[speaker001:] Well, how many credit cards do you have?
[speaker002:] Um, I've only, I've got about four maybe. I try to limit them because I, well one, I don't use them too much. And I use my Visa just for abou-, for about everything, and I pay it all off. So I try not to, I just use it for free money for thirty days basically.
[speaker001:] Sounds like we have no conflict. We had, for a while I was carrying one card and my wife was carrying a different one. And since the slips all look alike, uh, you commingle them and then you get the statement and you try to sort them out, uh, and it, uh, [LAUGHTER] it caused more confusion about it. I finally said, Gee, this is kind of a waste of time. And then when A T and T came along and offered a free one, uh, I accepted that, and we've been using that one. Uh, the interesting thing is, is that, uh, the amount of money you can can run up on them. I don't know, do you know any people that run up big, big bills?
[speaker002:] I'm, I'm you know, I'm in the age group you get out of college, and I think a lot of these people have them maxed out.
[speaker001:] Well, did, um, were you able to get one while you're in college?
[speaker002:] Um, I don't think I ever tried.
[speaker001:] Just curious, because I have a son that's a senior this year, and he's heading off, with any kind of luck, but there has been, I've had a couple of ads for, for, for to provide a card for a college student. Uh, what do you think about the idea of providing one for somebody like that?
[speaker002:] Um, well, [throat clearing] yeah, I, I, you know, it's, you know, feasible, I mean, I know a lot of college kids who have them, you know, who had them, but just depends.
[speaker001:] Well, that, that, that, I guess from the, from the card issuer, uh, that since, since it's, it's in, mo-, the parent gets it for them, that really the parent becomes the one that's responsible, but it's,
[speaker002:] Yeah, so basically if you want to take the risk [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Yes, it's whether the parent wants to take the risk.
[speaker002:] It's your risk, do you trust, your, your son,
[speaker001:] Yeah, to, to go run up a big bill and, the thing is, there some advantages, if he got off
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] some place and stranded. I, I'm, I'm leaning towards doing it
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] for, for conven-,
[speaker002:] I'd say, do-, you know, have one with, you know
[speaker001:] a convenience,
[speaker002:] at least a thousand dollar credit limit or something.
[speaker001:] Yeah, and the idea that, you know, if he got in trouble, there's some, some ways of getting out, and that he doesn't have to carry cash. The, uh, I, I like the idea of credit cards that, uh, I don't, I don't, I don't carry cash around, and, and, uh, I don't even carry checks around. I let my wife take the checkbook, and she writes the checks, and I record them. So it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, but it's interesting that, uh, the people that can, that can, uh, the amounts of money you can run up wi-, on, on credit cards, and, uh, I, I had recently had some dealings with a fellow that they had run up, he was making, oh, considered a modest salary for an engineer, and he had run up, uh, more than a years salary in, in various debts to, and he wound up declaring bankruptcy but there, it, it's hard to believe that you'd run up twenty, thirty thousand dollars of, uh, well, it was a combination of things
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] he had, there were, there were several credit cards, and then there were several other businesses, but, uh. I, I guess what's interesting, have you seen the, the, the, the ads where they're offering to extend payments from, uh, things like, uh, like the credit union's offering, *should be more than 1 slash unit
[speaker002:] The, the extended loan payment for your car.
[speaker001:] Yes, yeah.
[speaker002:] Yeah. I saw that.
[speaker001:] The interesting thing about that is, is that, uh, that, that they're encouraging you to incur more, incur more debt, and,
[speaker002:] Well, it's, it's, it's business, and they're making money off that.
[speaker001:] And they make more money if you extend your loan.
[speaker002:] Yeah, and, and it's, so it's business, so, and you notice that they're, they're only going to do it to like cars that are one or two years old.
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] And so they've already shifted the risk. If they assume that car, then they just have to sell it themselves, and they'll recover the loan,
[speaker001:] And they know that people own a car that new unless absolutely die of service *listen; can't be right transcription they're not going to keep on if the car were older.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] The interesting thing about it is is that from a, uh, uh, an economy standpoint or in economics, I, I thinks it's, I think it's poor, poor, uh, economics to, to carry all that consumer debt
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] at least from a tax standpoint, so. It's interesting that, that the American public is encouraged to incur all that debt and then next year none of it will be deductible, and this year it's ten percent or so.
[speaker002:] Yeah, uh.
[speaker001:] It's, uh, it's interesting that, that, uh, they encourage us to do things,
[speaker002:] What, now what's ten percent, we can deduct,
[speaker001:] I think ten percent, yes.
