Credit Card Offers

Broompilot

Veteran Expediter
To good to pass up?

You are probably recieving them also, .089% intrest for 6 months!

Please read the fine print, this is how it works. Lets say you carry a 2K balance and you borrow another 2K at this GREAT Intrest Rate (which it is). Now the catch is READ the Print, its 3% for every dollar you borrow up front, OK one says thats still not 4% which is still a very fair deal.

Hold up it only goes until July, all right so basically now 4% turns into 8% hmm, well it gets even better if you do not have it paid off by July 1st. Here is the absolute kick in the pants, the lowest intrest rate on any card gets paid off first while the higher rates are not being credited anything until the lower rate is paid off or it converts over to the cash advance which in my case is 24%. (July 2nd)

How to truly beat the system, pay off any balance before cashing this .089% check. DO NOT CHARGE ANOTHER DIME UNTIL IT IS ALL THE WAY BACK TO $.00. Pay it off in June or earlier otherwise they will change the terms to charge you more.

Now I do not know about you, I carry no balances, but because I use my card's one personal one business this would not work why cause they would only apply all of the dollars first to the lowest intrest rate and anything I pay off every month would be applied to the .089% and not my new charges. So for me it wont work unless I had three or four cards with one or two I never ever use.

I guess I could apply for more cards, its just easier using these with the mind set that they are DEBIT cards not charge cards.

Credit Card Companies are SCUM, there tricks and gimmicks are out to rob you of your hard earned dollars. To make matters worst, if you notice credit card companies are only based in DE, and SD. The only two states they were able to lobby the legislature for in those states with promises or employment if they could set up the laws to screw the American People. Other states will not allow for such practices of Piracey. Thus THEY CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT EVER BE TRUSTED.

It is sickening how much the average American pays in intrest charges alone, I remember hearing just in late fees and over limit fees its around 7 Billion a year, (this amount includes all excess fees above and beyond intrest charges).
 

chetjester

Veteran Expediter
Driver
I have been listening to Dave Ramsey and have purchased his "Total Money Makeover" starter set. I will never ever pay credit for anything again.

We in America are the biggest suckers there are. We think that if we can't pay for something that we should let somebody else pay for it. The reason we can't pay for something usually is because we can't afford it. So, we borrow the money and then don't understand why we can't make the payments.

Throw the credit card offers away. Throw the credit cards away. Use debit cards and you'll always know what you can afford, because, if you don't have the money, you don't need it.

If you are thinking that you need the credit card to pay for repairs or fuel or stuff, then you didn't plan your business startup properly with enough emergency money in the bank for the breakdowns and bad pay weeks.

Not trying to lecture. Just confirming what you all should know.
 

hedgehog

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I have found credit cards invaluable. In fact, I just renewed my American Express Card. They offered 5% cash back on all fuel purchases and office supplies, 1% cash back on all other purchases, 0% APR (for 12 mos.) and NO annual fee.

I refuse to pay any interest rates on anything, so by paying off the monthly balance on-time, every-time, I've found many benefits by doing business this way.

Aside from having to carry much less cash with me, it also provides an excellent and acceptable source of proof for the IRS.

I was audited in 2001, and in addition to keeping the original paper receipts from fuel purchases, hotels, etc., etc. I brought along the cc statements as well.

In addition, AmEx also provides extended guarantees for most product you purchase at no additional charge.

It works for me but I understand it is not for everybody.

Be safe
 

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
Chet... what does Dave Ramsey accept for payment for his kit? I bet it's credit card only. ;)

"If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know." - Kansas
 

chetjester

Veteran Expediter
Driver
Wrong. He does not accept credit cards. Only debit cards.

His "kit" is 2 books, two DVDs and 1 Financial Planning Software CD. It was worth the money just to have my eyes opened to all the mistakes I was making.

He isn't a scam artist. He only sells information and help. He became a millionaire doing it, but that's what he sells.
 

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
I've heard a lot of good things about him. I wish they had him on Sirius. Maybe it's worth getting XM too just to hear him. XM does have a slightly better truckers channel.

"If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know." - Kansas
 

chetjester

Veteran Expediter
Driver
Thanks for saying that about Dave. I thought sure you were sort of bashing him.

