Just say no to credit cards!!!!

[purrfectpear]

*Note to self; Remind son no dating of Chinese girls

 

[musey]

Date: 2/22/2009 10:50:26 AM
Author: steph72276
There have been a few people on here that have said they love to use their credit card for all their purchases, etc. I'm pretty sure there's not going to be anyone on this board that will openly admit they are up to their eyeballs in credit card debt, but the statistics show this is how it is for most people. The average household has over 9K in credit card debt along with student loans, car payments, lines of credit, etc. The average household could also not survive for more than a month if they lost income.

That's a painful statistic! Yikes!

We fall into the love our credit cards and use them for everyone camp. We basically use them as cash - they're just a middle man that we exploit for cashback bonuses, etc. Balance is paid off every month (more often on the cards that let us) just like a utility bill would be. I've mentioned elsewhere on the board that I didn't even know that people used them in any other way (ie. as something of a "loan," incurring debt and interest, etc.) until I got to college... I thought everyone paid the balance in full every month like we always did.

I will 'admit' that we have one student loan in our household (my husband's) which is always overpaid, and one car loan (again, my husband's) which is also always overpaid, and no other debt (credit card or otherwise). We have been in the work force for about a year and a half (after college), and could survive for about 4 months if we lost income. This amount goes up every month, of course (it dropped when my husband's car died last December and he had to go get a new (well, used, new to him) one). I think for two 24-year-olds living in one of the most expensive cities in the US (los angeles), we're not doing too badly on the debt front.

This is thanks to our parents, both for being a strong safety net (one which we've never yet had to utilize) and for instilling good money habits in us.

 

[musey]

Date: 2/22/2009 3:08:48 PM
Author: Haven
It isn''t brain surgery. Spend less than you earn. Pay your bills on time. Don''t buy something if you don''t have the money to pay for it.

Haven, as usual I should''ve made sure to read through to find your post and then dittoed you instead of writing out my own novel

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/23/2009 9:06:10 PM
Author: purrfectpear
*Note to self; Remind son no dating of Chinese girls

and the Chinese bride gets to pick from FMIL's jewelry. yes, including that big rock of yours.

 

[deegee]

Hubby and I learned the financial lesson early on in our marriage. We bought a house that was too big and costly for two people, funished all 4,000 sq ft of it on credit, and bought 2 new cars. Talk about paycheck to paycheck! We had been married less than three years when he lost his job due to downsizing. Luckily the house and stuff sold quickly, and DH found a better job in another state fairly quickly too. We were able to take the equity from the sale of the house combined with his severance pay and get ourselves completely out of debt. . . no payments of any kind. We lucked out.

Eventually we worked up enough courage and downpayment money to buy a house, and our mortgage is significantly less than our first house. We made sure we purchased a home that was well under budget. We have both changed jobs since buying our house 11 years ago, and have been blessed with promotions and pay raises over the years. Our friends keep tryiing to get us to move, but we love our house and neighborhood, and we have a super low mortgage payment. Why move?

Our house payment, my car payment, car & home insurance, and monthly utilities total 12% of our income. We''re refinancing the house, so that percentage will be lower soon. Woo-hoo! We put money into our retirement and savings accounts monthly, and we have never had to touch savings in our second go-around. We aren''t frugal - I drive a new Infiniti (I don''t mind having a car payment because the interest rate is very low) and we eat out every single night of the week. We spend money wisely on things we enjoy, but we never even come close to spending more than we bring in each month.

It was a tough lesson to learn, but losing an income when you are as stretched as we were is terrifying! I swore I''d never be there again. About 70% of DH''s office has been laid off since September, and there are so many people who are in the same boat we were in years ago. I feel so bad for them! If DH were to lose his job this time, I can completely support us on my income. . .well, we might not be able to eat out every night... but everything else would be okay. That''s a great feeling!

 

[steph72276]

Wow, interesting what AMEX is doing to get rid of customers. I''m sure they have their analysts working away trying to figure out which customers will be likely to default. Smart move on their part because I''m sure lots of people will take the offer even if they don''t have the cash....will probably move it around to another card.

I wonder if all this has made CC companies grow a brain and stop giving credit cards to students with no income? Probably not.

