I do not use credit, but I do have friends that are complaining things have tightened up for their businesses bigtime. If I need to borrow funds for bigger ticket items (property, cars, airplane, etc), I take a loan from my longer term funds and pay myself back at 6% interest over short time periods. There is a wondrous feeling that goes along with not having to use the rigged financial grid and their codependency products.
Whats a basic new car cost $10.000 for say a Hyundai, no make that $11.000. Eleven grand for this death trap bucket of bolts. I rest my case. http://www.hyundaiusa.com/vehicle/accent/accent.aspx
"Lay away"... now THERE'S a concept from the past. Hadn't heard the term for so long I'd forgotten that's how we used to do business...
in the wrong hands it sucks....I know many who are monster wealthy who would have never gotten there without debt, credit, loans...peace
Debt in the right hands can create wealth. Most wealthy people will tell you that debt is good if managed properly. The people who use debt well will thoughtfully and responsibly use debt to lever themselves to increase their wealth. I have friends who do this and are doing fine right now. The irresponsible use of debt is to over leverage yourself and/or buy things (toys, vacations, etc.) that do not add to wealth creation. It's kind of the same as running a solid growth company; if debt is used responsibly to grow the company it is considered good management. By the way many people believe that having debt in their house is responsible if done right because of the low interest rate and the tax deductabillity of the interest paid. If you can borrow money against a house at 6.5%, and deduct the interest, then invest it responsibly this would be sound financial management in my opinion. Oh, and to answer the poll, no I am not having trouble getting credit. I just got an unsecured loan yesterday with ease. I have good credit though.
I have one credit card (in addition to my corporate card) that has a zero balance and a $45,000 limit. The bank continues to try to raise my limit and I get all these balance transfer slips in the mail with other credit card offers, banks that are trying to get me to refinance, etc. I have seen no shortage of credit offers, that's for sure.
i couldn't get a line of credit from WAMU...for my business expansion... despite immaculate credit both personal and corporate.. that was about 6 months ago..
No problem in my family with getting credit. Wife just got her first credit card last week for 3500. (she's always been on mine so this is the first one that she got on her own) I have 3 credit cards, but only use one because I get 2% cash back on all purchases to the first 25000 dollars every year. I pay it off every month (sometimes twice a month) If i didnt get that 2%, I would not use credit cards. I think thats a good way to figure out whos a good credit risk. If you dont want more credit cards, you are a good risk. If you do want more, you are a bad risk. Also you can tell who is a good and bad risk by the words they use. Someone who is a good risk will say "I WANT a loan for 10k" Someone who is a bad risk will say "I NEED a loan for 10k"
I keep getting those credit card offers in the mail, and my current cards still have their max limits unaffected. I have heard if you have a good rating, the banks are getting even more aggressive. Don't know why.
Lets see I have about 35K in credit card debt and just bought a new house last month that I am using as my primary residence and put 5% down. I have also rented out my previous residence so yes last month my wife and I were able to qualify for a mortgage loan putting 5% down despite having an existing mortage on my previous residence...... So no I see no credit crunch in my case, they whined a little bit about my remaining 3K balance on my timeshare in Maui of all things.....nevermind the 35K in credit card debt or the fact I"m putting 5% down, or that I have 2 mortgages now.....the only thing they whined about was a 3000 dollar timeshare...lol. Oh well got the mortgage done on my terms so can't complain!