At the risk of arousing your ire, a couple of points about "credit card interest rates".

[WeDidIt]

Credit cards provide an important service. Say Aunt Jenny passes away and you need quick tickets to go to the funerary rites.

Whip out the plastic and you're on your way.

And the interest rates are not that bad. Let's say the annual interest rate is 9%. Well, credit cards are designed to be paid monthly, so that 9% amounts to just 0.75% of the principal.

So there you have it, you're never paying more than 0.75% interest so long as you're using the cards as they were designed.

:sarcasm:

[Sal Minella]

1. Well done. I'm going to rush out right now and get some credit cards.

I can easily afford 3/4% interest. Edit to add: /sarcasm

[virgogal]

2. I love credit cards and never run a balance so don't care what

the interest rate is.

There are more of us out there than you think.

We are called "deadbeats" in the CC business.

[MercutioATC]

3. The problem is that you're using them as a revolving line of credit.

If you had a 1-use credit card that charged...oh, I don't know...let's say 300% APR...

...and you paid it off in two weeks...

...your actual interest paid would be 11.54% of the principal.


Now, if the understanding from the beginning was that this was an individual 2-week loan and you paid it off as agreed, you'd pay $20.03 in interest and fees. You'd never pay 300% of the principle unless you broke the terms of the agreement 25 times in a row.

[WeDidIt]

4. Ahhh, you

<click>

[MercutioATC]

5. You post a parody of my thread and you don't expect me to weigh in?

You know, you could have just answered my questions on the original thread.

Although the APR might be 300% on a payday loan, the maximum you pay is 11.54% if you simply abide by the terms of the agreement.

How is that "dishonest"?

[angstlessk]

6. sugar, if all credit cards were american express cards..I would agree

however they saw how to string credit over months and years...and they did so!

[MercutioATC]

8. Oh, I completely agree with you.

The OP here is trying to parody my OP on payday loans by equating a 2-week closed-end loan with a revolving line of credit.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5403920&mesg_id=5403920

You may not like payday lenders, but I think these two points are sound ones.

[BeFree]

7. heh

Live by credit, die by credit.

In this brave new world, you are only as good as your last payment.

It's like Sonny the crack dealer says: Just take one toke, it won't hurt and you can stop anytime you want.

[L0oniX]

9. So it's ok to use them for lots of emergency room visits? ...since I don't have health insurance.