At an event, someone pulled out their credit card for a purchase and said “Let’s hope this goes through. I buy and sell Pokemon cards for a living, so my credit card is almost always within a hundred bucks of being maxed out.”
That statement has really stuck to me.
Haha!
it depends what you buy. if it is some kind of trophy/prize/tropical TMB graded card, according to smprette trophy cards never go down on value
Not really a loan but a former member on here sold his complete 1st ed base psa 10 English set for 100k right before the boom, I think it was a payment plan over the course of 2 or 3 years. I know Zard was over 100k alone before the payment plan was over.
the only person we should be asking 
I don’t think it can be overstated enough how much money you’ll be losing to interest over months on a sizable CC balance. Let’s take a look at an example:
Let’s say you accrue a balance of $10k for a big card and your credit card APR is 20% (a common range for credit cards).
It’s absolutely not worth it if you only make low amounts of payments each month. It’s not worth carrying a sizable balance on a CC you can’t pay off quickly.
I dont think i ever could. Having kids and whatnot i buy what i can, when i can, but if i went into debt over it i dont think it would be fun for me anymore. Ill trade in a bunch of other cards though for a card i really want, i have a whole bunch of stuff from when i reentered collecting and went nuts and just bought everything. It makes for good trades these days lol
luckily my mom worked at the bank for 38 years so i get minimal interest % 
Its not something I could do personally. I know that everyone is different but I have a family and other responsibilities to consider.
I own my house outright, I own my car outright, I have no credit cards or other debt. I am fortunate to be in a position where I have a good job which pays well and have managed to set myself up comfortably. It means that sometimes I will have to wait a month to buy a card I want but I would much rather that than put myself into debt for something that is, at the end of the day, a luxury item. I buy and sell cards to fund my hobby and trade as much as I can and that is enough for me. It can take more time but its better for me without having to worry about my wife or child going without because I just couldn’t wait to get a card.
Yup, @filthynwah is right about most homes having the potential for long-term appreciation. If you’re in a desirable state with limited land, like where I am in Hawaii, you can expect significant appreciation since we can’t just build on the next empty lot of land or build on the mountains or ocean. But, with that appreciation, you could always tap into a HELOC (home equity line of credit). But, I do agree with most other conservative E4 members that it’s probably best to wait until you can simply buy the card outright without taking on any debt with interest.
it may be diffrent. im from israel but living in asia. many people here just prefer to rent. also, i live in thailand and may want to move to japan by the time by 40. buying a house would just bring me down. also, in israel today, it is nearly impossiable for a young couple to buy a house due to the extremly high prices and first down payment you have to put. after that, you would probably have to pay 1000$ a month and finish paying the rest of the house by the time your like 50+. i just dont take life “seriously” i guess you could say or call it that way ? i have a gf who already has a 7 year old son. it is great for me since i seek no marrige nor having kids. a bit off topic yea but the thing is many people live through the norms of oh you gotta finish school go on a trip then get married have kids have to buy a house and so on.
I think @JoshsOddCollection has the answer to your question
ok but like, say buyee has a 50% off mercari coupon. who here isn’t going to bust out the CCs?
Problem is, to get a new business loan, you either need to have a SOLID business plan and all sorts of other financial projections ready to go. Otherwise, they will only give you a business loan if you are a) already successful and have the free cash flow to pay off the loan, or b) have a really, really good case for how the loan would let you make the money to pay it off.
Newsflash: A lot of high end collectors I know do use credit of some kind to buy higher end cards.
Credit cards, personal loans, business loans.
I personally never understood why this is considered a bad practice, if you are responsible and paying it off.
Credit cards whilst dangerous often have introductory rates and if you are smart with it you can use it to maintain cash flow.
The issue is when someone who has a purchasing addiction uses credit cards to purchase any and everything, or opens modern boxes with it, and loses.
A $1000/month mortgage would be wonderful for most Americans.
As general advice, it’s bad practice because you can’t make assumptions about who is reading the advice. Of course credit and loans exist are useful financial tools. But they are also inherently risky.
I’m sure there are a ton of people successfully leveraging money in this hobby. But I’m sure there are plenty of people who fucked up their lives trying to do the same thing. And we’re far less likely to hear stories like that because people keep quiet due to feelings of shame and embarrassment.
You have to weigh the outcomes. On one hand you can use debt to acquire a trading card. On the other hand if you mismanage it, you could destroy your credit, lose your home, majorly set back the lives of your dependants, damage personal relationships, etc. If you don’t know how disciplined some person is with finances, how stable their income is, whether they understand how interest works, how much debt they are in already, how much they can handle, what they are actually buying… the advice should always be erring on the side of not talking out a loan for a trading card hobby.
All that said, if you understand the risks and you are responsible with how much you leverage, I am not against anyone that chooses to do it.
As stated in the final part of my post, there is an issue with it when someone is irresponsible.
Unfortunately there is a lot of shaming in the hobby when an item is purchased on credit even if it is a responsible purchase.
I personally know of several larger trophy / Japanese items worth 6 figs bought using a credit card. Many would shame that, I don’t see the issue if someone does it responsibly.
FYI people lose their homes when they secure debt with it - defaulting on a credit card probably wouldn’t put your home at risk.
More financial education is better than a lot of the responses in this thread of “credit is bad hurr durr”.
Folks shouldn’t take financial advice from a Pokemon forum in general. Especially for those figures. They should speak to an expert.
The reason why I think many warn against doing so is because the few people who can take out a loan like that and not be in a finacially risky situation are probably in a minority of folks who probably have enough funds already to be flexible with - i.e. folks who aren’t screwed completely if things went wrong suddenly.
Most folks here aren’t likely able to make 6 figure purchases safely. Regardless if it’s a loan or not. The hesitation is warranted and for most folks it WOULD BE a foolish choice.
