Monday, January 24, 2011

Credit Cards...

I cut up all but one of my credit cards on Saturday. I am trying to build up the courage to cut up the last one. =)
Posted by at

7 comments:

The Borrower said...

Oh my! I could NEVER do that. Okay I could, but I wouldn't. I'd lose that "cash back". I just got another $50. And just so any Dave Ramsey fans know, I didn't earn this shopping, but paying for my annual insurances and bills. :)

4:53 PM
Anonymous said...

Personally, I think you should keep 1 for an emergency. Just put it away in a drawer but you just never know . . .

5:12 PM
Life as a Purse said...

I cut up all of mine except one and gave it to my boyfriend to hide from me. You might need it to make an online purchase like an airline ticket or a hotel that won't take debit cards. Do you have a trusted friend that could hold onto it for you?

PS: Don't forget to remove the credit card info that gets auto saved by online vendors. I kept buying stuff on Amazon even though I had cut up my cards....blast...

7:27 PM
Anonymous said...

When I was trying to pay off my debt, I put my remaining credit card in a plastic cup of water and then froze it. That way I still had it in case of an emergency, but it wasn't easily accessible to me otherwise. And I felt so silly explaining to people why I had a frozen credit card next to the ice cubes that it helped motivate me that much more!

2:59 PM
Anonymous said...

WAY TO GO! You are getting more serious about this each and every day.

Keep it up

@The Borrower. You can get cash back on debit card purchase at a few banks and Perk Street Financial (www.perkstreet.com)

7:26 PM
DreamChaser57 said...

I used to think that Dave Ramsey was a stark raving mad lunatic when he suggested people live without credit. However, after giving it some serious thought. I had to face the sobering reality that my household already lives without credit all the time. If a card is always charged up and we’re playing the minimum payment mating dance, what good is it? There are actually few instances where I can recall I used the credit card for something substantial, like an emergency dental procedure, vacation etc. Mostly, it was for very fleeting things like take out food. Thanks to the anonymity of the Internet I can actually admit that I am getting charged interest on a sandwich. When something big came up - like when I needed a new laptop because my old literally had tape on it, I did not have enough spending power on the credit card. A similar thing happened when other emergencies happened. There are few merchants that will not take a debit card provided you have a Visa/Mastercard logo. The only drawback is when you go on vacation - rental car companies rarely let you use a debit card. When hotels request a card for incidentals, especially the high end ones, I’ve found that they will place a hold for $200 for day you intend to day, when it’s real money in your account - that can freak you out. I love travel lay-a-way plans, where you can just stop by the agency and pay little by little, I’ve done that with cruises.
The ultimate plan is to have one credit card, and I mean one - no other charge cards, department store cards, gas cards - and to pay it off monthly or at minimum quarterly. I want to use them for calculated or occasional indulgences that we can afford in the short term, three months.
In my estimation, credit cards are not an emergency fund or a wealth building tool irrespective of the rewards.
Sorry for the dissertation - chatting about credit get’s me fired up. *smile*

12:22 PM
Chitown said...

@ DreamChaser - Wow...I didn't think about or consider reservations. I remember when I traveled to San Diego last year and the hotel placed a daily hold on MH's debit card and that was a doozie. I ended up having to pay for most things on the trip because they held up $600 of his funds that he was planning to spend on us while we where there.

I kept a Visa CC which coincidentally is also the card where I have my balance. I probably should have kept one MasterCard too but at least I have one CC and it has a little more than $5K in availability.

That should cover any emergencies over and above my $1,000 eFund.

3:10 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)