The credit card float, as it has been termed, is the situation in which a person is reliant on the month-long grace period of the credit card to meet their obligations. In other words, they spend money now with a credit card, which they pay off later when their paycheck comes in. A person in this situation may pay off their card in full each month and never pay interest! But the fact remains that, if they are on the float, they are in debt -- they do not have the cash to handle their current expenses.

 

What's insidiuous about the credit card float is that it can happen slowly. As life changes and spending changes along with it, credit card expenses can slowly start to overwhelm the amount of cash you have coming in. Fortunately, YNAB has features to help you manage that!

 

Ben and Ernie walk through the new credit card alert feature in YNAB, which alerts you when overspending in a category causes you to not have enough cash to cover your credit card balance. Or, if you add a credit card to YNAB with an existing balance, it will alert you to assign dollars to cover that existing balance before handling other expenses.

 

Heard It from Hannah on the Credit Card Float: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3fkNO1XfpU

 

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