Credit Rating Nonsense

Henro

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May 24, 2019
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I like to pay cash...
Cash? What's that??? :LOL:

Trying to remember last time I used cash! Actually it was a quarter in a parking meter a few weeks ago. I knew I would need a quarter that day...took me a while to round one up!

Yes, I am serious. I used to keep some cash always in my wallet, just in case. Should refill it but keep forgetting...wallets been empty of cash since last December...Had $50 in it last December when I decided to buy an old mini ex. Guy took the $50 as a deposit and delivered the excavator, and I paid him cash upon delivery...keep forgetting to do the wallet refill.
 

RCW

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Cash? What's that??? :LOL:

Trying to remember last time I used cash!
This made me chuckle, as I've gassed my vehicle up with cash my entire life.

Not sure I even know how to use a card at the gas pump.... have literally never done it.

Came up in conversation at work couple weeks ago - - I was certainly the odd-one-out. :oops:
 

Oliver

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L2501, JD 3520
Feb 2, 2011
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Preston County, WV
This made me chuckle, as I've gassed my vehicle up with cash my entire life.

Not sure I even know how to use a card at the gas pump.... have literally never done it....
Gas is one place I always use a card because it just takes too much time to go inside and wait in line to pay with cash, some places you must get in line twice. You go in to leave a deposit then back in again after filling up, and at least one of those times people in front of you are buyimng lottery tickets, hot dogs, etc.
 

cmorningstar01

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B7500HST LA302 FEL 5'Finish Mower B5100E 46" Snow Plow 22 ton splitter
Mar 27, 2011
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Pemberton NJ USA
What I want to know is who gave these credit agencies the permission to collect our personal information, I never agreed to it and yet somehow they control many facets of our life.

I froze my information at all 3 of the major credit reporting agencies, when I want something I pay cash or I get a personal loan from my bank , we have a lot of cash in our savings accounts and I have had the discussion with the bank manager that if they don't want to give me a short term loan I will pull my money from their bank. They give me the loan and I pay it back, generally well ahead of time.
 

Botamon

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M7060HDC12, John Deere 2020 diesel
Mar 26, 2018
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Winnemucca, Nevada
This made me chuckle, as I've gassed my vehicle up with cash my entire life.

Not sure I even know how to use a card at the gas pump.... have literally never done it.

Came up in conversation at work couple weeks ago - - I was certainly the odd-one-out. :oops:
You'd be in trouble in parts of Nevada. Some remote places out here have pumps - but there's not even a little convenience store anywhere around. Just a couple pumps sitting there - one regular, and one diesel. As long as you have a credit card you can buy fuel. Other places - little mom & pop affairs - close up at 5 or 6 but the pumps are unlocked and if you have a credit card you're good to go.
 

RCW

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Gas is one place I always use a card because it just takes too much time to go inside and wait in line to pay with cash, some places you must get in line twice.
You'd be in trouble in parts of Nevada. Some remote places out here have pumps - but there's not even a little convenience store anywhere around.
Oh believe me, my coworkers looked at me like I have two heads:oops::oops:...they ALL use cards.

We're very rural here. Up until a few months ago, I could still pump THEN pay for gas.

I can still pump diesel THEN pay.

I don't travel much, and honestly don't travel well...I seldom leave my home "turf."

My lifestyle didn't change much with COVID restrictions. :rolleyes:

No surprise, I'm old fashioned. After 40 years, I went to direct deposit for pay check last year since bank lobbies closed.

We just started using a debit card.

Seldom use credit cards, although my bride has a Netflix subscription and I have a OnStar subscription on CC.

That said, last I knew FICO was 820+/-..but a while back. I don't focus on it.

You can take the boy from the farm, but you can't take the farm from the boy....I guess I resemble that remark.;):rolleyes:
 
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Nicfin36

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Jun 19, 2019
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I always like to have some cash on hand. You just never know when it will come in handy. I look at Craigslist a good bit and and a good deal may pop up. Good deals don't last long, as many of you know, cash is pretty much the only way transactions are done on Craigslist. So, having cash in hand has some advantages. Also, many places will deal with you a bit better if you tell them you're paying in cash.

It is good to have both credit card and cash IMO.
 

