When you have four pockets ... ... and you know that there's no money in three of them ... ... into which pocket do you stick your hand when you need some? ... how often do you stick your hand into any one of the three pockets where you know that there's no money even when your hand gets all of the way to the bottom?? Memo ... to individuals, as to businesses (but most of the latter know it now) ... ... when you need money ... ... go where the money is! Like the credit card companies do. They may cancel the cards of folks who've been giving them a rough time, i.e., not paying. But they don't mind your payment being late - look at the large fee that they charge ... for what ... waiting an extra day or two for the payment? Suppose it's $100.00 payment ... at 10% annual rate, that's $10.00 per year, or about 3 cents per day. If your payment arrives 3 days late ... their cost is about a dime ... and they charge you a $20.00 late fee? Think they're about to cancel your card? Why would they?? They're making a very nice bucket of money off of you ... and others like you. You go over your credit limit? More of the same. So why would they shut you down?? You're a profit centre for them!! If so for them ... how about you?? If you blow an engine in your car tomorrow ... how will you pay for the repair? Or ... if you get laid off ... what will you live on? Have you ever had a pair of handcuffs snap around your wrists? I haven't either ... and I don't want any: I have absolutely no hankering for such an experience! I love my financial freedom!! If you don't have a financial cushion of some funds available in case of immediate drastic need, I claim that you have a pair of handcuffs lying on your dresser, right beside where you lay your wallet at night. Just waiting for an emergency need of money ... or a layoff ... to have them jump up and snap around your wrists. Financial freedom - that ain't!! Hope you all have a lovely weekend ... and if you'd be sweating blood if you don't get a paycheque ... or two ... ... please - do yourself a favour. Even though it may be a beautiful weekend, find a way to enjoy it while spending little or nothing. Start that savings fund ... build yourself a financial cushion. Aim at a minimum of 3 months' income available in case of emergency. Six months' earnings, or 9 months' ... or up to a year's worth, is even better. After 25 years or so as a personal financial advisor, I don't have it, myself, some of the time. Some of the time I have money in the bank, money market fund, etc., immediately available ... but sometimes not. I have a credit card that I don't use much, that I can use to fix my car, fly me home in case the travel co. goes broke and the hotel says pay - again - or go to jail, etc. And I have a Line of Credit at the bank, initiated several years ago at no fee, fully secured by stock or mutual fund certificates, in order to arrange a low interest rate ... and it lies there unused, most of the time (but there's no inactivity fee to pay). If I use the card for emergency ... I pay off the full balance prior to the due date, using my Line of Credit if the amount in my bank account, money market, etc. are short. Then ... pay off that loan (low interest - far lower than the rate charged on unpaid balances owing on the credit card) as soon as possible. I want my money working for me ... not be forced to use other folks' money ... and pay rent on it while I'm using it ... especially if it's the kind where they charge very high rates! I never want to have to darken the door of a payday loan company: their rates are ... *horrendous*! (By the way ... have you read my thread about the differences between a paycheque and a pension cheque?) ole joyful

Steve, Are you maxing out on your HELOC, or is there more available on it? I assume that it's based on the value of your home. If the value of your home increases, perhaps you can arrange some increase in limit. Which might not be adviseable, as a number of knowledgeable analysts believe that current house prices in at least several areas of the U.S. are much too high - some are using the term, "bubble". Could a rather drastic revision in your area be in the cards? If it decreases, no doubt your lender will be reducing the maximum that you can draw. Which will quite likely include that, should your maximum reduce to below what you've drawn, the lender will want to see some immediate money. You haven't said anything about whether, in the ordinary course of things, you are planning to have the "credit" card balance paid off by the deadline on the 0% rate. Or whether, going into emergency saving mode, you could manage to do so - or about how willing you (and your family?) might be to alter your current lifestyle so drastically. I assume that the (currently non-existent) interest on the "credit" card debt isn't deductible. What are the chances that you could roll the credit card debt into another 0% program sometime between now and the deadline? I assume also that you have committed to adding not another cent to that balance owing between now and then. I feel rather uncomfortable with your suggestion that you are looking at " ... throwing around ... " what appears to many of us a substantial amount of money, namely $5,000. Do you frequently " ... throw (money) around ... "? Not that that is any of my business, whatsoevr. But for a number of years as a personal financial advisor I sought to convince my clients to use money wisely - making it work for them, rather than someone else. Just my $0.02. ole joyful

