"Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message 
news:489b415e@news.povray.org...
> St. wrote:
>>  That's exactly what I do. I hope they never get rid of cash,
>
> They can't. There's huge portions of the economy that are actually 
> black-market. :-)
>
> Alternately, they already have. There's no cash left. All that's left is 
> debt and federal reserve notes.

 OMG. Don't start me on that side of it. I heard the other day that a 
payment for your old car to be scrapped might be introduced here. (Remember 
my post?) I don't want to drive around in an electric matchbox! I will sit 
at home instead and do everything on the internet, and get fat, costing our 
lovely National Health a whole lot more money until I die... :o/

   Damn, this world is... ******

   ~Steve~



>
> -- 
> Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
>  Ever notice how people in a zombie movie never already know how to
>  kill zombies? Ask 100 random people in America how to kill someone
>  who has reanimated from the dead in a secret viral weapons lab,
>  and how many do you think already know you need a head-shot?

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"Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message 
news:489b51f0$1@news.povray.org...
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Money management is something that I think *should* be taught in school,
>
> Yeah. I never understood why "home economics" never taught any economics.

     Heh, they did in our school: Beans on toast or cheese straws.

     ("Home Economics" was our cooking lessons which they don't have now).

        Yes, I had to wear a pinny too...  O-O

       ~Steve~


>
> -- 
> Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
>  Ever notice how people in a zombie movie never already know how to
>  kill zombies? Ask 100 random people in America how to kill someone
>  who has reanimated from the dead in a secret viral weapons lab,
>  and how many do you think already know you need a head-shot?

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Phil Cook wrote:

> 
> Eh? You mean where I monitor bills and credit card statements as one  
> combined outgoing prior to payment dates and ensure that funds exist  
> within the bank account to deal with them in advance such that going on  
> holiday for a fortnight and not being able to get to the bills doesn't  
> mean me returning to invoice plus reminder plus reminder plus 
> threatening  letter; that sort of maturity?

Yep.


> 
> That's the bizarreness so you buy something on CC for $40 then when it  
> comes to pay you send them $50 so you have positive $10? The only way I  
> see this as a good thing is if the credit card pays interest on the  
> amount, which I know some do, but in that instance they wouldn't be  
> refunding it to you so why do it?
> 

More like: keep +$400 in the account.  I know I'm going to go down to 
Circuit City to buy a $59 router.  So I transfer $60 in before I go. 
While I'm there I remember I needed some toner for the printer. $70.  So 
I pickup the router and the toner on the card.  I come home.  No 
worries, the router and the toner is covered, so is the $40 of groceries 
and $75 gas that I charged and for got about.  In a coupla weeks I 
notice all the activity warnings in the bank folder on my e-mail and I'm 
waiting for a scene to render anyway, so I pop a couple open and notice 
that my +ve balance is down to +$316.  I check the activity and see all 
is okay.  I post transfer of say, $100, into the account. Meanwhile the 
recurring topup charge I set up for my daughter's cell phone is never 
going to fail.

I'll admit that maybe it's bizarre but what am I *so* guilty of?  Maybe 
of being a bit neurotic, maybe of just thinking in a different way? It 
keeps the money more tangible to me. The monthly due-date lockstep just 
trips me up that's all.

-Jim

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St. wrote:
>      ("Home Economics" was our cooking lessons which they don't have now).

Actually, I dated someone who took "Home Economics" as a college-level 
course. (She was studying to be a grade-school teacher, so it probably 
wasn't as lame as it sounds.)  There they actually taught things like 
how to examine clothes in the store to determine how well made they are 
and such. Sorta like economics.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Ever notice how people in a zombie movie never already know how to
  kill zombies? Ask 100 random people in America how to kill someone
  who has reanimated from the dead in a secret viral weapons lab,
  and how many do you think already know you need a head-shot?

Post a reply to this message

Jim Charter wrote:
> I'll admit that maybe it's bizarre but what am I *so* guilty of? 

I don't think anyone is accusing you of being guilty of anything. I'm 
just wondering, if that's how you're trying to use a "credit" card, why 
you don't switch to a debit card. That's what they're for.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Ever notice how people in a zombie movie never already know how to
  kill zombies? Ask 100 random people in America how to kill someone
  who has reanimated from the dead in a secret viral weapons lab,
  and how many do you think already know you need a head-shot?

Post a reply to this message

Jim Charter wrote:
> Yeah I guess.  But that's the reason?  Since it's called a credit card 
> account I can't keep a positive balance as a buffer?

