Using Credit Cards so that you can save money...
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after settling my Uni study loan and some other loan every month, i'm down to about $300plus from my salary. and this excludes daily expenditure like meals, etc etc...
let's face it, $300plus per month for expenditure is just sufficient. but my question here is, how do i still save up every month?
just in case you start saying i can save about $100 from the $300 if i cut down a bit, i just want to point out that, NO, it's not possible.
SO, i was thinking: Apply credit card so that i can charge my expenditure to it, pay the monthly minimum (of about $50-$80), so that i can have a bit of savings.
Savings = $300 i'm left with every month - credit card min. monthly repayment.
this sounds stupid, i guess, but i really need to save up. i feel it's better than using up all the $300 i have left with at the end of the month and realised at the end of it i've no savings, and this stupid cycle will go on every single month, right?
and as long as i don't touch my savings, the amount of savings that i have will be equal to the credit i've owe the bank as long as i don't over abuse my credit card, right? so just in case anything happens, i can just use my savings to repay all the credit card loan, right?
so many questions here and please, i need proper answers. scold me of being stupid, but do tell me where i've gone wrong...
Last question, is this the lifestyle people in singapore are having, or am i the only few who's going into a credit card debt? -
btw, YES, i know not all expenditure can be charged to credit card... no need to tell me, thank you.
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ahhahahha... okok sorree to laff..
u forget about the most impt thing...
INTEREST!!
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Its not wise to charge your bills to credit card...
Coz the balance amount will earn interest on your next bill...
Its just a vicious cycle.
Most people went bankrupt coz of that!
I really dun suggest you of doing that...
And, you have to pay for your annual subscription too if you can't exceed your expenditure that they require you to waive off the subscription. -
interest, yea, i've tot of that too... that's why i'm asking, does people with cards just let the interests accumulate? is this how singaporeans with cards live thier lives nowadays??? hey, it's a bit commitment owning a card, man.......no jokeOriginally posted by jOhO:ahhahahha... okok sorree to laff..
u forget about the most impt thing...
INTEREST!! -
eh....wrong concept........
credit card is oni postponing the payment.....
u still have to pay next month......if u dun pay on time, interest will be incurred and u will be paying more.....
there is a risk with using CC esp when ur income is not fixed....u neber know if u can pay up when the bill comes...... -
I used to have lots of credit cards, but have cancelled most of them.Originally posted by rumie:interest, yea, i've tot of that too... that's why i'm asking, does people with cards just let the interests accumulate? is this how singaporeans with cards live thier lives nowadays??? hey, it's a bit commitment owning a card, man.......no joke
Its juz not sane to pay for their annual subscription! I have an Amex which I have not even signed on it when I had it, like 2 years ago!
Cash is better coz you know where your budget and limits are. You are most likely to forget what you have signed on that card. So, most people went bankrupt coz of overspending! -
i totally agree with you. but something i don't understand:Originally posted by donjng:Its not wise to charge your bills to credit card...
Coz the balance amount will earn interest on your next bill...
Its just a vicious cycle.
Most people went bankrupt coz of that!
I really dun suggest you of doing that...
And, you have to pay for your annual subscription too if you can't exceed your expenditure that they require you to waive off the subscription.
1. how can people go bankrupt if they dont over abuse thier card?
2. how can go bankrupt if they have a job and can repay the minimum repayment? (not considering they might lose thier job, etc) -
so may i ask, why do pple still apply credit card?Originally posted by FireIce:eh....wrong concept........
credit card is oni postponing the payment.....
u still have to pay next month......if u dun pay on time, interest will be incurred and u will be paying more.....
there is a risk with using CC esp when ur income is not fixed....u neber know if u can pay up when the bill comes......
supposedly a person spent $200 on his card, and at the end of it pay it all up at once, then might as well dun apply card and just bring cash along, right?
yes, some payment can be a lot like few hundreds of dollars, but still, can bring along that amount of cash if you know you're going to spend that kind of money right? -
Like you, most ppl have a budget to spend.Originally posted by rumie:i totally agree with you. but something i don't understand:
1. how can people go bankrupt if they dont over abuse thier card?
