Interest rates and Sears card ripoff

[paddlenbike]

Last month I needed to make a large purchase (a new refrigerator for my home) and decided to get a Sears card to get an additional 5% off my purchase. I didn't care about interest rates because I had planned to pay off the card immediately. Flash forward to today and due to other expenses this month I will need to leave a balance on the card. I was shocked to find out that Sears charges 25.99% interest on their Sears cards. Money is as cheap as ever right now--my "high interest" savings account that was pulling 5.05% interest is now at 0.35%, my regular savings account is at 0.2% and home interest rates are around 5%, how can Sears justify ripping people off to this degree?

I will be paying off my Sears card this month and leaving a balance on my regular credit card since it is "only" 13.99% interest and cancelling my Sears card. What a ripoff.

What do you home owners do for temporary credit when you unexpectedly need to buy something expensive? Does Home Depot charge interest rates that high for temporary lines of credit?

[corax]

What do you home owners do for temporary credit when you unexpectedly need to buy something expensive?

the unsecured line of credit through my bank is right around 11% . . .

[4x4mike]

You should have bought a Kardashian credit card when you could.

[Seanz0rz]

i am paying 27% on one of my cards, and have no way of getting rid of the rather large balance. multiple calls to the company yielded nothing. i pay more than the minimum payment every month, but it will take me years to ever get it paid off at this rate. i have returned to a cash only lifestyle as a result. may all the credit card companies burn in hell.

[paddlenbike]

At those rates I would check into a personal loan like corax is referring to. But yes, those rates are completely ridiculous.

[Seanz0rz]

yeah, a 10k loan for a student with school loans who doesnt have a real 9-5 job. they laughed at me.

now, both of my bank accounts are charging monthly fees (both used to be free), so one will have to go, and im afraid its the one that forces me to exit my vehicle to withdraw cash. i am so fed up with the financial system, but alas, nothing you can do about it.

[4x4mike]

yeah, a 10k loan for a student with school loans who doesnt have a real 9-5 job. they laughed at me.

now, both of my bank accounts are charging monthly fees (both used to be free), so one will have to go, and im afraid its the one that forces me to exit my vehicle to withdraw cash. i am so fed up with the financial system, but alas, nothing you can do about it.

Getting out of vehicle, come on (now I sound like an old man). I use BofA for checking and like them and have no problems with them, unlike every person I ever talk to. A couple of months ago they had an online promotion that I know several took advantage of. All you had to do is open a checking account online, with $100. No fees, no direct deposit, no minimum balance and you can get the overdraft protection in form of a savings account if you wanted. My parents did this because they bank with several institutions. They both had existing BofA accounts and cancelled them after opening the free version of what they already had. They get some kind of bonus by having their pay checks directly deposited in the credit union so they do that now. After the first of the month they go online move money if they need to and all their bills are paid with bill pay.

Might be worth while to call around or check for banks that do the no minimum balance thing as fees can kill you. My wife and I have a CC but I use it more for picking stuff out of my teeth than I do to make purchases. I grew up that way and I'm glad it was one of the things that stuck.

[garrett]

My wife and I have a CC but I use it more for picking stuff out of my teeth than I do to make purchases. I grew up that way and I'm glad it was one of the things that stuck.

i'm probably in the minority here, but i was taught the opposite. my parents (and now I) always use a Discover CC for every purchase/bill payment possible because you get some certain % cash back. As long as you make the full payment each month, you can't go wrong...

it also helps me keep my spending in check since you have to pay it all off at once. it's a lot easier for me to see how much money I am spending each month when I see 1 big number as opposed to using a debit card which subtracts little by litte, and especially cash which i just forget about.

[paddlenbike]

^^^ That is exactly what I do each month as well, although I will end up carrying a balance this month due to the refrigerator purchase. I currently have an REI card that gets me dividends but I'm now looking for a card that does either straight cash back or an Alaska Airlines airmiles card since I fly with them annually. Does Discover charge an annual fee?

[4x4mike]

My wife and I have a CC but I use it more for picking stuff out of my teeth than I do to make purchases. I grew up that way and I'm glad it was one of the things that stuck.

i'm probably in the minority here, but i was taught the opposite. my parents (and now I) always use a Discover CC for every purchase/bill payment possible because you get some certain % cash back. As long as you make the full payment each month, you can't go wrong...

it also helps me keep my spending in check since you have to pay it all off at once. it's a lot easier for me to see how much money I am spending each month when I see 1 big number as opposed to using a debit card which subtracts little by litte, and especially cash which i just forget about.

My wife spends enough to get us dividends with our CC. None really pay enough to make it worthwhile in our home, I've run numbers and handled all the accounts for a while.

Bills get paid in full every month and we're smart with the cash. She likes to use the CC so she does. I don't like to use it so I don't. Don't get me wrong we do budget and know exactly what comes and goes and have developed our own system.

I know many people who do what you do. Heck I know 2 guys who don't even have bank accounts yet have bills and mortgages figured out.