She wants your savings

[fishermccann]

If you have ample cash, do you still have a need for a credit score? Why ?We use the C.C. for points and % $ return on use , pay it off at the end of the month. We have a 50 thousand $ limit on our card, and used it to buy a car last year, got good points on that purchase.

[greatwhite]

The dealer let you put a car on a credit card? Never seen that before but yes Sweet deal for the points. I have asked the dealers before and they told me no and yes I have the room on mine as well. Sure would have been nice if they would let me do that. My old man has asked before as well and he buy's a new car every 2 years but they still would not do it.

If you have ample cash, do you still have a need for a credit score? Why ?We use the C.C. for points and % $ return on use , pay it off at the end of the month. We have a 50 thousand $ limit on our card, and used it to buy a car last year, got good points on that purchase.

[oaknut]

The dealer let you put a car on a credit card? Never seen that before but yes Sweet deal for the points. I have asked the dealers before and they told me no and yes I have the room on mine as well. Sure would have been nice if they would let me do that. My old man has asked before as well and he buy's a new car every 2 years but they still would not do it.

Thats odd, the dealer must know the car will be sold anyway. I've seen a number of people purchase a car via CC.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

[impact]

Of the new vehicles purchased in recent years the max I was allowed to deposit on a credit card was about $2K. The balance had to be a bank draft. The dealerships need to pay the credit card companies a fee. So lets say 2% on a $40,000 vehicle. That would be $800 out of their pocket. Most don't like that.

[JBen]

“Depends” Gord.
Does someone that’s “set” need a good credit score? I would say yes. Because life happens. Like 2020, like divorce, like major illness, like retirement ( planned or forced).

I expect over the next 10-20 years, reverse mortgages are going to become the norm. But some people might want to downsize. Sell the house and rent a condo.

Landlords pull credit these days. And with housing going the way it is. Who would you rent to. Someone that’s a 600 or someone that’s prime ( 760)?

December and January are usually the busiest months for auto loans. People forget how to drive. Last week when we got our first real snowfall. I counted 6 vehicles in ditches. And 2 trucks that smashed into each other. If the 6, 4 were certainly write offs. Maybe the truck owners still had 40,000 financed, didn’t have gap insurance. And suddenly needed another 60,000 truck, but also had to eat 15,000 in negative equity ( loan >>>asset).

I might offend some people. It’s not intended. For many many years, I saw the “world” the same. I had this warped idea of what life was really like for the majority. I thought everyone made 50,000 and 80,000 was middle class. I thought many had pensions and savings. I mean all my friends and everyone around me did. Then I discovered I was in the 10% club.....

Inflation.
We should expect the price of food to go up 5-7% this year. For a family of 4, that will add hundreds of dollars to their cost of living.

The majority of Canadians live “pay check to paycheck”. Can’t save.

Maybe that family wakes up one morning only to discover their stove died. Or their bathrooms flooded. And they do not have $2,000 or $10,000 burning a hole in their pocket.

Is using a credit card a matter of choice or necessity?

I mentioned PTBO. The mean duo is 55,000 there. Are we all so naive as to think cars, stoves, roofs, food, and other things are cheaper there.....
Housing may be cheaper but that’s about it....

Credit resumes might be the difference between a mtg, or a landlord renting. Ask the self employed how hard it can be. /looks at 2020 and millions “pivoting”.

more importantly, your score determines your rates.....

GICs and what not.
Banks pay interest on such things, dependent on prime, and inflation etc.

5% GICs would mean inflation is.......

As people approach retirement, one killer is often taxation and inflation.
What good is a 3% GIC if inflation is 3%?

[Goosesniper]

JBen on the credit cards that is not correct, I pay my off twice a month when I get paid and no it doesn't show up like your not using them.
Considering I worked for the bank for a short time and my whole family does work for the banks (CIBC, I personally bank at Scotia). The faster you pay things off it builds your score. Even today if you have a good credit rating and you are not borrowing beyond your means it is not hard to get a loan if you have a decent credit rating. Even when I was quite poor I was able to get the best rates.

Just for information. Paying off credit faster than the original amortization does not give you a better credit score. The score is calculated on your repayment on regular intervals. It doesn’t help to pay it off early other than the reduced Cost of borrowing. Revolving credit, just needs regular payments and the balance falling. Cheers.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[fishermccann]

You are right JB. I guess I sometimes forget how 'set' I am. Having 2 indexed pensions in the house sure helps....

[werner.reiche]

The dealer let you put a car on a credit card? Never seen that before but yes Sweet deal for the points. I have asked the dealers before and they told me no and yes I have the room on mine as well. Sure would have been nice if they would let me do that. My old man has asked before as well and he buy's a new car every 2 years but they still would not do it.

If a dealer lets you pay for a car with a credit card, you didn't negotiate a very good price on it.
They've got bills to pay too.

[fishermccann]

Just like you tell them you have a trade in, after you get the price they will take for their vehicle on paper. Tell them how you are going to pay after the figures are finalized. They don't like it, walk.

[JBen]

Gord we grew up in a vastly different world. As I get older, I'm glad I'll be dust in under 50 years. I really can't relate to what life is like for youth, most people these days. We've touched on how when we grew up, families could be comfortable on one income. When we grew up, houses, cars, appliances and more were built to last......these days cha ching, cha ching ta cha ching. Childcare, Food and Braces, ch ching cha ching ca ching.....

Median incomes...I struggle to wrap my brain around these numbers.

Car insurance wasn't insane, nor did a set of winter tires cost $1,000, and wheel bearings $500 each, nor was Hydro through the roof. You could enter the workforce with or with out mountains of student debt, and find decent jobs.....People often spent their entire working life with one company. I believe these days, they say the average is 7. Maybe your lucky and that's because your constantly upwardly mobile. I suspect that's not why. Even if you manage to go 25-30 years without losses to income, or benefits. I know when my company went bankrupt, I went from 5 weeks vacation to.....Whats a rental in Durham these days? $1,800 for anything decent? I've seen ads for White oaks in Whitby ( um, not exactly a great area) for $1,500. Student debt, data plans, ( O on your equifax btw) car loan, so you can get to/from work, yada, yada.

Back to savings or the lack of it and ultimately 2021.
We as a soceity are spending ungodly sums of money ( rightly or wrongly) to keep a huge chunk of society, and businesses a float. Why? because they cant go a few months.....