Reply #15: Silly me. I assumed the Town Hall mtg re CCs would be about: NOT charging anymore! [View All]

THAT'S the big problem, as I see it. I see now that it's about the upcoming changes to the CC laws and regs to hopefully help people already in trouble.

But no Town Hall Meeting about credit card debt would be complete without preaching to the masses that they should not, if at all possible, CHARGE ANYTHING TO A CREDIT CARD. EVER. PERIOD.

IF YOU CAN'T PAY FOR IT AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE, THAT MEANS YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT. You wanna borrow money from someone so you can get that new 6-disc CD player? Well, guess what? It's THEIR money you're borrowing. It comes with strings attached. Rightly so. When I give someone money, it gives me a right to ask questions and attach strings. Solution: Only borrow money when absolutely necessary.

Then when you MUST borrow money for a necessity, pay it off in full when the bill comes in, even if it means eating on $20 a week for that month. If you can't do that, pay it off by the second bill.

When you don't charge, or pay off the cc bill when it comes in...it doesn't matter what the rate is. So you got to borrow money for free. Now THAT'S a deal!