That would defeat the point of it.  As a "credit" card, it's a line of 
credit to you.  That is, a loan for you to access.  What you're trying 
to do is make payments on money you haven't borrowed yet.

Sounds to me like you'd be just fine with a debit card.  Rather than 
drawing against a line of credit (and thus increasing your debt every 
time you use it), a debit card draws against the balance in a checking 
account (reducing your capital instead).

...Chambers

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Jim Charter wrote:
> Darren New wrote:
> 
>>
>> More specifically, see what your grace period is and what your monthly 
>> billing date is. Sign up for on-line bill paying at your bank. 
>> Complain at them if it isn't free, or at least if it costs more than a 
>> stamp.
> 
> 
> Yes I have to understand this grace period concept better.  I was under 
> the impression that at say midnight of the day of the due date which is 
> I think the 15th of the month, if I happened to have an amount owed 
> showing, then I would be charged interest.

I believe it's a law in the US that you have at least one billing cycle 
before interest is charged.  That is, if your bill comes every 30 days, 
then they can't charge interest on something until 30 days after you've 
charged it, no matter when your bill comes.

That's why so many people don't care about the interest rate on their 
credit card: they pay off the balance every cycle, so they never get 
charged any interest :)

...Chambers

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And lo on Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:50:18 +0100, Jim Henderson  
<nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:

> On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:28:52 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:
>
>>>>  Same thing with the majority of utility bills - the invoice comes
>>>> through  and the payment drawn a few days later. In some case they'll
>>>> charge you an  'admin' fee for not doing it this way.
>>>>
>>> Yeah, I might try and get organized enough to try something like that.
>>> At least for bills.  I didn't know you could do it for credit card.
>>
>> Well you can in the UK
>
> You can with some cards in the US as well.  We do autopay for nearly
> everything (but we also look at the bills closely, too)

Well yeah, I don't understand people who don't bother.

> Got hung up *once* with this because the payment I put in ended up being
> less than the minimum (had to get the brakes done on the car - and we
> used the wrong card) and I got a call from their collections department
> the *day* after the bill was due.  We got them to reverse the late fee
> and reinstate the 0% transfer balance, but it was really surprising they
> turned it over to collections so quickly.  Discover Financial apparently
> is struggling.

Well the setup on my credit card is that the full amount is taken  
automatically unless I change it, but I could set it up to take the  
minimum only; again unless I change it. The only account I then have to  
monitor money-wise is my bank-account.

> (Of course you wouldn't know anything about them in the UK, since
> virtually nobody accepts them over there)

Who now? :-) It's Visa and Mastercard here (for credit cards), unless it's  
somewhere fancy that'll accept Amex. Heh read a piece from Amex justifying  
their higher-then-others transaction charges, people with Amex spend more  
so you make more profit then the el-cheapo cards; to put it another way  
rich people use Amex so let them do so at your store. To put it yet  
another way if you see a store accepting Amex expect all the prices to be  
double :-P

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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And lo on Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:37:02 +0100, Jim Charter <jrc### [at] msncom>  
did spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>
>>  that sort of maturity?
>
> Yep.

Well that's okay then ;-)

>>  That's the bizarreness so you buy something on CC for $40 then when  
>> it  comes to pay you send them $50 so you have positive $10? The only  
>> way I  see this as a good thing is if the credit card pays interest on  
>> the  amount, which I know some do, but in that instance they wouldn't  
>> be  refunding it to you so why do it?
>>
>
> More like: keep +$400 in the account.

But you're not getting any interest on this money, as Darren said if  
you're going to do this you might as well have a debit card which  
shouldn't have any fees at all and pays you interest for a positive  
balance.

> I'll admit that maybe it's bizarre but what am I *so* guilty of?  Maybe  
> of being a bit neurotic, maybe of just thinking in a different way? It  
> keeps the money more tangible to me. The monthly due-date lockstep just  
> trips me up that's all.

You're guilty of being bizzarre, which if it were a crime would mean I  
(and the vast majority) would be locked up with you.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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Phil Cook wrote:

>> Phil Cook wrote:

> 
> But you're not getting any interest on this money, as Darren said if  
> you're going to do this you might as well have a debit card which  
> shouldn't have any fees at all and pays you interest for a positive  
> balance.
> 

Something to check into also.  I was under the impression they charged a 
fee per use.  I do use it on occasion.  Never really confirmed if a fee 
was charged.

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