Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Magic Credit Card Ride


Especially these days, credit cards suck and are not worth the trouble. Those who can wriggle free from them, do it.

Credit cards were never a good deal for me. If I retain one, it will only be for the sake of renting a car or making a hotel/motel reservation in an emergency. Other than that, they stink. And for me, they proved really bad when joined to another person in marriage. Blah blah blah.

Today, I finished off three peripheral cards that were essentially redundant. Why use cards when I can pay directly, up front?

1) Brooks Brothers. Their website is a mess: too many "safeguards" and not user friendly. GE Money Bank runs their card system, which also sucks. Bye bye. At least I was able to speak with a real person, and will receive confirmation of cancellation via snail mail.

2) Victoria's Secret. Another ridiculous mess, just like Brooks Brothers. No human contact; a series of tedious and annoying "options." May or may not receive traditional confirmation. At this point, who knows?

3) Shell gas card. What joy, a $550 credit line for gas and cash advances! Kicked to the curb. Had to speak to two people, the second a last stand supervisor. But not too bad. And of the three cards, the easiest to use. Seems to be run by Citigroup, Inc. Bye bye.

Anyone remember Elvis Costello's 1979 song, "Crawling to the USA"?

She said, "I catch you taking
liberties and they do not impress me.
Attach me to your credit card
and then you can undress me."
Everybody is on their knees --
except the Russians and the Chinese . . .

(Actually, the ex-wifey said -- literally -- "buy me a house and deal with my shit." I did until I didn't. Good luck to the next guy.)

For me, things are far better than they were in 2006, when I posted this (there again are those Flying Lizards):


Today's Rune: Flow.

12 comments:

jodi said...

I've been told that I can charge all I want, as long as I pay it off in full at the end of the month. So go nuts!

lulu said...

I have not had a credit card since about 1993. I made some mistakes, had to dig myself out of several financial holes, and then made the decision not to do anything on credit.

It's been really good for me to learn how to live within my means, but I don't know how I would have functioned without the used car fairy giving me a car when mine died, and the bank of mom bailing me out of a few jams.

At this point in my life, the only debt I have is about 7000 in student loan payments, and the money I currently owe the American Recreation Association for my bar bills at the American Club.

the walking man said...

"It is just that attitude Mr. France that has ruined the American economy sir!" Spoke Anal Greenspan as he spoke about how it wasn't his fault.

Ali Dahmash said...

Congrats, I got rid of my credit cards this January, it was such an accomplishment, it felt great

Johnny Yen said...

I recently got notices from two of my credit card companies that my interest rate is going up 10%. Needless to say, I'm going to pay them off and cut them up. It's my goal this year to pay all of them off.

Charles Gramlich said...

I'm the credit card company's worst nightmare. I use mine responsibly. I like the convenience of swiping a card rather than carrying a lot of cash. But I never carry a balance.

the walking man said...

Johnnny ...Make sure you send them a snail mail notice as instructed in the fine print that came with the raise in interest. They will cut off your account but you can pay it back at the former interest rate.

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