On Sep 25, 1:48*pm, LouB wrote:
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
"Master Betty" wrote in message
...
I cut up all my credit cards and haven't used one since. We only have
our mortage and a small car loan left.
You are missing an easy opportunity to have a credit card company give
you hundreds of dollars of free money each year.
I have an AmEx Blue Cash card, which gives me a 5% rebate on groceries,
gas, and prescription drugs, and 1.25% on everything else. *I pay in
full each month, get a free grace period, don't write any checks, don't
have to carry around cash, and once per year I get a credit on my
account of many many hundreds of dollars. *I have a VISA *that gives a
1% rebate when a merchant doesn't accept AmEx, and I get that rebate
credit the next month.
I always pay in full each month.
The credit card company is paying me to use their card.
Of course others use cards in this manner that give other types of
rewards (ie airline miles). *My father's card is through the same bank
as his mortgage, so his card rebate goes right toward extra principal
payment on his mortgage.
I can't imagine why anyone who is creditworthy would not take advantage
of this opportunity rather than do what you are doing.
Good advice.- Hide quoted text -
BTW Home loans/mortgages.
$100,000. at 6% for various time periods. Monthly payments.
20 years $716 mo total repay 172,000; Interest = 72,000 or 1.72 times
original cost
25 years $644 mo repay 193,000; interest = 93,000 1.93 times cost
30 years $600 mo repay 216,000; interest = 116,000 2.16 times cost
40 years $550 mo repay 264,000; interest = 164,000 2.64 times cost
Just a thought.
So we built our own some 40 years ago and the most ever owed was
$12,000, which we disposed of asap. despite a then low salary. So no
mortgage!
You can scale this up or down. For example $50,000 as above would be
exactly half of the 100,000 numbers .
Also for slight difference in interest rate, say 5% instead of 6, you
can ratio it a bit and not be too far out, for mental calculation.
e.g. 5/6 x 600 per month = $500. i.e. somewhere between $500 and $600
per month.
Then then calculate it properly using an on-line progarmme such as
http://www.bretwhissel.net/amortization/amortize.html
Good luck; and aside from credit cards, after all it's OUR money we
are paying for housing and home repairs.