, there are lots of other valid reasons. One is that in many
places you can't do things like rent a car without plastic. Many car
rental places won't take cash.


Matt


So you pay the bill off when you get it. Get it?

Yes, as I said earlier, that is exactly what I do. My point was that
there is more than ONE valid reason to have a credit card. For me, bill
consolidation isn't even the most important reason.


Matt

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...

I got news for you, buddy. I'm the one arguing that people shouldn't
carry credit card balances if they don't want to pay credit card interest
rates, and I'm a conservative's worst nightmare - I'm a Trudeau Liberal.


Which Trudeau?

"mike regish" wrote in message
newsOupd.565787$mD.26031@attbi_s02...

Taking responsibility for screwing up is what I'd like to see. Show me
where he's done that. Any idiot knows he's responsible for getting us
there. Saying that he'd screw up again is not exactly reassuring.


What screw-up?

"Mike V." wrote in message
news:ybupd.146104$HA.7378@attbi_s01...

Fiscal responsibility? Excuse me while I laugh my ass off... such words
are a total riot coming from a so-called conservative.
Conservatives/Republicans/Bush are the very last people on this planet who
could talk about fiscal responsibility.

Conservatives drove us into ever increasing federal debt, oil prices
through the roof, the weakest dollar ever, growth in federal spending. And
you want to talk about taking responsibility. Yeah, right...

Then how is it we managed to get so far in debt with liberals in power?