 

[partgypsy]

Steph I can''t find it now, but I have read articles stating that people typically spend more money on credit cards than when using cash (10, 20%?). Also when people buy food at McDonalds they have higher receipts when using credit card than when using cash. The explanation is that the pain of parting with the money is divorced from the purchase. In a sense it is easy to treat it like "free money" because one doesn''t associate the transaction with spending those hard earned dollars.
It''s was an eye opener for me. I am one of those "responsible" credit card users who pays it off each month. It made me wonder, even if I pay it off each month, am I spending more money by putting it on a credit card? I don''t think I do, but there is that possibility. Many of the things I use my credit card for would be very difficult to do without such as Amazon and Ebay payments, I like the credit protection, and my card has cash back benefits (my card pays me!)

I do feel if people are surprised by their credit card bills, have trouble paying it off each month, then it''s probably a good idea for those people to go on a credit card fast and simply stop using it. Myself I''m rather debt phobic. I was anxious for the past 3 years or so because I had first a car with payments, and then a heloc for windows. Those are both paid off and I really dislike the feeling of being in debt. Other than my Dad who always dealt in large sums for business transactions, making it all seem abstract to him, it seems like the rest of my family is credit phobic as well, that''s just the way we are all are. for example although my sister has been unemployed since September she is not in debt, just living extremely frugally until she has money coming in.

 

[geckodani]

Date: 2/23/2009 9:37:36 PM
Author: musey

Date: 2/22/2009 10:50:26 AM
Author: steph72276
There have been a few people on here that have said they love to use their credit card for all their purchases, etc. I''m pretty sure there''s not going to be anyone on this board that will openly admit they are up to their eyeballs in credit card debt, but the statistics show this is how it is for most people. The average household has over 9K in credit card debt along with student loans, car payments, lines of credit, etc. The average household could also not survive for more than a month if they lost income.

That''s a painful statistic! Yikes!

We fall into the love our credit cards and use them for everyone camp. We basically use them as cash - they''re just a middle man that we exploit for cashback bonuses, etc. Balance is paid off every month (more often on the cards that let us) just like a utility bill would be. I''ve mentioned elsewhere on the board that I didn''t even know that people used them in any other way (ie. as something of a ''loan,'' incurring debt and interest, etc.) until I got to college... I thought everyone paid the balance in full every month like we always did.

I will ''admit'' that we have one student loan in our household (my husband''s) which is always overpaid, and one car loan (again, my husband''s) which is also always overpaid, and no other debt (credit card or otherwise). We have been in the work force for about a year and a half (after college), and could survive for about 4 months if we lost income. This amount goes up every month, of course (it dropped when my husband''s car died last December and he had to go get a new (well, used, new to him) one). I think for two 24-year-olds living in one of the most expensive cities in the US (los angeles), we''re not doing too badly on the debt front.

This is thanks to our parents, both for being a strong safety net (one which we''ve never yet had to utilize) and for instilling good money habits in us.

We''re the same way - we utilize the credit card like cash and pay it off every month. I got into a world of trouble in college with the cards, and now am INSANE about paying them off!!! We are fortunate to not have any student loans or other debt. We have one card with a balance - but it''s a 0% interest until Jan situation, and it was used to purchase a computer - it''s budgeted to be paid off well before it can start accruing interest.

We also don''t own anything, LOL. We lease the cars and rent the apartment.

One of theses days...

 

[steph72276]

Date: 2/24/2009 12:01:03 PM
Author: part gypsy
Steph I can''t find it now, but I have read articles stating that people typically spend more money on credit cards than when using cash (10, 20%?). Also when people buy food at McDonalds they have higher receipts when using credit card than when using cash. The explanation is that the pain of parting with the money is divorced from the purchase. In a sense it is easy to treat it like ''free money'' because one doesn''t associate the transaction with spending those hard earned dollars.

It''s was an eye opener for me. I am one of those ''responsible'' credit card users who pays it off each month. It made me wonder, even if I pay it off each month, am I spending more money by putting it on a credit card? I don''t think I do, but there is that possibility. Many of the things I use my credit card for would be very difficult to do without such as Amazon and Ebay payments, I like the credit protection, and my card has cash back benefits (my card pays me!)
I have read that too and I think Good Morning America had a family track their expenses using cash only for a month and they spent significantly less. I do think it''s true that you probably spend more swiping the card than parting with cash, but I am such a numbers nerd, I like to track every purchase and have it in a category so I can see where every penny is being spent. I seem to just blow cash on things like fast food, etc easier than I do if I use my debit card and know I will have to track it. I guess it''s different for everybody.


