Money Poll #4: Carrying a Credit Card Balance
Tip It!As a followup to last week’s credit card poll, I thought I’d follow it up with a poll about credit card payment habits. So, without further ado, I bring you Money Poll #4. The question of the week is “Do you typically carry a credit card balance?” And when I ask this, I should note that I’m not talking about carrying a balance on a 0% promo solely to earn interest when you deposit the balance in the bank. Rather, I’m talking about carrying a ‘normal’ balance from one month to the next. As with previous polls, I’ll go first…
In the 15+ years that I’ve had credit cards, I have never (not even once) carried a balance from one month to the next, not even by accident. And neither has my wife. So how does everyone else do it?
Published on March 13th, 2006 - 12 Comments
Filed under: Credit Cards, Polls
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
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12 Responses to “Money Poll #4: Carrying a Credit Card Balance”
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March 13th, 2006 at 10:17 am
I don’t every carry a balance anymore, but I felt to be completely honest, I needed to mention the last time I did. In preparation for starting my first job after I graduated, I went out and charged a few things. I got enough suitable new work clothes to carry me through the first couple of months on the job until I could start expanding my wardrobe. I also charged some repairs on my car so I’d have reliable transportation to work. I knew that it would take money from my first three paychecks to pay it off completely. It’s been almost 20 years now.
March 13th, 2006 at 11:52 am
Yup, we always have a balance and I hate it. We have very rarely not had a balance. I have paid them all off twice now and we are back in debt again. Hopefully this time when they are paid off they will stay that way!
March 13th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
I have carried balances on 0% promotions, and I had a small balance when I first started out to establish my credit rating, but other than that I pay off my cards every month.
March 13th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
I have never had a balance at all…neither has my wife. I always find it interesting that I am how I am because my parents were not like that. They always had a balance and often had money problems. Maybe I just never wanted to be like that, so I am the exact opposite.
I also find it interesting that over 60% so far never have a balance. Sometimes you read articles about how bad Americans are at saving and how much credit we use, I would not expect such a high percentage to never have a balance. Though maybe the people that have problems with credit card debt don’t tend to be a part of the PF Blog scene so their votes are not being counted in here.
March 13th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
Yeah, it’s important to keep in mind that this is a highly non-random sample.
March 13th, 2006 at 2:49 pm
My wife and I have a combined income in excess of 100k, but we have carried several credit card balances for a few years. These are all balances that my wife ran up when we were just dating. Even though we have a nice annual income, it has been difficult to reduce these balances. However, part of that may be due to the fact that I have little motivation to do so since I have a junior mortgage on my condo that carries a much higher interest rate.
March 14th, 2006 at 12:31 am
There is no way I would ever hold a balance on a credit card. Why pay such a crazy percentage? I would rather have no savings and no credit card debt than have savings plus credit card debt.
March 14th, 2006 at 7:54 am
Only in emergencies. Emergency being defined as immediate risk to the life or health of myself or my fiancee, or my relationship with a friend I’ve known more than 5 years or a relative I see at least four times per year. Other than that, if I don’t know I can pay it off when the bill comes (or often before, because I need to use the card again), I don’t spend it.
March 14th, 2006 at 7:55 am
(BTW, I voted “other”…because my situation falls between “never” and what I’d define as “occasionally”. It has occurred twice in the last five years.)
March 14th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
Typically I try not to use credit cards at all but will occasionally have a balance because of a vacation. Of course right now we’re paying off the bf’s debt so those all have balances.
March 14th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Similarly to Dave, only once between college and the first paycheck. Other than that, I’ve never carried a balance.
March 14th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
I occasionally carry a balance after the summer (I’m a teacher) but never on a card higher than 0%. I try to plan ahead to have a promotional rate ready for these types of situations. Also, for big purchases recently like furnace and windows, it’s just like the financing a lot of those places will offer you.
These balances of course are separate whenever the Balance Transfer Game is played…