<![CDATA[Comments on: Considering a Credit Card]]> 2008-09-11 18:00:00 <![CDATA[By: pretzellogic]]> I listened to this lesson by first downloading the dialogue and looking at the title.  It convinced me I still have a long way to go in understanding mandarin.  I was on the ragged edge of understanding the dialogue, until i read the introduction, and realized I missed the point.  Much like my time in China.

I think cpod has struck the right balances in all the lesson levels.  The upper intermediate level is pretty fast, and i'm still not quite there.  But it sounds like all those TV shows in Lanzhou I used to watch.

]]> I listened to this lesson by first downloading the dialogue and looking at the title.  It convinced me I still have a long way to go in understanding mandarin.  I was on the ragged edge of understanding the dialogue, until i read the introduction, and realized I missed the point.  Much like my time in China.

I think cpod has struck the right balances in all the lesson levels.  The upper intermediate level is pretty fast, and i'm still not quite there.  But it sounds like all those TV shows in Lanzhou I used to watch.

]]> <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> fansteelydan,

A new user name again! Also, first to comment a few days in a row. Upper intermediate is indeed challenging as most of it is in Chinese, including John's explantaions. But as you pointed out, it reflects the real level. Don't worry, you will get there. I also think that there's always some take away in each level. With the combination of podcast, PDF and exercises, we hope to help you choose for your needs.

]]> fansteelydan,

A new user name again! Also, first to comment a few days in a row. Upper intermediate is indeed challenging as most of it is in Chinese, including John's explantaions. But as you pointed out, it reflects the real level. Don't worry, you will get there. I also think that there's always some take away in each level. With the combination of podcast, PDF and exercises, we hope to help you choose for your needs.

]]> <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> We had an interesting discussion about credit card in the office. The academic team, Connie and Jiaojie both use it properly (the credit limit) whereas I'm the fiscal conservative who puts money on my credit card and never use the credit. They are perplexed why I need one.

]]> We had an interesting discussion about credit card in the office. The academic team, Connie and Jiaojie both use it properly (the credit limit) whereas I'm the fiscal conservative who puts money on my credit card and never use the credit. They are perplexed why I need one.

]]> <![CDATA[By: pretzellogic]]> Jenny,

Interesting your use of credit.  I know it's going to foster a discussion of appropriate credit card use, but in the US, FICO scores are heavily dependent on how well you use your credit cards. FICO scores determine, among other things, whether you get a 30 year mortgage at 5% or 10%, or whether you get a mortgage at all.  I've found that charging no more than 30% of your available limit is a good rule of thumb. Even better is paying off the balance on the card in full every month. The exact alchemy that goes into credit score calculation is not as transparent as it could be, but it turns out that spending maybe 1% of your credit limit, and then paying off that balance is a possible way to get a score in the 800 range (depends on who's doing the scoring). But that's just one of many rules of thumb here in the US. I'm sure others will post other rules of thumb.  I didn't sense a lot of education from Chinese banks or anyone for that matter, on effective credit card use, but there are plenty of people here in the US who are learning the hard way about the impacts of bad credit card habits.  

And yeah, fansteelydan was interesting for the moment, but is not long for this world either.

]]> Jenny,

Interesting your use of credit.  I know it's going to foster a discussion of appropriate credit card use, but in the US, FICO scores are heavily dependent on how well you use your credit cards. FICO scores determine, among other things, whether you get a 30 year mortgage at 5% or 10%, or whether you get a mortgage at all.  I've found that charging no more than 30% of your available limit is a good rule of thumb. Even better is paying off the balance on the card in full every month. The exact alchemy that goes into credit score calculation is not as transparent as it could be, but it turns out that spending maybe 1% of your credit limit, and then paying off that balance is a possible way to get a score in the 800 range (depends on who's doing the scoring). But that's just one of many rules of thumb here in the US. I'm sure others will post other rules of thumb.  I didn't sense a lot of education from Chinese banks or anyone for that matter, on effective credit card use, but there are plenty of people here in the US who are learning the hard way about the impacts of bad credit card habits.  

And yeah, fansteelydan was interesting for the moment, but is not long for this world either.

]]> <![CDATA[By: mark]]> At heart I am a fiscal conservative, like Jenny, but there are some transactions in the US that require a credit card, like renting a car, staying in a hotel, buying stuff on the Internet...  How do you avoid using one for these kinds of transactions in China?

]]> At heart I am a fiscal conservative, like Jenny, but there are some transactions in the US that require a credit card, like renting a car, staying in a hotel, buying stuff on the Internet...  How do you avoid using one for these kinds of transactions in China?

]]> <![CDATA[By: mikeinewshot]]> I haven't listened to the dialogue yet but the vocabulary tab pronunciation of 稳定 sounds more like wen3 diu to me than wen3 ding4.

]]> I haven't listened to the dialogue yet but the vocabulary tab pronunciation of 稳定 sounds more like wen3 diu to me than wen3 ding4.

]]> <![CDATA[By: frosty1]]> Credit card use has gotten really big over the last 10 years or so here in Taiwan. Before that, it was not surprising to see transactions being paid for with huge wads of bills. Sometimes you would see people walking out of banks with huge envelopes stuffed with cash. We used to joke about little old grandmothers walking down the street with shopping bags stuffed with 1000NT notes (though we never actually saw any).

The way people over here tend to use their credit cards, though, is to pay off the entire accumulated debt with each statement so they never have to pay any interest. They use it more like a (non-prepaid) cash card than what we would think of as a credit card. Having learned the habit from my wife, I use mine that way, too.

]]> Credit card use has gotten really big over the last 10 years or so here in Taiwan. Before that, it was not surprising to see transactions being paid for with huge wads of bills. Sometimes you would see people walking out of banks with huge envelopes stuffed with cash. We used to joke about little old grandmothers walking down the street with shopping bags stuffed with 1000NT notes (though we never actually saw any).

The way people over here tend to use their credit cards, though, is to pay off the entire accumulated debt with each statement so they never have to pay any interest. They use it more like a (non-prepaid) cash card than what we would think of as a credit card. Having learned the habit from my wife, I use mine that way, too.

]]> <![CDATA[By: kimiik]]> I'm very surprised that you didn't make any difference between types of bank card in this lesson :

借记卡 (debit card)
准贷记卡 (half-credit card)
信用卡 (credit card)

]]> I'm very surprised that you didn't make any difference between types of bank card in this lesson :

借记卡 (debit card)
准贷记卡 (half-credit card)
信用卡 (credit card)

]]> <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> kimiik,

Thank you for sharing those terms! Very helpful.

 

]]> kimiik,

Thank you for sharing those terms! Very helpful.

 

]]> <![CDATA[By: lujiaojie]]> henning:

累积 and 积累 are interchangeable.

 

]]> henning:

累积 and 积累 are interchangeable.

 

]]> <![CDATA[By: modernnomad]]> How does a 准贷记卡 (half-credit card) work?

]]> How does a 准贷记卡 (half-credit card) work?

]]>