Credit card debt nudges $50 billion One in three to struggle with repayments Low-income earners reliant on plastic AUSTRALIANS owe a record $49.4 billion on credit cards with households maxing their plastic to cover escalating living costs. http://www.couriermail.com.au/money...lmost-50-billion/story-e6freqoo-1226094646511
Reminds me of the time my co-worker told me he had $50,000 credit card debt and blamed the card instead of himself :| Anyway, I actually probably inflate their statistics a bit because I put everything on the credit card just so I can get some extra interest on my cash before paying it off. I assume all stackers are prudent and take advantage of the interest-free period? Interesting to see what happens when this credit bubble bursts.
I can tell you that this is no time to be starting a new enterprise . . . which means it's the perfect time to be starting a new enterprise, if you can tough it out. Cash is King! And PMs are the power behind the throne.
Well Gino, you might like this link reporting that Aussie Businesses are 'hoarding' cash http://www.couriermail.com.au/money...-up-bank-coffers/story-e6freqoo-1226094364174 AUSTRALIAN businesses are hoarding cash as the economy slows, helping banks fund mortgage lending, according to new research. The nation's companies are depositing $1.25 with banks for every $1 they're borrowing
...and every dollar of it is UNSECURED! That, together witth the trully amazing amount of fraud on plastics, is the main reason the interest rates ar so high. I know of one particular case where a "Hot" card was taken over to Europe, and within days had OZ$250,000 on it. Another where a bloke in the bank was intercepting the cards on their way to the Branch, and he had dozens of the things, going out in the car all over Victoria running up HUGE amounts. In addition, it is amazing also just how many LIES are told by applicants for a card, when they tell fibs about their assets and liabilities and other debts/other cards etc. OC
Well, in my defense I don't even know what the credit limits on all my credit cards are any more so it's usually just easier to make something up...
In my defense the questions they asked were borderline retarded so it was more of a "wtf do I put here" than an outright lie. Such as monthly expenditure and stuff like that, I guess/make it up. Pretty sure some people will underestimate their expenses either by accident or by omission so they get fueled more credit driving them into more debt. I think I also 'lied' about having debts, my 60k HECS debt for example . They definitely didn't check that deep, probably ran a simple credit file check and saw nothing special.
In fairness I do have some Dragons on mine but it's good debt and nothing I can't cover in a short period of time. The rate is only just higher than a personal loan. Look around and argue hard with the bank - you will be surprised what you can neg...
True,but is that the 'introductory' offer? Seems to be the way banks pinch business from each other. Be careful with some of these deals - you transfer a balance at either low or no percent but put one buck on the plastic,the whole amount goes current variable. Think Citib@nk had something along those lines. @NZ chased me for business with a CC then tried a similar trick!
when I left school I got a job and a loan to buy a car ($1200) credit cards were not even consdiered as they were mostly the domain of business'. I was 28 before I got my first credit card with a $500 limit :lol:
I used one of those city bank offers to move my personal loan to a CC for 4.9% for the life of the balance transfer... 2 years on and still laughing. I am currently working on a way to transfer that to a GE 2 year intrest free thing next...
It is extremely easy to get unsecured credit on a card or a personal loan. A personal example: I took out a $25k personal loan within 2 months of starting full time employment, I was still on probationary period of employment but that particular bank never asked that question. From start of application I had $25k cash in my bank account 2 days later. At the same time I had a credit card with the same bank with an $8500 limit yet they still gave me the loan. Credit cards can be powerful tools when used in creative ways but too many people fall into the consumerism trap. It makes them feel good to 'spend big' but they don't sit down to do the maths and budgetting and consider the future risks as well. Also it shows that many people are living pay to pay without any room to wiggle. For example a $5000 holiday, let's say you spend this on a card with 0% introductory offer on purchases for 6 months, you'll still have to budget to pay $833 each and every month for the next 6 months to pay that off on 0%. If you know you can afford this, it is a good way to spread out the cash flow. However if this was just an impulse purchase, say you can barely scrape this together and suddenly your car blows up and you have a $1500 repair bill. At the same time your bank conveniently sends you an offer to raise your credit limit because of your good repayment history. You take up the offer and put the $1500 on the card because you 'need your car' and you don't have the cash. Every month something keeps coming up and you reduce your repayments more and more because "I'll just pay the minimum this month and I'll make up for it next month." It's easy to see how people can fall into the credit card "trap."