2. how can go bankrupt if they have a job and can repay the minimum repayment? (not considering they might lose thier job, etc)
Eg. I bought a $200 stuff, but I can only afford to pay the minimum of $50 at the end of the month1.
That will mean that, the bill for next month2 will be $150 plus the interest.
Month3 came. I can only pay $50 again, so, (($150 + interest) minus $50) plus interest again.
The cycle repeats.
Before you knew it, the stuff you bought is worth than $150 liao. Worth it? Depends on individual.
And, of course, you will have other expenditure to take care of...
Make sense?
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they sign on the cards (one from each bank) until burst and can't even make the min payt each month.Originally posted by rumie:i totally agree with you. but something i don't understand:
1. how can people go bankrupt if they dont over abuse thier card?
2. how can go bankrupt if they have a job and can repay the minimum repayment? (not considering they might lose thier job, etc)
the min payt isn't 50-80 as u put it, for the bank i'm working at now, it's 50 or 5% of outstanding balance, whichever is higher.
so if every card maxed out at 10k, and u have 4 cards, that's 40k of debt to service a month at 5% which equates to 2000 in min payts. usually min payts can service interest PROVIDED the customer is never late in his payts and does not incur other charges like return fees and annual fees.
for a 10k limit on each card, his gross salary will be 5k a month minimum since MAS only allowed up to 2 times ur monthly salary max cr limit. so with a 5k gross this fella takes home 4k after cpf, and he has to pay 2k worth of min payts.
u get the picture lar...
this is just MIN PAYT, nothing mentioned yet about paying off the "principal" debts...
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I only use credit cards when I get a discount at the restaurant I went to.
My fav dept is Robinson. So, it makes sense for me to get a Robinson card, as I can get 15% discount plus 5% rebate.
But, the main purpose of a card for me, is when I go travelling coz, I dun want to bring a lot of cash with me.
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it makes 100% sense. that is why i'm so buffled by this credit card thingy.Originally posted by donjng:Like you, most ppl have a budget to spend.
Eg. I bought a $200 stuff, but I can only afford to pay the minimum of $50 at the end of the month1.
That will mean that, the bill for next month2 will be $150 plus the interest.
Month3 came. I can only pay $50 again, so, (($150 + interest) minus $50) plus interest again.
The cycle repeats.
Before you knew it, the stuff you bought is worth than $150 liao. Worth it? Depends on individual.
And, of course, you will have other expenditure to take care of...
Make sense?
so am i correct to say that if it's not necessary, don apply card. and if you are not able to save (like in my case), then dont?
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yes, thanks a lot. but still, IF i just charge to ONE card, will that makes a difference? not that i'm disagreeing with what you said, but as i've said, it really buffles me a lot and i just want to get things straight...Originally posted by jOhO:they sign on the cards (one from each bank) until burst and can't even make the min payt each month.
the min payt isn't 50-80 as u put it, for the bank i'm working at now, it's 50 or 5% of outstanding balance, whichever is higher.
so if every card maxed out at 10k, and u have 4 cards, that's 40k of debt to service a month at 5% which equates to 2000 in min payts. usually min payts can service interest PROVIDED the customer is never late in his payts and does not incur other charges like return fees and annual fees.
for a 10k limit on each card, his gross salary will be 5k a month minimum since MAS only allowed up to 2 times ur monthly salary max cr limit. so with a 5k gross this fella takes home 4k after cpf, and he has to pay 2k worth of min payts.
u get the picture lar...
this is just MIN PAYT, nothing mentioned yet about paying off the "principal" debts... 
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Credit cards- in case of emergency!Originally posted by rumie:it makes 100% sense. that is why i'm so buffled by this credit card thingy.
so am i correct to say that if it's not necessary, don apply card. and if you are not able to save (like in my case), then dont?
But, if you have a credit card in your wallet, the chances are you can't resist using it.