[speaker002:] I didn't know that.
[speaker001:] Of your, of your consumer credit. Oh, if you had a thousand dollars, that means there's another hundred dollar deduction I've given you.
[speaker002:] I didn't think you could, any thing on a loan or,
[speaker001:] Yeah, it's on, uh, yeah.
[speaker002:] I mean a mortgage I know you can,
[speaker001:] Yeah, on the, the, there's, there's, there's a place for consumer debt and then you take ten percent of it, on the,
[speaker002:] Oh, I've never itemized yet.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay,
[speaker002:] So maybe that's.
[speaker001:] It's on schedule, um,
[speaker002:] Schedule A or,
[speaker001:] Schedule A under, uh, well, it's the same place, it's the same place you put, uh, interest. But, but see that's what, that's what makes Texas squirrelly laws that you can't, you can't take out a, a second mortgage, like some states where you can take out the mortgage and declare that, and so, uh, it's fully deductible. The laws are a little squirrelly, but it basically comes down to it's not in your best interest to borrow money from a tax standpoint.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] But, uh, anyway,
[speaker002:] Yeah, I try, I, I really do, I just try to stay out of debt, and I, and I use my Visa for, for as much as I can, and I pay it all off, and,
[speaker001:] Sounds like you're, you're very respon-, very financially responsible. It's, uh,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] That's, uh, there're a lot of people who really run, my boss drives quite a ways to work, and he's got just enormous debts, and he's, but, I mean, what do you say, it's like, Shucks, [LAUGHTER] Boss, I'm sure sorry you've got all that debt. Well, he's had, had two kids in college and, and this kind of thing, and that
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I think that the whole credit card issue, I think they certainly encourage people to run up the debts and, but I agree with you
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] I don't, I my debts. Well, I did buy a new house last summer.
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing] Hell, I took a five year note out on my car when I, right when I got out of college, and, uh, I'll never do that again. I still got a couple of years on it to go, and I'm,
[speaker001:] It's, it's remarkable how many people as soon as they get out of college buy a new car, and that, uh, apparently that's been going on for a really long time. I didn't do it. I, I bought a second hand car when I was, the middle of my senior year.
[speaker002:] Well, you, you think you're starting out well, until you start paying all those bills.
[speaker001:] Yep.
[speaker002:] Uh, apartment rent, and,
[speaker001:] Miscellaneous things like food and
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] other things, these habits you get into, eating and, and, uh, it's, it's, it's amazing how it, what you learn.
[speaker002:] Yeah, so.
[speaker001:] Well, anything else good to say about credit cards?
[speaker002:] Um
[speaker001:] I might just,
[speaker002:] you know, they're convenient, you know, that's probably one big thing about them, and, uh,
[speaker001:] You don't have to carry the cash, and, and, uh, and it's, it's, it's certainly accepted more places than, the places, you know, it's hard to cash a check if you're out of state, and,
[speaker002:] Yeah, well, I was used to using my credit card, like at Skaggs Alpha Beta in Dallas, and stuff
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and now I'm out here in Phoenix.
[speaker001:] They don't allow, they don't do tha-,
[speaker002:] They, they, none of these grocery stores take any credit cards, so now I have to carry cash when I go to the grocery store, which is new to me, you know, I got to have sixty bucks on me or something.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] So, uh
[speaker001:] Carry all that cash with you.
[speaker002:] that was interesting, cause I always, you know, you
[speaker001:] Well, you know they, they
[speaker002:] didn't have to worry about carrying that much unless I knew I,
[speaker001:] they've started towards a little bit of the debit card, have you seen the debit cards where they actually debit your account when you,
[speaker002:] Yeah, I've heard about them.
[speaker001:] Yeah, and I think that's where,
[speaker002:] That's mostly locally, the banks will line up with, uh.
[speaker001:] Yeah, I've seen a couple, although the, so many of the grocery stores don't do that because of the, the time frame which they get paid, in general, that, uh, they, I've seen checks deposited the very next day, I mean, cleared my account the next day. My wife will write a check for groceries and, you know, almost, well I guess it's the day after, uh, technically it's two days, but the-, the-, they took that check and scurried it to the bank and the bank scurried it back to my account, and you thought there'd be just a little bit of float, but apparently that's why the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, grocery stores are reluctant to do that, because their volume, that is quite high, and they have, uh, the costability of the cash flow is a big issue for them.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Anyway. Well, it's good talking to you.
[speaker002:] All righty.
[speaker001:] Maybe we'll get across, we'll cross paths again. Good night.
[speaker002:] All righty. Take it easy.