I do feel if people are surprised by their credit card bills, have trouble paying it off each month, then it''s probably a good idea for those people to go on a credit card fast and simply stop using it. Myself I''m rather debt phobic. I was anxious for the past 3 years or so because I had first a car with payments, and then a heloc for windows. Those are both paid off and I really dislike the feeling of being in debt. Other than my Dad who always dealt in large sums for business transactions, making it all seem abstract to him, it seems like the rest of my family is credit phobic as well, that''s just the way we are all are. for example although my sister has been unemployed since September she is not in debt, just living extremely frugally until she has money coming in.

 

[saltymuffin]

The real problem isn''t credit cards, but a bizarre sense of entitlement many people have. Somehow the "norm" for todays 25-35 year old couple has become two new cars, a 2500sqft house, and $200+ handbags, jeans and sunglasses. Being the norm has somehow made going into debt to have these things acceptable. It is a crazy, irresponsible notion that has led to all this consumer debt.

Like many people here, I use my cc all the time for the convenience, insurance benefits and frequent flyer points. But I pay it off in full at the end of the month. I also put away savings every month. Maybe once a year I find my cc bill is so large that I have to eat into those savings. That is the only reality check I need to curb my spending the following month. If you can''t pay off your bill each month, you are not living within your means. Not living within your means during isolated periods of hardship is one thing, but creating an ongoing lifestyle that relies on it, is really short sighted.

I have always managed to live within my means by not buying into any societal notions of what I "should" buy or spend my money on. We own a small 1100sqft townhouse in the city centre that cost as much as a 3000sqft house in the suburbs. Yes, some people think we are crazy, but living where we do saves us $ as we can walk just about everywhere, eliminating the need for a car (or gym memberships!). With the money we save by not owning a car, and the frequent flyer points we get from using our cc, we take overseas vacations each year. These vacation make the same people who think we are crazy for living where we do, very jealous.

 

[partgypsy]

yes, plus I bet your townhome has lower heating, cooling, and repair bills than a big house too

We are the same way, live in a smaller home but in a location that has lots of stuff in in walking distance.

 

[saltymuffin]

Exactly! And in addition to saving on heating etc, we also weren''t forced to spend money furnishing a huge place. Many of our friends got their initial cc debt by furnishing their homes. We were able to furnish our place with the things we already had from our last apartment. We are saving up to "upgrade" certain pieces, but there was no need to buy everything at once.

A lot of problems would be solved if everyone learned to budget and set their own priorities.

 

[steph72276]

Oops, Part Gypsy I wrote you a long response, I don''t know why it didn''t show up! Anyway, I was saying I have seen studies that say the same thing about spending less when using cash. I think they also did a story on Good Morning America about a family that used cash only for a whole month and spent significantly less.

 

[steph72276]

I''ve really gotten a lot out of this thread. Maybe I should have titled it "Just say no to credit card DEBT" instead of just credit cards in general. Seems like there are a lot of people out there that can pay down the balance without being tempted to overspend. I just think this may not be the "norm" in general and it is too easy for people without strict spending habits to go overboard knowing that they don''t "have" to pay the balance in full. Good discussion though and great job to all those that are either debt free or working to become debt free!

 

[partgypsy]

Thanks Steph. Having a background in psychology I find the subject really interesting. People always say, live within your means but I think the saying should really be live below your means so you build in some kind of cushion. Otherwise you are just one accident/car breakdown/catastrophe etc. away from financial trouble, and things like that are always happening.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Steph, I imagine the disposable income is a little higher on here than in the general population which might explain the ability to be disciplined and pay of the card every month.

I am another who pays for EVERYTHING on a CC and pays it off in full every month. We have not had a car loan for over 20 years. My hubby has a used car and a truck, and I did get a new Subaru Outback last year. But we paid cash and got a modest car as opposed to getting a loan for a Lexus. We also paid extra on our mortgage principal and paid it off early. We live off my husband's income and use mine for savings and extras.

We are now considering moving to a nearby town, and it is a real dilemma to decide whether to get a mortgage in order to get a newly built home with some special features we might want or whether to just make a fairly lateral move to stay totally debt free. In any event, we certainly won't buy the house we'd qualify for since we have no intention of making small mortgage payments longer than maybe 10 years at this point. It is a phenomenally great time to buy, though!

