Comments on: The Total Money Makeover and The Cash Only Diet

By: Denise

Denise — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:38:42 +0000

The one thing that isn’t being discussed is that I know many people living off credit cards to compensate for their lack of a good job. The national average income for a single person or a sigle mother with one child, according to our government is $34,000 (2006). Many people don’t make that for income, let alone businesses paying grad students a 30 year-old income of $30,000 entry-level position. Even when the economy was doing good, businesses refused to pay an educated employee their true worth. Look at the governement salaries, and local and state government positions. They are the only ones, practically, that make good money, unless you’re in healthcare, an attorney, a CEO, etc. I credit cards are being used to compensate for the basic income necessary to just survive and therefore, having credit cards are a false sense of security, giving a consumer a feeling that they can buy whatever they need, but can never get caught up because they don’t make enough income to begin with AND not to mention, 20-30 years ago, banks would let the consumer cut up their credit card and the consumer had to promise not to charge anything, and the consumer was then allowesd to pay off their balance at a low interest rate.

Banks and credit cards these days are legal loansharks craving for money and will go as far as stealing from the consumer for the recent lack of banking regulations in place to keep the banks accountable and to protect consumers.

Nobody seems to be talking about how students go to school for the purpose of getting a good job, however, with the high cost of education and the low income levels even with an education, keeps us all in debt, almost never able to access the American Dream, until we’re at the age of retirement.

These business owners/CEOs need to pay employees what they’re worth.

In Australia, a person who works in a grocery store makes $40,000 and when they obtain a Bachelor’s degree and are in Banking their salary jumps to $90-100,000. Do you see what I’m talking about? Spread the wealth…..people! or else we are slaves to the wealthy.

By: Broke by Choice

Broke by Choice — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:25:03 +0000

I am also an FPU graduate and I have been applying Dave’s principles for since July 2007 (32 months). I cut up my credit cards when I first decided to get out of debt and haven’t used them since.

I have not had any problems using a debit card. During this time I have traveled to Asia, South America, the Caribbean and throughout the US with no problems.

By: JD

JD — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:46:54 +0000

I’m also a Ramsey fan, but feel having a credit card is necessary in lots of situations. As Boomer said, you’ve got more protection for large/online purchases (and your funds aren’t tied up during a dispute, as they would be with a debit card). Also, there are times/places that you can’t use a debit card (particularly when traveling). So I don’t worry about using a card, as long as it’s paid in full. The insanity is those who treat “available balance” as income and have multiple cards they’re carrying a balance on.

Also… math check. 6 out of 10 people you see are not carrying a balance (based on the way you phrased the study). 60% of the 78% who have cards are carrying a balance. So 8 of 10 people you see have a card… and 4.5 of 10 that you see carry a balance.

By: Bucksome Boomer

Bucksome Boomer — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:03:55 +0000

I’m a Dave Ramsey fan (Financial Peace University graduate here) but I still have a credit card and use it for large and/or online purchases.

I want the protection of the credit card in those cases. It helped when I had to dispute a $300 charge for an item that was never delivered and I couldn’t get the merchant to make the credit.