I discovered him on XM. What is neat is that from 3-4 I can listen to Shep Smith on FOX, then turn to Dave because he is on from 3-6 with an encore hour from 6-7, and, it just might be the first hour I missed.

I love it when he has an hour devoted to people who have completely gotten out of debt.

I was a Bruce Williams fan years ago, but his show is different from Dave because he gives investment advice or business advice and talks about taxes and lawyerly things. I put him on a few weeks ago just to see how he was doing and had to change the channel. I think Bruce is getting old and is beginning to lose the continuity in his talk. He stumbled so many times that I felt really bad and couldn't keep listening.

I think that Sirius has a great selection of music. But I'm a news and talk freak and love the variety of XM. Switch over. You'll be happy.
 

DannyD

Veteran Expediter
I agree w/ parts of this but not about credit cards as a whole. I can also add to your story a bit, as I've done what you suggested about paying everything off before accepting a Great Offer.

I paid down my Cap 1 card because they had a special. 3% interest for life of purchase. I then put maxed out the card. I have not bought one thing on the card since, only paying off the balance with minimum payments. I could pay it off, but at 3% I'm fine. This was about a year or so ago. They've made offers of balance transfers at regular rates (not a chance!!) but no more 3% offers for me. I have a hunch I didn't use their card like they intended me too.

If you use credit cards right, they can work out well for you. I have a rebate card & that gives me 4% back on fuel purchases from Speedway & 1% back on everything else. I feel I'm making out well w/ this card.

I also have 2 cards at 0 interest until July & October respectively. I'll pay them off in June & September respectively. I've used those in lieu of equipment financing on my carpet cleaning endeavor. 0% beats 18% or whatever the equipment company was going to charge me. I use my Speedway card for all my ongoing purchases though.

Where I agree w/ you is if ya don't read the fine print, you'll more than likely get sucked into one of their bad deals. I agree that generally you shouldn't use credit to buy something that you couldn't otherwise afford. There are exceptions to this rule, if the product will appreciate in value (ie, a house) or you need it to generate income (in our cases a vehicle or in my case carpet cleaning equipment) it can be wise to use credit.

All in all though, & this is very important. If you're using a 15% credit card to purchase things & not paying it off every month you could be living a 15% better lifestyle if you paid cash for everything.

Having said all that I've definately made some bad decisions financially. I've wised up some on the credit card game, but my Sprinter purchase was probably a worse financial decision than all my credit card decisions (before I figured out the CC scams) combined.

Take care,
Danny

Edit: I also agree that credit cards are vaulable for buyers protection as Hedge mentioned. There's been a few times that I've made purchases & having put it on a CC has helped me get a situation resolved. If I'd paid cash I would have been out of luck.
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Dave Ramsey is on Sirius from 9 to midnite but I can't remember which channel. I can hear him on XM during the day but he's on one of them. You can probably find out which channel on either daveramsey.com or sirius.com websites.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.
 

Broompilot

Veteran Expediter
Charge one thing on an offer like Danny has. The higher paying intrest gets paid off last, so lets say 4K is at 3% and you buy 1K more tommorow, until that 4K reaches 0, the 1K gets socked with 18-29% during the entire time it takes you to pay the 4K off than you begin paying the higher rate after the 4K reaches 0.

And do not ever miss a payment, THE WHOLE DEAL IS OFF and goes into sky rocketing finance charges. Even one hour late will kill the deal.
Its flirting with fire, but if things go exactly as you plan it will work for most, it won't, and thats what Citibank, and all the others are BANKING on there are 10 for everyone 1 that can do it right so the #s are in it for them. Not for the Consumer.
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I agree with hedgehog. If you can manage money then find a credit card that pays you for using it. And never carry over a balance.
 

aquawarrior7

Expert Expediter
And for all those offers they send you make sure that you shred the paper too. A lady I was talking to in an IRS office said someone ran up an old card she had and she finally figured out how. They had found the envelope the replacement card came in and it was imprinted with the whole credit card info.
So be careful out there people are finding all kinds of ways to steal your info. My grandma got her bank account hacked into apparently by them just putting random numbers till one worked.
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Another nice thing about credit cards is that the holder is only liable for the first $50 of fraudulent charges. So don't get sucked into buying insurance to protect your card.
 
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