steelpuma57 said:Ugh, don't even get me started—you basically just asked the exact question that's been keeping me up at night lately. I've been going full beast mode on my savings this past month, so I managed to knock out a debt of about $1500... and come the first of the month, I'm planning to drop another 4,000 bucks. Then on New Year's Day, I'll probably toss another 4,000 at it... and after that, who knows, life happens. But look, the real headache I'm dealing with is that I'm seriously tempted to just take out one big consolidation loan from somewhere like Chase or Wells Fargo to wipe the slate clean. If I could just settle everything at once, I could finally breathe easy, just make one monthly payment, and maybe even tuck a little bit aside to invest back into my small business... instead of this chaotic mess where my debts are scattered all over the place like spilled Legos.
That sounds like a solid plan! 👍 Have you thought about asking family—parents or siblings—to act as co-signers to help you out?
It’s been about six weeks since you posted. Any luck saving up or paying down those debts in the meantime? I think that's a pretty big piece of the puzzle if we're going to follow this story through...
Thanks, George Barrett35, you hit the nail on the head!👍
Kimberly Nguyen—I’m not sure what your main goal is here, but if you share that common mindset of living on credit and just shuffling money from one empty pocket to another... then this isn't the card for you. This card is for people like Donna Wilson18 who travel constantly and need to book flights or hotels online without lugging around a wad of cash. When they charge me, I don't lose sleep over it because the funds are already sitting in my account; I can handle the transaction instantly. I used to carry just a Visa with a tiny limit that was useless to me, so I picked up this Mastercard too. Nowadays, I mostly use my American Express, so I’ll probably end up returning this one.
btw—I was just checking, and with this Mastercard, I have a limit of $2667, whereas with something like Diners Club, you basically need a permanent career just to get an interview, and even then, your limit is tied directly to your salary.
Lavica2—honestly, I haven't a clue. I've used that card for a few small purchases here and there, but I'm never quite sure when the funds actually leave my account. If I can dig up the agreement, I'll see if there's any clarity in there.
I've got plenty of other cards on me, so this one is really just a backup. I figure if my checking account hits zero, this might be my only shot at getting a transaction through.
I assume the whole point of those credit bureaus is just to make getting loans a bit more straightforward.
Kimberly Nguyen said:They don't even issue them without a security deposit, proof of income, or a solid credit score, so I honestly don't get where you're coming from...
And what you ended up with is a legitimate credit card—you know, the kind with a grace period, revolving credit, and all that jazz...
Well, a deposit is just money sitting in the account, even if it isn't technically tied to anything. As for creditworthiness, they’re probably just looking at your credit report. Later on, they actually offered me a loan three times larger than my balance without needing any co-signers. It seems having a "clean slate" (or a bad record) matters a lot.
It's not a revolving line of credit; it's tied directly to that foreign currency account. So, if you pay in dollars, they pull from the dollar account. It's pretty handy for anyone traveling abroad or shopping online.
Wait, let me make sure I’m actually following your train of thought here 🤷 ... So, what you're saying is—just to be clear—that if someone were to deposit a chunk of cash into their own checking account, the bank would just automatically issue them a credit card based on those funds after a little while?
I can't speak for her, but I have an account over at JPMorgan Chase. I opened a standard foreign currency account, parked some money there, and just left it alone for about a year. When I went in to withdraw some funds a year later, the teller actually suggested getting a card before I even asked. I told her, "Look, I don't even have a checking account here, and I don't even work for this company." They told me it didn't matter at all; I filled out the application on the spot and walked out with it.
You still have to fill out an application, though. Banks don't just hand out credit cards by default.
Jeffrey Bishop70 said:I need to send about $15 over to a company in Germany using Western Union for some services, but I’ve honestly never used them before. Does anyone know what kind of ridiculous fee I should expect to get hit with? And more importantly, is this actually a reliable way to get money across the pond without everything going sideways?
The fee might actually end up being more than the amount you're sending. As far as reliability goes, you'll be fine.
The easiest way is just to open a savings account and toss some cash in there. I'm not sure if they'll hand you a card on the spot, but if they do, they won't care a bit about where you work. You can grab a Visa or a Mastercard—honestly, it doesn't matter which one you pick.
Another option is to just ask your parents to add you as an authorized user on one of their cards.
Casey Jones2 said:Hey, could someone please tell me how long the whole card issuance process actually takes? I mean—from the moment you fill out the application and mail in the form until the physical card is sitting right there in your wallet. Just a rough estimate would be great. Thanks!
The funniest thing about Diners Club is they’ll start spamming you with texts before you even see the physical card! I only applied for it as a backup in case my American Express didn't come through. Once that arrives, I'll be canceling this one.
Ryan Edwards said:Joe, thanks! I get paid in cash, not through a bank. I'll head down to my local Chase branch to ask around about it. 🙂
In cash? 😕 You mean under the table? If you want to be "eligible" for a credit card, you're going to need to show some proof of income or have a decent balance in your account...
Ryan Edwards said:Hey everyone! I've never owned a credit card before, so I could really use some advice since I'm pretty clueless about how this works. I just want something for occasional online shopping and to use while traveling. I have zero interest in overdrafts or long-term debt. I’ve heard Visa and Mastercard are both fine, but do the terms change depending on which bank you go with? Any specific banks you'd recommend? Thanks a lot!🙂
If you just need a Visa and a Mastercard, honestly, the easiest move is to grab them from the bank where you already get your paycheck deposited.
