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Show rea ee aee Some Were Sra, Some Learned The Hard Way eyere RACVR PUN meThs “| Learned Really Early Thatit’s Not it has just vanished meect? ree elma ENteaCure own? iHint: Three to show forit.) Pea tt) Le cielo) PIray eat sa) re ae z Peetee Ln) rae = Coa PCmy $1000 PeeCreat) BCU tal ee Pitsaiece)EOE: Ad (called Chapter 7), Ae credit limit—the- Soret ema Parec Ena Coarstaeteeta erect eerat Free Money” Ayesha Black oceuPaTioN: Real estate New York, N.Y. CREDITCARDS: 2 “use a card that pays back a dividend and doesn’ charge me any eutice I get one statementeach month withmy purchases \GE: 23 cee—— cep receipts and match them with the statement every month, throw them paying interest, Only once over the past 35yen years naval eet pay any interest, and tha! was the one 6 I let ings8 stack upon my dak, hiding the ‘iuntil the aici tad paca? Dentis fst te worst thing, because it’s like S dark cloud handing overYou all the time.tt hist creepsinto every aspectof your life.” Just 17 When she got her first card, Ayesha found herself $7000 in debt to credit cards and student loans at 21. She managed to getit ail paid off— game show,of ail things. Now totally one budget, she says: ’m not one of those people wholive beyond their means. Knowing things finances detinitely makes youfeel good about yourselt, you never feellike the victim. And that’s one thing that | hate—to feelIi victim, to feellike I'm being taken advantage is their credit-card debt asa S Pee tama ba Oct Ra urmeleU Cee ae LOA UC uc PIacm elt tam Se includes people OGCUPATION: Software release engineer CREDIT CARDS: 2 “| get several eadiourd cies every month. So last year, from January to December,| collected every one ! received, 34 in ail. Then | threw them out. it | use my cards—a Discover cardand acredit union Visa—I pay them off a tew days before the grace p Sometimes for larger purchases | try to use themright starthe billing date, in effect giving myself a 6-8 week loan. Many peopie | know don’t to understand that a $2500 balance could take 30 years to pay omit thoy ‘onlypay the minimum every month. Another thing they don't Understand is thatno matter how good the sale, if they don't pay the card off, it wasn’t on sale.” UMPe hyenatern iret) Ce ehMCL PUao oe Perumtira Peneerncrt earned $300,000. omerTed Panettee bankruptcy.) Pt Ee Ta Ewe PUR Ty POMe lay rome Set OM LC CY Ral) Credit-Card Baby Bryan Booth CMUe rer RM Me eatoa PrRaa) U.S: consumers pay. PECah ror Vela ed Mo eC Pym ereie Meu es coe Peay ae difficulty” making * their payments? eaae uenceae ch)eer great difficulty cmd Cy Litera Cred Breas es ¢Great difficulty people—was' , CaernC eet a as 7 PMR ae Peratt Me ae DaeRAC TL euky ak oe [3] Le Pye cs eSAC Te OccuPaTON 8 bettie engineer eVre aco Cee eed eeeRo Boe MeL Mary OccuPATION: peekeet Got To Use Seafirst’s not sure how ha | wouldr otherwise. I try to pay cash slowty when you have toay ae side trips to the ATM.” that Booth is aoaia debt-free, and his daughter, “debt pay: in‘a*year?~ Ba reed Her Philosophy: Fear CREDIT Ci ARDS: About 43 “since mydarghter’‘s dav birth on have SS cards, have never used most of asn't coveredby insurance, she them, have never had any problem with them. was e credit-card baby. But there But | got mycredit report (something everyone began mylong, five-year descent should do), led at how many cards| deepinto credit-card debt. | was fave! in facttelling you this reminds methat | at $30,000 and going deeper need to cancel all those unused cardsand clean up mycredit report.” when my employer got bought Mary uses only two cards—one for person: and my stock options were “My philosophy about credit cards istem 1 believe creditfis a canesone trap ready to be sprung on any ofus. If you are elated or depresse: the temptation to chargeis Just too much for manypeopleto resist.” oe ta est does the YPieter uh with credit-card. Doug Hoke oertate lar ee URLs Perr Karan Ne ‘How’s Your Plastic 1Q? jordan, now 7, is fine. The bad news is that his stock option bonanza came toolate. “The stress oforedit-cuid debt helped ruin my marriage,” says Ecoth. PARADE MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 1, 1996 PAGE 5 TOES OCCUPATION: Real estate manager (CREDIT CARDS: “Seafirst Bank would offer blank checks I could write up to thelimit of my credit ($10,000). The first year, i called to verify that | would notincur any cash-adv es or interest until the graceperiod expired. Beware!This is usually not the case w ; tempting chocks!| "Then!wrote myseita § $10,000 check to buya short-term co about $90 in interest. Each timeie would pay off the balance before tree period expired.” iemetfost Seatirst was lending McDonald $10,000 at no charge, and he was lending it back to another bank 5%. “Seafirst finally wised up and discontinued this particular Setidells says McDonald. |