Americans deep in credit card debt

[Grudge]

No doubt. I know very little about Sweden, so...

However, I found this on wikipedia and thought it to be funny given our current state here:

A bursting real estate bubble caused by inadequate controls on lending combined with an international recession and a policy switch from anti-unemployment policies to anti-inflationary policies resulted in a fiscal crisis in the early 1990s.[29] The response of the government was to cut spending and institute a multitude of reforms to improve Sweden's competitiveness, among them reducing the welfare state and privatizing public services and goods.

Indeed, our early 90's real estate crisis is basically the same thing as what is happening in the US now. We managed to get out of it, and by the mid 00's the real estate business was booming again with all time high prices, which is why we are a bit worried now. Mostly because the state of the US economy seem to be a large influence our economy, especially during recessions.

[werldhed]

Sorry to bump the thread, but this is a simple n00b question that doesn't warrant a new topic:

Going to be applying for a mortgage soon. I've got a couple months of my car loan left, and can pay it all off now if I want, although that would set me back a bit for making any other purchases in the near future. I've never missed a payment on the loan, so it's not really hurting my credit as it is.

How much will it help my credit if I pay off the car loan before trying to get the home loan? Is it worth shelling out the money to pay it off, or will it not have much effect? Am I better off leaving that money in the bank?

I would do it; paying off any debt whatsoever is like a gold star of sorts. However, the trick is getting the lender to report within your needed timeframe. Some lenders are diligent and will submit within 30 days, others can take up to 90.

Thanks for the advice, although it looks like it may be a moot point anyway. We talked to a loan officer, and because of the special loan my fiancee will get (as a newly graduated med student), I'm basically invisible in this process. Apparently they won't even look at my history.
Cool. I guess.

[Nightshade]

And no, you don't benefit from it.

lol, you idiot. Tried to buy a house in the US lately? How about getting a car loan? Don't talk shit about things you're COMPLETELY IGNORANT about, dummy. Having a good credit score will save you a SHITLOAD of money in the long run when it comes to ANY major purchase.
Jesus Gurdge, put down your fucking anti-America boner for once, will you?

[StarShrieker]

I have two credit cards... I have a limit of over ten grand on one of them, although the interest rate is over 21%. I recently transferred the balance on it to another, much-lower-rate card. The last time I checked, my credit score was darn high. My balance really isn't much compared to a lot of Americans.... sad to think about how bad some people are in CC debt

However, I do have college loans that altogether amount to a fairly sizeable chunk of change. How badly does that hurt me when it comes to my credit score, or trying to obtain future loans, etc.? I don't see a house (or even a new car) in my near future, but hopefully someday.

[Underpants?]

Every loan (there may be some kind of allowance for subsidy but I wouldn't expect much) will affect your score.

Good plan though, transferring the balance of one card to that of a lower interest rate. Like DM discussed earlier in this thread, another way to get a better rate is to haggle your current card company down.

So many people don't take the time to do this. Fuck, it can save years of interest payments.

[Grudge]

And no, you don't benefit from it.

lol, you idiot. Tried to buy a house in the US lately? How about getting a car loan? Don't talk shit about things you're COMPLETELY IGNORANT about, dummy. Having a good credit score will save you a SHITLOAD of money in the long run when it comes to ANY major purchase.
Jesus Gurdge, put down your fucking anti-America boner for once, will you?

What? I was talking about the system. Do you think the credit rating system is a good system? One that the consumers (as opposed to the cc companies) benefit from?

[seremtan]

However, I do have college loans that altogether amount to a fairly sizeable chunk of change. How badly does that hurt me when it comes to my credit score, or trying to obtain future loans, etc.? I don't see a house (or even a new car) in my near future, but hopefully someday.

that's the beauty of student loans in the UK: the loans don't appear on your credit record, and repayment is only mandatory when your income hits a threshold that's a bit higher than the average salary (otherwise you can defer repayment indefinitely), plus your debt is wiped when you hit 60 (or possibly retire, i forget which), regardless of the outstanding balance

then again, the UK is a fantasy land living on borrowed money, with massive personal debts plus a huge budget deficit, so go figure

[R00k]

http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.co ... risis.html

It's interesting to watch Joe Scarborough try to talk up the economic news every morning. Every time the Dow takes a breather and goes up a few points, it's happy days are here again. The giant turd of subprime mortgages may be past the halfway mark in working its way through the colon of the financial markets, but anyone who thinks that's the end of it is delusional, because the next wave, that of bad equity loans, is just getting started:

[Nightshade]

What? I was talking about the system. Do you think the credit rating system is a good system? One that the consumers (as opposed to the cc companies) benefit from?

The credit card companies benefit from the rating system only when idiot consumers get credit cards with ruinous interest rates. For people that aren't morons, having a good credit score will, as I said, save you a lot of money.