My old man has given me many excellent pieces of advice over the past 25 years… I guess that’s what a guy’s dad is for. The most recent advice was particularly good which was this little idea that works like magic!
I usually get, I kid you not, at least 4-5 credit offers in the mail PER DAY. Seriously, without exaggeration, 4-5 per day. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to burn my shredder up gettin rid of that crap. Well, there is a trick. Simply take the offer out of the envelope, write the following phrase on it: “No thanks, I do not use credit cards”, place the offer in the return envelope, and send that SOB right back to those damn vultures. (The postage is paid by them, remember.)
I have been doing this for a mere two months, and despite the fact that I have sent 6 of them back already to United Airlines, it has stemmed the tide! I am down to 2 or so per week from about 25 or 30. It’s awesome! I highly recommend this tactic, good work pap.
And for the record, the statement I write on those offers has been 100% true for the past 3 months. I have never in my life, not once, not paid my bill in full at the end of the month. However, I still don’t like the damn things because EVEN IF you pay it off every month, you still unequivocally spend more when paying with a card than with cash. Ask McDonalds… they started taking cards a couple years ago. Now why would a company with an average sale of $4 want to take cards and lose 2% of their sales to fees? Simple, their average sale went up almost 50% when people started using cards all the time.
That wasn’t the straw that broke the camel’s back tho. What did was when I got online one month a single DAY late to pay my bill and those assholes charged me $39 for a late fee. When I called and told them they were about to lose a $20,000 credit limit card over $39 they basically told me go ahead. The damn things are snakes. Play with snakes long enough and you WILL get bit, ask the Crocodile Hunter.
So, I no longer use credit cards. Period. I have a debit card for buying plane tickets and thats it. And… let me tell you, it feels absolutely fantastic. No bill every month wondering where the money went to is blissful, I highly recommend it.
I told Shannon one day… I have got to get my damn credit score DOWN. To have a great score, you must have debt. Thus, get the hell outta debt, pay no payments, get rich, and your credit score gets absolutely destroyed. I can’t wait for the day I can write a check for my new house but CAN’T qualify for a mortgage on it! So, my new personal financial motto is going to be… ON MY WAY TO ZERO!! Gotta a long way to go because of the simply horrific credit score I currently have (780) but what good is life without a goal?