Heehee. -
make a difference to wat?Originally posted by rumie:yes, thanks a lot. but still, IF i just charge to ONE card, will that makes a difference? not that i'm disagreeing with what you said, but as i've said, it really buffles me a lot and i just want to get things straight...
ok if ur purposes are to save the 300 spare u have every month, it's not worth it, becos the interest earned on ur 300 will not be near enuff to cover the interest u need to pay becos u have to borrow 300 from the bank every month by way of cc.
i'm not sure wat ur question is.. -
Heehee...Originally posted by rumie:yes, thanks a lot. but still, IF i just charge to ONE card, will that makes a difference? not that i'm disagreeing with what you said, but as i've said, it really buffles me a lot and i just want to get things straight...
You try that out loh...
Let me know if that works!
heehee -
Ditch the credit card.
You're just going to be another person whose life is going to be made miserable by that small plastic card. -
got 1 friend
apply for few credit card
use citibank pay for dbs..use standard chartered to pay for citibank
is like 3 pots with 2 cover nia tht kind -
yah......u juz digging one hole to fill other hole.......
no savings.......in fact u will find tt u owe more and more when u keep postponing payment....
spend within ur ability.....and if better, dun use "future money" cos u dunno if u are able to repay...... -
there is no such thing as a free lunch. watever u haf spent u will need to pay back either now or later. so u should do tt - putting off ur paying back - if u r sure tt at a later point in time, either ur salary will increase or u will haf alternate sources of income. else there is no point in saving for savings sake.Originally posted by rumie:after settling my Uni study loan and some other loan every month, i'm down to about $300plus from my salary. and this excludes daily expenditure like meals, etc etc...
let's face it, $300plus per month for expenditure is just sufficient. but my question here is, how do i still save up every month?
just in case you start saying i can save about $100 from the $300 if i cut down a bit, i just want to point out that, NO, it's not possible.
SO, i was thinking: Apply credit card so that i can charge my expenditure to it, pay the monthly minimum (of about $50-$80), so that i can have a bit of savings.
Savings = $300 i'm left with every month - credit card min. monthly repayment.
this sounds stupid, i guess, but i really need to save up. i feel it's better than using up all the $300 i have left with at the end of the month and realised at the end of it i've no savings, and this stupid cycle will go on every single month, right?
and as long as i don't touch my savings, the amount of savings that i have will be equal to the credit i've owe the bank as long as i don't over abuse my credit card, right? so just in case anything happens, i can just use my savings to repay all the credit card loan, right?
so many questions here and please, i need proper answers. scold me of being stupid, but do tell me where i've gone wrong...
Last question, is this the lifestyle people in singapore are having, or am i the only few who's going into a credit card debt?
300 per month, yes its possible, but is quite tight i would say.
the recommendation is to save at least 10% of your salary. i guess if tt is not possible, something is better than nothing. and the best way of saving would be to siphon off a portion of ur salary each month, perhaps by a standing order with the bank to another account, so tt u haf a smaller amount for spending. -
This is never a good idea... unless u can clear of all the payments within the month so as not to incur any interest...
With your idea, Let say u charge $300 to the CC every month, and u pay min $50 every month. This leaves $250 subjected to interest. Normally the first year u dont have to pay for the card, but after that, holding this card is another cost to ur $300 excess... Let say the interest is 5%, your will need to pay an additional amount of $150 by the end of a year. Do u think this is a good solution??? -
and for using credit cards, some places charge a few dollars more.. this is to cover the administrative cost for using credit card.. It might seem insignificant, but 10 times of $2 is 20, and $20 out of $300 per month is something.. Besides the the $20 can be put into better use than be sucked up by the banks.. can have 5 more plates of cha kway tiao.
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So in the end it comes down to these four letter word......
LPPL haha -
fwah!! Bear makes an appearance!
but back to the credit card thing..
minimum payment equates to interest...
interest is about 24% per annum the last time i read...
then there's the yearly subscriptions if you do not spend above a certain limit (at about $300 a month, i don't think it'll go above the usual $5k to $7k amount for free sub)
the only way you can "save" is if you pay up full each month, and never let them hit you with any interest... then the perks like whatever points or stuff can be used... already had a few free meals and mobile phone bills paid with my points
remember... the credit card companies are trying to make a profit out of you too!