There is great freedom in being debt-free and having savings and investments. We have everything we need and a few luxuries. But I also do not buy $1000 purses and $200 shoes. I just don't care that much about things like that, whereas I'll spend on jewelry occasionally since that can be an heirloom. That's the way I justify it, anyway!

(Just wanted to add that I first learned about the benefits of living debt-free from Larry Burkett who promoted much of the same things as Dave Ramsey.)

 

[Haven]

Date: 2/24/2009 2:18:10 PM
Author: saltymuffin
The real problem isn''t credit cards, but a bizarre sense of entitlement many people have. Somehow the ''norm'' for todays 25-35 year old couple has become two new cars, a 2500sqft house, and $200+ handbags, jeans and sunglasses. Being the norm has somehow made going into debt to have these things acceptable. It is a crazy, irresponsible notion that has led to all this consumer debt.

Like many people here, I use my cc all the time for the convenience, insurance benefits and frequent flyer points. But I pay it off in full at the end of the month. I also put away savings every month. Maybe once a year I find my cc bill is so large that I have to eat into those savings. That is the only reality check I need to curb my spending the following month. If you can''t pay off your bill each month, you are not living within your means. Not living within your means during isolated periods of hardship is one thing, but creating an ongoing lifestyle that relies on it, is really short sighted.

I have always managed to live within my means by not buying into any societal notions of what I ''should'' buy or spend my money on. We own a small 1100sqft townhouse in the city centre that cost as much as a 3000sqft house in the suburbs. Yes, some people think we are crazy, but living where we do saves us $ as we can walk just about everywhere, eliminating the need for a car (or gym memberships!). With the money we save by not owning a car, and the frequent flyer points we get from using our cc, we take overseas vacations each year. These vacation make the same people who think we are crazy for living where we do, very jealous.

I agree with you, Saltymuffin.

To add to your idea about this sense of entitlement, I think a lot of the twentysomethings in debt actually has to do with their choices and the habits they form during the first few years after they graduate from college. I chose to live at home for several years, worked a full-time job and many part-time jobs, and put myself through grad school so I could get a job I love and earn a decent amount of money. Was it fun living with my parents and driving a beater car while all my friends were partying in the city and zooming around in their brand new cars? NO. But I took some time to get my act together, saved a good chunk of cash, and started a long-term career.

Now I''m a 28-year-old with a new car and a home, but both DH and I lived with our parents for several years after college (in different decades) to get ourselves started. A lot of my peers started spending way beyond their means many years ago, and as Salty said, they set up lifestyles that require far more than they earn to keep up.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 2/24/2009 6:43:21 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
Steph, I imagine the disposable income is a little higher on here than in the general population which might explain the ability to be disciplined and pay of the card every month.

I am another who pays for EVERYTHING on a CC and pays it off in full every month. We have not had a car loan for over 20 years. My hubby has a used car and a truck, and I did get a new Subaru Outback last year. But we paid cash and got a modest car as opposed to getting a loan for a Lexus. We also paid extra on our mortgage principal and paid it off early. We live off my husband''s income and use mine for savings and extras.

We are now considering moving to a nearby town, and it is a real dilemma to decide whether to get a mortgage in order to get a newly built home with some special features we might want or whether to just make a fairly lateral move to stay totally debt free. In any event, we certainly won''t buy the house we''d qualify for since we have no intention of making small mortgage payments longer than maybe 10 years at this point. It is a phenomenally great time to buy, though!

There is great freedom in being debt-free and having savings and investments. We have everything we need and a few luxuries. But I also do not buy $1000 purses and $200 shoes. I just don''t care that much about things like that, whereas I''ll spend on jewelry occasionally since that can be an heirloom. That''s the way I justify it, anyway!

(Just wanted to add that I first learned about the benefits of living debt-free from Larry Burkett who promoted much of the same things as Dave Ramsey.)

Ding ding!

Not to mention smarter than the average bear. Hee.

