Remembering Why I Never Want Another Credit Card
Fri 4 Jan 2008, Written by Eden
Categories: Credit Cards
*update* - I have created a new page (Credit Card Stories) to keep track of stories like the one below in an easy to find location. If you know of a great story to share or have written your own, include a link in the comments section or email it to me (feedback at finance and fat dot com).
I have read a lot of bad stories about credit cards over the past few months that I have been paying attention to the personal finance blog world. These stories always serve as sharp reminders of why I need to close my credit cards for good and never look back. In an effort to catalog these stories and have them ready in case I am tempted to sign up for another credit card some day, I will start posting the links to these stories on my site.
Thanks to Lynnae at BeingFrugal.net I have a great link to kick this series off - Credit Card Companies Want to Eat You Alive!. Lynnae did a great job of capturing all of the annoyance and frustration she had to go through thanks to her credit card company- and this is from someone who was paying attention and managing the account as best as you could.
Remember, no matter how smart you think you are and how well you manage your credit cards and your payments, you will never have the upper hand! The credit card companies are in control and the burden of proof is on YOU if THEY make a mistake. Ask yourself if it is really worth it. It’s not worth it to me. I am choosing to spend my time on this earth doing things more interesting than trying to manage credit cards, check on their mistakes, and deal with the idiots on the phone in the inevitable case that they make a mistake and try to steal my money.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:02 am | Lynnae @ beingfrugal.net said:
You are so right. You will NEVER have the upper hand.
Preach on!
January 4th, 2008 at 1:52 pm | Sandy said:
Monthly they are checking people’s FICO history to see if they’ve been late elsewhere; if so the credit card company can raise your interest — they can change the grace period after you purchase from 30 days to 21 to 15 to none — another tactic they use is changing the address where to send your payments! — they sometimes advertise for 0 interest via a mail offer, but when you get your card in the mail, it might not be 0% because you didn’t qualify for it, and if you don’t cancel after you’ve read the fine print, you have a card w/annual fees and a higher rate, etc. I AGREE with you 100% that us peons will not win and if we think we are, is it worth our time and attention to it? It isn’t for me.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:40 pm | Eden said:
@Lynnae - Same to you!
@Sandy - those sound like some dirty tricks! More proof that credit card companies are built on pure evil.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:37 am | ASAP Credit Card said:
We’d love to get your feedback. We recently started a poll on the Worst / Best Credit Card Issuers. Feel free to stop by and give us your opinion - sounds like you’ve got plenty of experience