Are any Disney guests average income people?

[CaptainAmerica]

No, its not. Your utilization is based on your total available credit. I have 3 cards, each one has a limit in the $30,000s. If my balances were all always $1,that actually shows a higher risk that I will run up tabs I can't pay off. They want to see utilization that is under a certain PERCENTAGE of your total available credit lines. They don't want to see zero or $1. That raises a red flag.

My credit utilization hovers around 10%, which, according to the 3 reporting bureaus, is "excellent."

I'm not saying you're being irresponsible, you're clearly not. Mathematically, the FICO formula maximizes according to the following thresholds:

>0% - 10%
0%
10% - 30%
30% - 50%
>50%

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I've been getting the "child tax credit" payments since May by simply changing up the numbers on our W4 so the money stopped being withheld once I learned that our 17 year old would now be worth a lot more in 2021.

Yep, I was beating that drum on Twitter for months but nobody seems to understand or care. "Both sides" were talking about how revolutionary the monthly child tax credit checks were and I was like "uh... guys... if you filled out your W4 properly, you could have been getting your child tax credit in your paycheck every week."

 

[fairestoneofall]

I went back and compared a Contemporary trip ten years ago to what it would cost today. Granted, back then, we were able to purchase the dining plan. Even without a dining plan, today's trip would cost over $6,000 more. That amount is not minimal.

 

[MomEadon]

I know large families like mine would have a hard time making a Disney trip work on average income. We would definitely not be able to afford Disney if we were an “average” income family. Even without having to pay for our room (DVC) we spend an obscene amount of money on each trip. That could be cut down by not staying as long, bringing in food etc. but tickets alone for 7 people would be ridiculous. And now with Genie+ we’ll be spending an extra $105 per day, $1050 over our 10 park days. Ridiculous.

this is pretty much the same boat we are in. Right before my grandmother passed away (Almost 10 years ago) she purchased DVC for me knowing how much I loved Disney World and went yearly with my sister, sometimes more.

fast forward to now, I’m married with 3 kids. I don’t work, I home school them. We are lower end middle class income.

we paid (including my sister who is coming with us, so 6) $2500 for flights coming from upstate NY
$2600 for 4 days of park tickets
plan on $350 a day for food (So $2100)
and we don't have to pay for room because of DVC but pay a little over $550 a year in dues so it’s almost like staying in a value resort or offsite hotel?

that’s a LOT of money!
and because we didn’t take a vacation the last 2 years (just had a baby and then COVID after that) we spent a little extra money on some sit down character meals and after hours Christmas party

$$$$$$$$$$

 

[CanadaDisney05]

I went back and compared a Contemporary trip ten years ago to what it would cost today. Granted, back then, we were able to purchase the dining plan. Even without a dining plan, today's trip would cost over $6,000 more. That amount is not minimal.

How long are you going for that the difference is 6k more? Even if it was free 10 years ago, and you were paying paying rack rate today and you went for 10 days, the difference would barely hover over 6k for garden wing room.

I agree, the price of Disney deluxe resorts are insane, but to get to 6k difference over 10 years, you have to be talking about very high end room levels

 

[CanadaDisney05]

this is pretty much the same boat we are in. Right before my grandmother passed away (Almost 10 years ago) she purchased DVC for me knowing how much I loved Disney World and went yearly with my sister, sometimes more.

fast forward to now, I’m married with 3 kids. I don’t work, I home school them. We are lower end middle class income.

we paid (including my sister who is coming with us, so 6) $2500 for flights coming from upstate NY
$2600 for 4 days of park tickets
plan on $350 a day for food (So $2100)
and we don't have to pay for room because of DVC but pay a little over $550 a year in dues so it’s almost like staying in a value resort or offsite hotel?

that’s a LOT of money!
and because we didn’t take a vacation the last 2 years (just had a baby and then COVID after that) we spent a little extra money on some sit down character meals and after hours Christmas party

$$$$$$$$$$

I agree that is expensive, but when you break it down per person, that's about $1500 per person. Let's break it down further.

Flights = $500. That's going to be similar anywhere you travel with some fluctuation depending on time of year, where your going etc...

Food = $70/day per person. Anywhere you go, unless your buying groceries and preparing food, your going to okay something relatively similar. $5 McDonald's breakfast, $10 fast food lunch, $40 sit down dinner (tax and tip incl), that's atleast $55/day per person. So maybe you save a few hundred bucks in total. And those prices are assuming your not in a tourist location.

