Yeah, but from time to time that doesn’t work so well either. Long, long time ago a customer blew up the engine in her Caravan. We sourced a used engine that came with a 90 day warranty. The work was done, then it turned out she needed 3 months to pay off the bill. So we she finally came to pick up her van she asked “What’s the warranty on this?”
I had to stand there with a straight face and tell her the warranty expired last week!
I cannot understand some people’s visceral reaction to paying interest. If i make a substantial unbudgeted purchase I’ll put it on a credit card and pay it off over time, and i frankly don’t even look at the interest amount when i pay the bill each month.
I expect part of the reason is the lopsided nature of interest. The local bank pays 1.5 % interest on the bank accounts, but the credit card companies charge 29% interest on the balances.
It’s all relative. I was a little chagrined when I got a change of conditions notice on a credit card I haven’t used in several years that the interest rate was somewhere around 27%. I don’t know who the bank is, Jp or somebody but they are all doing it. Thing is, that’s the annual rate, so the monthly rate is somewhere around 2%. So on a $1000 repair bill, it would cost maybe $20 a month if you wanted to stretch it out. No big deal. Or take some of that money earning 1.5% and avoid the $20.
That’s not the problem or concern. But if you have a $10,000 balance a,ready, you are paying close to $3000 a year in un deductible interest. That’s why once in that rut, it is near impossible for average people to get out of it. That is the rate that legs used to get broken over but now thanks to South Dakota is perfectly legal.
So I know you guys pay them off every month and love to get that 2% reward money (yeah my wife included, bless her soul), but forgive me again if I caution playing with fire using credit cards. The minute you need or choose to use one, you should immediately go into emergency overdrive to pay them off. I monitor my credit report through the on line credit union site and tells me exactly what the card balance is that she has rung up. I usually never say anything except maybe she cost our rating to go down a point and she says no big deal, she pays it every month. Still I know how slippery that slope is. Over and out.
The credit card companies aren’t entitled to make a profit?
And credit card companies are the first ones to get stiffed when the debtor files bankruptcy or just refuses to pay and the debt goes to collections. That is why the rate is 29% apr.