Hello all, The one and only auto-pay I have set up is thru my old credit union account. I have auto-deposit there for my checks. The CC with the auto-pay is also issued with/through them. (So, I'm not concerned about THAT one, since they already are "connected" - so to speak.) Also, that CC is the one I use for general purposes with a very low balance. I've not had a problem with that, nor any concerns, BECAUSE it is always a low balance - or paid off. It started out (while I was working) - I could opt a specific amount deducted fm paycheck every WEEK (remember the good old days when you got paid weekly?!!! lol), and automatic pymts to pay for my "one and only new car I ever bot". I LOVED it! (The car was also funded thru my credit union). I'd like auto-pay for TWO other cc's, but I don't want the cc's to have direct access to my cr. union acct. I also have a regular bank account which I've had for a very long time, (checking only - I dumped my savings due to their ridiculous monthly fees), and I use this to pay bills. I HATE this bank, but I've had my acc't for about 30 years - so don't want to close the account. What I've been doing for several years is writing a ck fm Cr. Union to deposit into my "regular bank scct" - but only enough to cover bills that I am paying (plus a small "buffer"), so that they make minimal $ on MY $. My balance is always VERY LOW in this account. (I REALLY hate this bank!) I considered setting up CR Union to make auto-deposits to my regular bank. (BUT, then again, I hate to "connect" the two.) And then set up auto-pay on cc's thru THAT account. PLUS, IF I did that, it would be under what I pay out each month,-(utilities, etc.), So...I would STILL have to write another check and go to ATM to make additional deposit every month. Sounds messy, huh? lol! Well, it is! I don't want to close out my regular bank acc't. Too old - and good for FICO??? I WON'T close out my Credit Union - also, too old. (plus I get lot's of benefits.) I've always been against the "online" pay method - Due to various reasons which I will spare you deatils! haha (In general - don't want to RELY on computer do to "crashes". afraid of change, many phishings, and just don't really understand how it works, etc...PLUS, I do NOT want emails to remind/inform me of this or that - I prefer paper coming thru regular mail.) BUT...hubby and son DO pay some bills online. I talked to hubby last night about how it works. I've decided to try it. (Slowly at first - & with a watchful eye) Check out Cr union online options first. See what I can/cannot do online. Sign up for that bank I hate - see what's available - what I can/cannot do - and if there are any FEES. Do an EFT fm Cr union to that bank. See how that works out. If all OK, check into CC's, see what. Try to make pymts online. (I'll start with one specific one first - see how it goes.) As long as I still get my paper statements in the regular mail each month with it all itemized... Hubby DID warn me that when I do the EFT - could take 3-5 days for it to go thru...(but then, it takes that time for regular mail also - for paying bills, that is.) I'll just have to do any bank TRFs a few days ahead. So, I have a lot to check into in next several days. Wish me luck! LOL!

9 active cards may be a temptation, but the fact is that the credit companies look at how much of your available credit you've used up. So, say you have 10 cards that have a limit of $1000 each--total $10,000. You owe $800/card--total $8000. You pay off one card, so your total owed is now $7200. That's 72% of your credit limit. Now, if you cancel the card you just paid off, your total credit limit is $9000, and the $7200 is 80% of that. The percentage of unused credit has gone down. This makes you look like a worse credit risk than if you had left that card account open--even though you're improving your handling of money by paying off cards. Don't cancel any cards unless you're really a serious shopping addict and will spend the day buying on QVC using account numbers off your old statements out of the file cabinet. Instead, freeze them in a block of ice, put them under the mattress, even cut them up--just keep the accounts open. At least until you've gotten several cards paid off. I actually like Karla's system a lot. As an aside, i'm always surprised at how many cards my credit report shows i have. There are a couple of store cards that I haven't seen in years, but they're still on there. To say nothing of the fact that AMEX for some reason has me down as having had something like 5 cards, when I've only ever had 1 at a time. Go figure. They must have counted each time the acct number changed or something. So 9 cards isn't really too bizarre. To make it even more confusing, I've gotten 'adverse action' notices a couple of times (that's where they send a form letter saying that something in my credit made me get less than the absolute best deal). In the 'reasons' section, it said both that I had too many credit accounts and too few. Huh? WTF? Be sure before you start house-shopping to pull at least one copy of your credit report (DH's too), and pay the extra money for your credit score. Make sure you've gotten any errors handled.