RCW

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You can take the boy from the farm, but you can't take the farm from the boy....I guess I resemble that remark.;):rolleyes:
Had to both quote and chuckle at myself....

After posting that, I was searching online for Marvel Schebler TSX 97 carburetor rebuild kits and/or carburetors for a '53 Minneapolis Moline ZAU Tractor.

Then, bought a battery operated fuel transfer pump from Amazon to gas up the same tractor...skeets "fuel pump" thread in Off Topic got me thinking....

Guess I'm farther from the farm than I thought.....but I still buy gas with cash... 🤔 😉
 

bird dogger

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Feb 24, 2019
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I usually use a CC or debit card at the gas pumps because of the convenience and time savings. But I always have enough cash on me to make small purchases, etc. And always pay with cash at restaurants or when traveling when otherwise your credit card would disappear out of your sight for the transaction! I laugh at the checkout persons at the store's till when they ring up the total and the first words out of their mouth is, "Which credit card will you be using today?". I always tell them, "I'll be using my UGC card today".
That stops them in their tracks for a few seconds and they'll finally respond saying they don't recognize that name and ask what that is. I tell them it's the "Universal Green Card"........CASH! I hope you still accept that.
 
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RCW

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But I always have enough cash on me to make small purchases, etc. And always pay with cash at restaurants or when traveling when otherwise your credit card would disappear out of your sight for the transaction!
Same here...never liked putting a CC in the bill-holder at a restaurant.

I was from that business, and can vouch that 99.44% of the staff are honest, but 0.56% are not....
 

JimmyJazz

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Aug 8, 2020
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So, do you work for the banking industry?
I do. And its a love hate thing. Banking serves a vital link in the lives of economies large and small, rich and poor. The world over. I primarily advise folks who don't need more money on how to make more money. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Be forewarned It will be nearly impossible to hurt my feelings. My high horse awaits.
 

lugbolt

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it seems to me that credit score is used as a way to know if someone's responsible or not. I mean, you can't just ask someone anymore, if they will pay for anything. You can make them sign contracts. But honestly none of it matters because people have many ways to get out of it/them. Honesty? LOL. Unfortunately honesty is a thing of the past, and we glorify it. Real sad.

I have and always will try to do right and is one of many reasons I've been able to make a decent living doing what I do. My mechanical skill isn't perfect and neither is my communication skill. But I do my best to do right in all situations. But....(keeping this tractor related), at the tractor dealer I worked at, I (as the tech, service manager at one point, former business owner, head tech, assembly tech, parts tech, forklift driver, etc) was often looked down upon, particularly by customers who did not understand why labor costs $100+ per hour. They'd amuse themselves by asking how much of that $100 I get, and they never believe me when I told them less than 1/5 of it. They often labeled me as a liar. It was 100% true. Nobody ever wants to go to the shop to have anything worked on because there are a small number of people out there that call themselves mechanics that take advantage of people, which gives us ALL a bad reputation. So automatically since labor and parts cost, and they saw on the news that some mechanic shop overcharged someone, I'm the bad guy and I have lied to them, cheated and/or stolen from them which is simply untrue. Now what the company did, was out of my control. One of many reasons I left.

But with all that said, 100% of the people can't be trusted 100% of the time. So credit ratings give those who need to know a reason whether or not to trust, be it a employer, finance company, whatever. Generally speaking, if one has a low credit score, there is good reason.

My advice to anyone who might read this, take care of your credit. Even if you have no money, take care of your credit.

I don't finance anything hardly. One vehicle, no two in the last 30 years. And my house. That's it. I have a credit card that I use about once a month for small stuff, and pay it off early. Just to keep my credit up. So when I went to the Ford dealer the other day looking at Mustangs, I flat out told them that my credit is great, I have the money to buy outright, and I am undecided what I want. I ended up financing a used Mustang, just to keep the credit up to date. If you don't buy something on terms once in a while they kinda look at you funny. The salesman asked me if I knew my credit score and I told him it was 850+. He said yours is 6 points from perfect, what do you want to buy, with that credit you can buy anything you want including the entire dealership. Finance guy said he NEVER sees people with a score that high, and with that I was able to get the lowest possible interest rate. Top notch credit can help your buying power among many other things.
 