George Barrett35 said:When you split a purchase into installments, it’s actually the merchants who are footing the bill for that flexibility, much like how they handle check payments. For instance, I pay my car insurance using an American Express card over six monthly installments, where each payment shows up on my statement as its own distinct charge. It isn't really an American Express thing; the card is just the tool I'm using to settle the bill—just like a check—while the installment plan is simply a feature the insurance company chooses to offer on their own terms.
If the retailers are footing the bill themselves, why on earth would different credit cards have such different repayment terms?
I actually found this snippet from a major US credit card issuer’s site specifically written for merchants:
The ability to offer consumer loans or installment payment options can help boost your store's total sales volume.
Kimberly Nguyen said:Good grief, you guys have completely scrambled all the terminology here...
The way I see it, it should work like this: - Debit cards => The money leaves your account immediately; zero interest involved. - Charge cards => You get billed later, but there’s still no interest applied. - Revolving credit => You pay whatever amount you negotiated, but you're getting hit with interest starting from the very day the charge hits.
That’s how it ought to be, in my book... but hey, if it isn't, then it isn't.🤷
Actually, with most cards, it's just deferred payment without interest; the main difference is that with revolving cards, you can opt into a credit line.
George Barrett35 said:You're mixing up your terminology. Let's try to make this simple. Say you buy something and the retailer offers to let you pay via credit card in, let's say, two installments. They'll charge you the first one immediately and then "pass along" the second one to the bank in a month. For the bank, when that second charge hits, it isn't viewed as an old expense from last month; it’s treated as a fresh cost incurred today. Because of that, you can absolutely pay off that second installment using your revolving credit just like any other bill. That isn't "deferred payment" tied to the card itself; it's a merchant-specific offer provided by the shop, and it depends entirely on that specific vendor—they might even give it to you for free. When we actually talk about deferred interest or payment extensions on a card, that's when the merchant collects their money upfront and the bank gives you the grace period to pay it back by the due date. What you can't do is simultaneously use a bank-issued deferral and your revolving credit line for that same transaction. That's my point. Mind you, there are plenty of hybrid products out there now, so some of these overlaps are possible with certain specialized cards, but those aren't your standard charge or revolving cards anymore.
To be honest, I don't know a single merchant that actually finances its own customer deferrals—I've never even thought about it that way.
What I consider "store deferment" related to cards is when a merchant offers an installment plan in partnership with a card network rather than funding it themselves. For instance, Walmart has a promotion running until tomorrow (unless they extend it) where you can split a purchase into 12 installments. It shows up on your statement just like any other transaction. That's what I'm talking about.
George Barrett35 said:Sure you can, provided you cleared the entire balance during the grace period. But if you’re only chipping away at a portion of it, you’ve essentially opted into a revolving credit line, which means you're knowingly agreeing to eat those interest charges. What you absolutely cannot do is try to juggle both the deferred payment plan and the revolving credit at the exact same time.
And let me be clear: just because one bank calculates things differently than another doesn't mean they're being dishonest.
I'm not sure I follow what you mean.😕 A deferred payment and a revolving credit line are two completely different animals. They have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
I could, say, pick up something worth $10. $0.00 Set them to four rates, then just add an extra one on top of that. $833 I'm looking at paying this off over 20 installments—just about 5% of the total value each time.
George Barrett35 said:With a revolving card, you aren't buying on credit—you're taking out a loan. A fair way to handle things is simply charging interest from the very moment you use that credit. If you want a grace period, you go with a charge card instead. Honestly, if revolving cards offered the same deferred payment perks, nobody would even bother with charge cards anymore. Just because Chase does things differently doesn't mean everyone else is being dishonest.
Not quite. You can definitely buy things on credit without paying interest immediately with a revolving card. Just because it's labeled "revolving" doesn't mean you're forced to use the credit line right away.
James Anderson8 said:So, here is the situation: I currently have a checking account at Chase where my paycheck is deposited, but I’m actually sitting in the red at the moment😬. I am looking to switch everything over to either Bank of America or Wells Fargo—basically, I want my salary to hit a different account entirely. Am I required to clear out this overdraft first and wait for every single pending check to clear before I can make the jump to a new bank?
Now, setting that aside for a second, if I were to pick up a debit card—like a standard Mastercard—at Bank of America, would I actually be able to use that to pay for things in installments at certain stores, or is that functionality strictly reserved for those revolving credit cards?🤷
I feel absolutely ridiculous asking this, really, but banks offer such an overwhelming array of products that I’ve managed to get myself completely turned around in the process... 🙂Can anyone who actually understands this stuff please help me out?
If a shop has an agreement with the card processor to offer interest-free installments, you can usually use either type—charge or revolving. It just depends on their specific deals; for example, maybe they offer 4 months with Mastercard, 5 with Visa, or 6 with American Express (those numbers are just examples to make sense of it)
A revolving credit line actually has nothing to do with those installment plans. Put simply, it's just a pre-approved overdraft with pretty high interest rates. You can choose to pay off your monthly balance in full immediately, or just chip away at it by paying the minimum 5% or whatever amount you want.