Hotel = $550. Not many places are you likely going to stay in desirable accommodations for much less than $110/nt. Yes there are places on the side of the road here and there, but not many in real tourist areas.

Until we discuss park tickets, the price of a Disney vacation is pretty much on par, with most other vacations at that level (excluding camping, or renting a place and cooking your own food type of vacations).

Park tickets = $2600 or $520 per person. Keep in kind that the 4 day ticket is probably the worst value ticket you can buy. Prices per day go down pretty significantly once you add more days.

Having said that, $130/day is expensive for entertainment. However, pretty much anywhere else you went, you would be paying for entertainment. Even if it's not $130/day per person, depending what you did, it can add up pretty quickly.

At the end of the day, Disney is not cheap. But it is pretty much on par with most other travel. The problem is, travel across the board has gotten much more expensive.

 

[MomEadon]

I agree that is expensive, but when you break it down per person, that's about $1500 per person. Let's break it down further.

Flights = $500. That's going to be similar anywhere you travel with some fluctuation depending on time of year, where your going etc...

Food = $70/day per person. Anywhere you go, unless your buying groceries and preparing food, your going to okay something relatively similar. $5 McDonald's breakfast, $10 fast food lunch, $40 sit down dinner (tax and tip incl), that's atleast $55/day per person. So maybe you save a few hundred bucks in total. And those prices are assuming your not in a tourist location.

Hotel = $550. Not many places are you likely going to stay in desirable accommodations for much less than $110/nt. Yes there are places on the side of the road here and there, but not many in real tourist areas.

Until we discuss park tickets, the price of a Disney vacation is pretty much on par, with most other vacations at that level (excluding camping, or renting a place and cooking your own food type of vacations).

Park tickets = $2600 or $520 per person. Keep in kind that the 4 day ticket is probably the worst value ticket you can buy. Prices per day go down pretty significantly once you add more days.

Having said that, $130/day is expensive for entertainment. However, pretty much anywhere else you went, you would be paying for entertainment. Even if it's not $130/day per person, depending what you did, it can add up pretty quickly.

At the end of the day, Disney is not cheap. But it is pretty much on par with most other travel. The problem is, travel across the board has gotten much more expensive.

i like this breakdown. thank you. I’d like to add that we find Disney absolutely magical and memorable each and every time we go. This will be the first one my kids will be old enough to really enjoy and remember and we have never been so excited to go as we are this trip. I think that adds a bit of value to a Disney vacation and although our bank account will be feeling this for the next 20 months as we build it back up, we are happy we are able to do this with our kids and I so wish everyone who Wants this for their families could do it too

 

[GAN]

Why would you assume he doesn't plan to pay his bill? More likely, HE is winning by racking up the points on his card to redeem for something down the line, while all the suckers who handed him cash are missing out.

We ALWAYS offer to pick up the whole tab at restaurants when everyone else has cash. Win win for us with 3 points per dollar that can be redeemed at a value of 1.5X cash back. We just got a 5% discount on our meal!

No -he doesn't pay his bills. I've never asked "how" he gets by in life this way, but he does alright. He's.... interesting -not your typical personality. Hey -Not all our friends can be above board I suppose.

 

[GAN]

How does someone just not pay their credit card debt? Bill collectors would be all over them, cards revoked and credit score in the dump so that they won’t be able to borrow anywhere. Sure some people do this but it’s a good way to screw up your life.

I think most people who overuse/abuse credit find a way to pay enough to keep the ball rolling and actually end up paying more in the end.

Some people play the system ...figure they'll be dead some day. Hakuna Matata! I mean -I never said he doesn't lead a messed up life!

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

That’s fine but I know you can have a 800+ score just by paying off your debts (whether 0, $1 or thousands) and not worrying about this level of detail. At that point does it really matter?

Nope, doesn't matter at all because anything above 760 gets you top tier rates. Stressing over 5 points when you already have an 800+ score is pointless.

 

[mhautz]

Yep, I was beating that drum on Twitter for months but nobody seems to understand or care. "Both sides" were talking about how revolutionary the monthly child tax credit checks were and I was like "uh... guys... if you filled out your W4 properly, you could have been getting your child tax credit in your paycheck every week."