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BAP

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The whole credit score thing is rigged by the banking industry to force people to keep borrowing money either in loans or credit cards to keep their score up so that they can borrow more money when they need it even if they really can’t afford to. It penalizes those that save money, pay cash, don’t use credit cards so that if they need to borrow in the future, they have a hard time. The industry claims it is a great thing but reality, it is just another tool by them to make money off the backs of hard working people.
 

D2Cat

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I do. And its a love hate thing. Banking serves a vital link in the lives of economies large and small, rich and poor. The world over. I primarily advise folks who don't need more money on how to make more money. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Be forewarned It will be nearly impossible to hurt my feelings. My high horse awaits.
Start a new thread and tell me how. Sold a home last year and money has no value!
 

ccoon520

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L2501 w/ FEL
Apr 15, 2019
360
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IA
Start a new thread and tell me how. Sold a home last year and money has no value!
Mostly its by investments. I am not talking about the get rich quick part of Wall Street Bets, Bitcoin or going all in on an IPO hoping for it to reach the moon. Wall Street is a fickle thing and if you are irresponsible and reckless you'll end up broke, but if you consistently put a portion of your savings into a portfolio that matches the US economy growth you'll usually net about 8% growth in the invested money. This is an approximation some years you can see a 13% growth others a 5% loss but it usually averages somewhere around 8%.

For an example lets say you have 5 grand to spare so you invest that in an index and you also add $100 a month away every year for a decade and just let it sit in there. With a return average of 5% (2% above what inflation is a year which is a conservative growth model) in 10 years if you pull all of the money out in that account it'll be valued at around 23k. You invested 17k and made 6k just letting it sit there and work for you.

Now the more spare money you have to let sit in investments the bigger the return. So if you have 50k to invest and $1000 a year to invest in ten years you'd generate 63k in revenue from letting the companies use your money.

Note: I am not a financial adviser and this is just a very basic level of how it works. Many people don't trust Wall Street because of the shady shit they pull but if you ask any rich person how they earned that money you'll get three basic responses. I had an idea, it was a good idea and I built a successful company, I inherited it from my parents or grandparents, I am the Queen of England, or I made smart investments.

There are a lot of variables that go into how much growth your portfolio you will see but the goal is really just to beat inflation so the dollar you made today retains its same buying power 10 years from now. The largest factor is to ride the coaster down just like you ride it up. Keep investing consistently and don't panic sell that's how you lose everything. If the market crashes to 0 then the money wouldn't be worth anything anyway in your bank and we would all go back to trading resources like fuel and food.
 
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random

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There's some weird guy I keep hearing on the radio who keeps telling people not to worry about credit and not to use it :)
 

ccoon520

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L2501 w/ FEL
Apr 15, 2019
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There's some weird guy I keep hearing on the radio who keeps telling people not to worry about credit and not to use it :)
Eh, like everything it depends on the situation and how it is used. For example my wife and I use our credit cards for 90% of our purchases because we receive cash back on the cards and there is no annual fee. So we pay off the cards in full every month which means we save whatever cashback percentage there is. The times we don't operate this way is if there is a fee that is greater or equal to the percent cash back we would receive. In those instances we use a different form of payment.

Also keep in mind there are circumstances where you may not have the amount of cash on hand in an emergency but you do have a 12k limit on your card (emergency home repairs, car accident results in you having to get a hotel room and plane ticket, you need a stop gap solution as money is moving accounts, etc.). So having a fallback is a useful tool and you may get railed on interest until you consolidate or pay it off but that's better than losing your job or waiting on your insurance company to cut a check for your burst water main so you can get it repaired.
 

random

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From your response I'm guessing you don't know about Dave Ramsey? Or was I too obscure in my reference?
 

ccoon520

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Apr 15, 2019
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From your response I'm guessing you don't know about Dave Ramsey? Or was I too obscure in my reference?
No, I knew who you were talking about but some of his listeners (aka some of my relatives) take him way to extreme and have no flex on the use of credit. So I thought I might mention it isn't some huge boogey monster if you use it responsibly or as an emergency fund you'll be fine.
 

JimmyJazz

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Start a new thread and tell me how. Sold a home last year and money has no value!
Google the SP500 index and read the Berkshire Hathaway annual letters. Those are all most need. Sticking with these things and adding when you are able is the trick.