Are prices like this everywhere?

[jyoutz]

It’s $50!s month just to keep water hot and one gas dryer load a week…

Home heating a triple pane well insulated home to 68 in mild CA January can add $400 to gas bill.

Wow! I’m not complaining about my $58 year round monthly bill. Before I did the level payment plan, my bill was about $30 in summer and $100 during the coldest months.

 

[ultrarunner]

Because we DO have credit. I've had it since I was a young man. My wife has had it since she was a young woman. Credit cards. Mortgages. Home equity lines of credit. Car loans. Those types of things.

Yes, we've been debt free since the mid 90s. And Yes, we've purchased things on credit since then.

It's just that we pay them off every month and rarely have we carried a balance. They see that as responsible use of the credit that is available to us. They also see that we've made utility, credit card, cell phone, bills, etc. on time and have never had a claim for late payment. That makes us a good risk for higher amounts of available credit.

Credit does not mean keeping a balance on a loan and making payments.

Credit means the ability to borrow money with the understanding that you'll pay it back within the time limit agreed upon.

This article from Experian, one of the three major big institutions that track credit, explains what credit is pretty well, much better than I can.

What Is Credit? - Experian

Learn about what credit is, the common types of credit accounts, why your credit history matters and steps you can take to start building credit now.

www.experian.com

And this article from The Motley Fool talks about your credit utilization ratio.

A Beginner's Guide to Credit Cards | The Motley Fool

Credit cards can be a powerful tool, but they're often confusing for beginners. This guide explains how credit cards work and how to avoid common mistakes.

www.fool.com

A quote from that article, which is what I've been trying to say these past few days:

"

What's a good credit utilization ratio?​

The credit utilization rule of thumb is to keep your ratio under 30% and lower if you can. Anything over this is considered to be a high ratio, and this can hurt your credit score as explained below.

It isn't really possible to have a credit utilization ratio that's too low as long as you're using some credit. A low ratio shows that you manage your money well and you don't need to rely heavily on credit to fund your lifestyle. But if you don't use credit at all, lenders have no insight into how you'll handle borrowed money and many will deny you or require a cosigner rather than take a chance that you may default. So make sure you use some credit routinely, even if it's only a small amount"


So that means if I buy a submarine sandwich or a used car, with my credit card, I've used credit. If I pay it back before I get charged interest, that shows I'm good at repaying my debts.

The credit card companies don't care if they never make a penny off of you in interest, because they make their bread and butter off of the transaction fees that are built into all credit card transactions. Yes, they make a lot of money off of people that carry a balance each month, but you already paid them when you swiped.

Does that answer your question?

I had an expensive work bill I put on my personal credit card and my score dropped the following month…

When the hospital changed ownership and accounts payable moved to distant headquarters the phone bill was not paid… I got a call fax lines not working then Internet… turns out ATT was shutting down services for non payment and Corp ignored warning letters.

I put 16k to restore service on my personal card after the hospital card denied…

That 16k dropped my score 24 points…!

 

[MossRoad]

I had an expensive work bill I put on my personal credit card and my score dropped the following month…

When the hospital changed ownership and accounts payable moved to distant headquarters the phone bill was not paid… I got a call fax lines not working then Internet… turns out ATT was shutting down services for non payment and Corp ignored warning letters.

I put 16k to restore service on my personal card after the hospital card denied…

That 16k dropped my score 24 points…!

Yeah... uh... no.

I'd never purchase something for my employer on my own credit card. That's just a line I'd not cross.

I did make a few cash purchases at the newspaper for them and got reimbursed from petty cash the same day. Ah, the good old days.

But now, never. If they can't afford it or can't keep track of their own bills, I guess the business will close. I can find employment elsewhere.

 

[jyoutz]

I had an expensive work bill I put on my personal credit card and my score dropped the following month…

When the hospital changed ownership and accounts payable moved to distant headquarters the phone bill was not paid… I got a call fax lines not working then Internet… turns out ATT was shutting down services for non payment and Corp ignored warning letters.

I put 16k to restore service on my personal card after the hospital card denied…

That 16k dropped my score 24 points…!

I’ve gotten to the point in life that I no longer check my credit rating and am indifferent to the number. I just know that when I need a loan, I go to my credit union and they give me low rates that nobody else can beat. Other than a few other credit cards, I do all of my financial transactions with the credit union.

 

[ultrarunner]

Mine is plotted on my monthly credit card statement…

Somehow my brothers always seem to best me a point or two...

 

[ultrarunner]

I heated with solid wood and wood pellets for over 30 years; cutting wood and hauling bags of pellets. Last year I ditched propane and paid to have natural gas ran 1500’ to the house. Amazing: my level payment monthly gas bill is $58 and that’s for natural gas furnace, fireplace, kitchen range, water heater, and patio grill. Gas is plentiful and cheap in my area.

Just check natural gas therm price with taxes last March is $2.61 therm.

Don't have a more recent bill handy.

It does seem CA is generally the high price leader in these things...

 

[ultrarunner]

Yeah... uh... no.

I'd never purchase something for my employer on my own credit card. That's just a line I'd not cross.

I did make a few cash purchases at the newspaper for them and got reimbursed from petty cash the same day. Ah, the good old days.

But now, never. If they can't afford it or can't keep track of their own bills, I guess the business will close. I can find employment elsewhere.

Guess it's a holdover character flaw...

I still thought like a director even after the new company eliminated that position to make me hourly Chief Engineer.

Administrator was away at training and Corp... said no one I could reach had the authority to pay the phone bill on the spot... best they could do was overnight a check once approved...

My new philosophy is I can do anything once as long as I can rationally back it up.

A hospital without phone, fax and Internet is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Supply Chain is more current problem area in that about once a week I have to go to the NET to buy from unapproved vendors... but my company card plus explanation why required.

Our main enterprise wide vendor quoted me $350 a case for a certain supply but backordered... I found identical with second day air for $250 case...

How can this be when Corp has a team of buyers???

Actually it's more common than you would think and I have been able to keep some vendors with pre existing contracts because of better pricing and service... as it should be in my way if thinking.

 

[jyoutz]

Just check natural gas therm price with taxes last March is $2.61 therm.

Don't have a more recent bill handy.

It does seem CA is generally the high price leader in these things...

Wow! That is expensive. Our current rate is $0.9576 per therm.

 

[Torvy]

I had an expensive work bill I put on my personal credit card and my score dropped the following month…

When the hospital changed ownership and accounts payable moved to distant headquarters the phone bill was not paid… I got a call fax lines not working then Internet… turns out ATT was shutting down services for non payment and Corp ignored warning letters.

I put 16k to restore service on my personal card after the hospital card denied…

That 16k dropped my score 24 points…!

We had a similar problem. Not our personal card, but my wife was the financial officer for her region, so her info was on the company card. They had some accounting snafu and took 90 days to clear it up. Her FICO is still 60-100 points lower than mine.

 

[2manyrocks]

Sometimes new management has to learn their own lessons the hard way although part of me suspects they'd find a way to put the blame on someone who wasn't responsible for their mess.

You shouldn't be covering their bills with your personal credit card because they dropped the ball and their payment system didn't allow for a fast turnaround of a check.