This is true if the credit reduces your tax burden, but for people who are lower earners who tend to not owe taxes when they file and get refundable credits, you can’t really reduce your withholdings to below zero, so the payments DO give them money they would otherwise have to wait for. This seems to be the point of the monthly payments.

 

[DLgal]

This is true if the credit reduces your tax burden, but for people who are lower earners who tend to not owe taxes when they file and get refundable credits, you can’t really reduce your withholdings to below zero, so the payments DO give them money they would otherwise have to wait for. This seems to be the point of the monthly payments.

Except they are still only giving those people 50% upfront for this year.

 

[RamblingMad]

No -he doesn't pay his bills. I've never asked "how" he gets by in life this way, but he does alright. He's.... interesting -not your typical personality. Hey -Not all our friends can be above board I suppose.

Credit doesn't matter if you can buy everything in cash. If you actually need credit, then you'll feel the pinch. Subprime auto lending has rates that are about 20%. Do you really want a 20% car note?

 

[GAN]

Credit doesn't matter if you can buy everything in cash. If you actually need credit, then you'll feel the pinch. Subprime auto lending has rates that are about 20%. Do you really want a 20% car note?

Exactly ...everything he has is from cash

 

[Sadeesmom]

Except they are still only giving those people 50% upfront for this year.

But one thing to keep in mind is (for older kids), the old child tax credit was $2000. They raised it to $3000 for this year, and they are giving $1500 early, so come tax filing time, those people will get $500 less than normal or owe $500 more than normal or whatever (only getting $1500 instead of $2000 credit). (For the younger kid group, $2000 went to $3600 for this year & $1800 is coming early, so they will be $200 short.)

 

[mhautz]

But one thing to keep in mind is (for older kids), the old child tax credit was $2000. They raised it to $3000 for this year, and they are giving $1500 early, so come tax filing time, those people will get $500 less than normal or owe $500 more than normal or whatever (only getting $1500 instead of $2000 credit). (For the younger kid group, $2000 went to $3600 for this year & $1800 is coming early, so they will be $200 short.)

The refundable portion of the old tax credit was $1400 prior to the changes, so at least for this upcoming filing year, the credit a low wage earner would receive as a refund would be comparable to previous years (and even a little higher). Obviously in future years, if this continues, all of the credit would be doled out by tax time, which can create issues for people who count on tax refunds as a “windfall”, even though they got the benefit of the money sooner.

 

[Chuck96]

My butler has an average income. So does my gardener and my on-call furrier. Does that count? I'll ask them through my manservant.

 

[GreatLakes]

Credit doesn't matter if you can buy everything in cash. If you actually need credit, then you'll feel the pinch. Subprime auto lending has rates that are about 20%. Do you really want a 20% car note?

Some jobs pull credit as does every landlord I know. Credit isn't just for lending.

As others have said, your exact credit score doesn't really matter, what matters is the credit tier you fall in for the lender you are borrowing from. All else being equal if your lender's A+ tier starts at 740 someone with a 740 will be treated the same as someone with 800+. Other things may come into play but a few thousand in cc reported debt that you pay off each month isn't going to move the needle at all unless you have other issues.

 

[GAN]

Some jobs pull credit as does every landlord I know. Credit isn't just for lending.

I've had credit pulled for a job -I'd say it's maybe 50-50. Many people don't have "typical" jobs that would require that. While I can rarely be found with more than $20 on me(and that would last months!) ...CASH is still king. Big Brother just watches it a lot closer these days.

 

[DLgal]

Credit doesn't matter if you can buy everything in cash. If you actually need credit, then you'll feel the pinch. Subprime auto lending has rates that are about 20%. Do you really want a 20% car note?

This couldn't be further from the truth.

My husband's job requires a Top Secret Level Clearance from the government, as do many other military, federal government, and contracting jobs. A major part of being able to obtain and maintain that Clearance is having a good credit score. They will literally revoke or simply refuse to issue clearances for poor credit scores or even if your score starts going down because of late or missed payments. This is a serious issue and can mean you are suddenly no longer employable.

Many other jobs use credit scores to screen potential employees, and as mentioned, it's absolutely a requirement to secure many kinds of housing, especially rental housing (private or corporate rentals).

Credit scores are even used when establishing utility accounts, cell phone plans, etc. People with low scores often have to pay large cash deposits when opening up these accounts.

The people who think credit doesn't matter are paying more for everything they do.