How common is it for people to not pay off credit cards every month/actually pay the interest on them?

???? Why would anyone not pay off thr credit card at end of month

This thread demonstrates how incredibly detached from the real world consultants are.
Majority of people that carry credit card balance do not have nearly the level of education or privilege the people in this group do.

@bcg1 I really don't have sympathy when the concept of a credit card is painfully simple. It's not a black box that just prints money

You guys are living in a freaking bubble. The average household income for a family of four in somewhere around $50k. Your 25 making $85k ..

To all of the immigrant children who’s parents survived without debt many millions more have debt. If one of your siblings got sick don’t you think your parents would have covered the extra expenses on credit card if they needed to??

Think of a responsible American family with a high deductible insurance plan. Family member gets sick and they need to cover $20k out of pocket. At 20-30% apr it’s extremely difficult to get out of debt making 30k a year.

Point is there are plenty of people that get dealt with crap and have no choice but to cover expenses with credit cards.

There are plenty of slobs too that just want the biggest and best TV, toy or whatever and go in debt over it.

Sounds like a a lot of self righteous people on this post and the others are totally ignorant of the reality of the lower income life. I would say the self righteous are ignorant too even if they grew up poor.

Damn you all are out of touch.

D3 no need to be an ass. You can disagree with what someone calls ‘homeless’ but unless you know C1, I doubt he/she is lying.

In college I worked for a tax attorney. The number of people who had tax/credit issues ranged through all salary levels. We once had a guy who made 300k a year and couldn’t keep up with his lifestyle. They had payments with the IRS for back taxes.

There are credit savvy people in all salary ranges and from all different backgrounds.

In real life, most things happen because people don’t have a choice when faced with life expenses. Once you get out of the 90th percentile life is not a game of optimization or fiscal responsibility (....which by the way is not a term that applies to individuals but rather governments).
Median HH income and inflation # published by BLS should give you a good sense for why folks use CC and can’t pay back.
Think about it next time you recommend offshoring something or raising prices

So applying your logic, where do the external factors end and personal responsibility begin? You didn't have parents to teach you good habits, yet you still ended up working for one of the big 4. If someone grew up with your similar background but instead ended up being a deadbeat wife beater, can he use his poor upbringing as an excuse?

As far as I'm concerned, regardless if you're poor, black, gay, whatever, if you were born on US soil, or on the soil of any other wealthy developed nation, you're already miles ahead of me and others like me in the rat race. That doesn't mean that others don't have their own challenges and inequities to overcome, but there are millions of Americans that have made it starting with literally nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I have great empathy for people who struggle financially. When I was young, foodstamps came in those little booklets and not a debit card, and I thought they were the same as money because that's how my parents always paid for food. But I suspect that I have spent way more time around poor people than most in this bowl. The ones that worked hard and got educated made it out. Hell you don't even need an education, I know plenty of girls who do nails that are pulling in 80k/year, most of which is tax free. Point is, if you're in America and you're willing to hustle, it's really hard to stay poor. If you want to shake off poverty, dropping the excuses help.

M1-they won’t ship you the medication without payment. My daughter takes medication that cost approximately $350k per year. She takes it to eat and breathe, so not really optional to not pay it. Before the ACA, she nearly met her lifetime limit on our insurance policy before age 2. Now we pay our yearly OOP every January. This is our 10th year of paying. It was $15k this year so almost 3x what we are federally allowed to dump into our HSA each year. I’m terrified of what happens to her when I’m no longer allowed to put her on my insurance.

I carry a balance occasionally if I had a big purchase (water heater) or after a big trip. Never more than a month or two, though.

I’ve been poor and now doing great in comparison. At all times in my life, I have always paid my cc. I’m not out of touch. I just followed advice given to me to always pay my bills in full.

C1 - so you can default on a lease / housing payment etc. but look down on those who do the same thing on a CC? Id venture using your righteousness gauge, they are more responsible than you are as many have defaulted on a CC but kept a roof over their head. As I said earlier, sometimes people don’t have a choice as you didn’t when you were pretend homeless.

I'm just curious, but how many of the "you're out of touch!" crowd actually grew up poor? Or is what you know about being poor coming out of text books?

I'm home visiting the folks for the 4th, and I flipped out when my mom told me her and my dad plan to live off their social security payments and 200k in 401k savings once she retires. But not only does she plan to live off peanuts for retirement, shes also sending money monthly to my uncles and random jailed political dissidents in my home country. They're able to do this because they have zero debt, and live an extremely modest lifestyle.

I understand that shit happens and people have financial emergencies. But this excuse sounds a whole lot like "some people are morbidly obese because they have a medical condition!" Sometimes, you're in a crappy situation because of factors out of your control. I do not judge those people. But far far FAR more likely, you're in a shitty situation because you made shitty choices, and focusing on the 5 percent who are in debt because of financial emergencies risks missing the 95 who think their credit card is a magic wand that allows them to buy shit they can't otherwise afford.

C2 - I never said I was impoverished just that you are privileged and delusional (just added the delusional part based on your last post). I’m glad that you truly believe all that BS that you spewing. Would make life much more pleasant if I could unsee the realities around me and live in that world too. What color is the sky in your world?

Maybe you should go to the Southside of Chicago and spread the news that there is so much opportunities now. Forget that your parents are addicted to crack and that 80% of the people that live around aren’t going to make it. And while your at it, teach them about the responsible usage of credit cards so that they can one day look down on others too!

P1 is about right. Source: CC company was my client

I have always paid my credit cards I’m full. I never buy anything I can’t afford and it’s no prob paying my bills

Thanks Deloitte but I was homeless at one point. No self righteousness here just disciplined and do what I have to do to not be in debt

C1 - homeless but you paid all your bills on time? How did you get homeless, waited till the end of your lease? Lol Every homeless person in the history of homelessness was kicked out or ran out of money. Was never planned. I’m highly skeptical that you are just some entitled dude that is so out of touch with people that you can’t even make up a lie about being homeless that makes sense.

Sometimes I carry a balance if I have to make a big purchase. But the only CC I have has a 5.99% rate...sooo eh.

But I do agree that some of you are sorely out of touch with the rest of society if you think that no one has spending problems or issues don’t arise that require carrying a balance. The average person is not nearly as educated or financially well off as this group. Get off your high horse once in a while.

C3 - how many struggling people got your parents advice? How many had parents that were even still together and working? I’m only casting judgement on you and the rest of the people here who can’t understand why people would ever have financial struggles. We all aren’t as privileged as you are. I think you are all out of touch. <- my judgement

Sure, financial literacy is a huge problem in this country. That's absolutely true. But if you and I can't agree on what the problem is, we can't agree on a solution. If the problem is ignorance, the solution is education. If the problem is "sometimes shit happens" what's the solution?

Highschools should do a MUCH better job of teaching kids about their finances as a life skills course. Instead I was in home economics and learned how to bake cookies. That doesn't just apply to credit cards, it also applies to things like student loans for those planning to go to college.