 

[Clairitek]

FI and I are another couple making the credit cards work for us. Before we made our last large purchase (2 round trip tickets from LA to Rarotonga, Cook Islands) we shopped around and found one that would work the best for us. We realized we would need two RT tickets from Philly to LA and thought that was an area where we could save a bundle if we picked the right card. We chose the Southwest Rapid Rewards card even though it has an annual fee. We estimated what expenses we could charge on the card to figure out if we would earn FI''s free ticket (I already have 1, almost two to my name on SW) in time to book our trip. It paid off in a major way and we have already earned his trip. We are now on our way to a second set of free tickets which we will probably use for our honeymoon.
We pay the card off each month which I realize it key for making the whole system for for us.

 

[alli_esq]

We don't use credit cards, but I have such a tremendous amount of student debt (FI has a bunch too, but NOTHING near what I have) that it's really difficult to make other payments, even though neither of us buys a thing that we don't have the cash for...

We live in a city that doesn't require that we have a car, but FI has an INCREDIBLY OLD car (seriously, as old as my brother) that he paid $1,000 for (yup)...we would both love to have a more reliable vehicle, but since it's not necessary, and since we have precious little in savings at the moment, we aren't going to pony up for that...

 

[swimmer]

Date: 2/22/2009 10:26:10 PM
Author: Haven
You remember the video?! Did you hate it as much as I did? I thought it was the most horrible thing to have to watch. Those poor tortured, sweet-toothed kids! My family still makes fun of me about it, because I was so disturbed I called home terribly upset about the marshmallow-torture video. (I'm a closet softy, what can I say?)


I do see the connection, though, between instant gratification and financial security.

Haven, I totally remember that video. There is no way they would get permission to do that these days. Did you also see the Stanford Prison tape and Milgram over and over? Good times, but today it is hard to get permission to ask anything of underage subjects.

I also agree with you about cards, I double my miles by using cc for purchases and paying it off every month. The only charge I've ever gotten was when I was out of the country and forgot one time, that will never happen again!

I agree with TGal, for some that is nice you can pay for a house in cash, try my hood, a crack house with vinyl siding costs 400k. Anything with heat and electricity done after WWII is in the 6-700s, and that is not a fixedup house. Not a lot of bargains out there yet.

ETA: feeling everyone's pains on the old car front; my 83 Volvo got to 300,000 miles and I sold it for $800 (parts), which was nice since I had paid $1,000 in college for it. Doing this we had saved enough to get our new Prius, which gets almost 50mpg and gets us a tax rebate. Take that laughing coworkers! We tried to put the car on a CC for miles, but the dealer wouldn't allow it, so wrote a check. That is what you mean by "paying cash" right? Or are folks showing up with wheelbarrows of bucks?

Good luck to everyone saving!

 

[oobiecoo]

Date: 2/21/2009 10:41:36 AM
Author:steph72276
So another thread got me thinking about starting this one. I''m not sure if ATW is the right place to start this, but it seems appropriate given all the talk about the economy. My hubby and I have become huge fans of Dave Ramsey and have been following his plan for the past few years. Put simply, his plan is to pay off all debt except the house, save 3-6 months in an emergency fund, put 15% of your pay into investments, start college fund if applicable, then pay off remaining amount on mortgage, and lastly give to the causes of your choice.

Does anyone else live this way? Not necessarily on Dave''s plan, but not using credit cards for anything or paying cash for cars? If so, do your friends/family think you are weird for living like this? I''ve gotta tell you, my friends and family probably thought I was a weirdo for doing a monthly budget and paying cash for cars instead of having a note, but right about now, that plan is looking pretty smart. We actually get to keep our paycheck rather than having to send it right back out to credit cards and car payments. Anyone else in this boat? Want to share any tips on what you did to make it work? Our biggest wasted expenses were on food every month. I totaled it up one time, and we were spending $2500 a month on dining out and going to Whole Foods

. That''s more than some people bring home in a month! Now we spend about $500-600 on both. Being on a written budget every month has helped us see where the money is going every month. My fave quote on money is that if you don''t tell your money what to do, it will go away. So true!

DH listens to him on the radio and always comes home with new ideas lol. Right now we are paying off our credit cards and plan to never use them again... 2 down, 2 more to go! We''re also hoping to pay cash for any future cars but probably not for a house. We have a monthly budget that we stick to exactly or come close to every month. One of our main expenses every month was food. We ate out a lot! Now we have cut back tremendously and try to only eat things like Subway, etc if we DO have a meal out. Last night we had Italian takeout because I had a bad day and needed a carb fix

but thats a rare thing these days. I also clip coupons for groceries... I''d still do that if I were a millionaire since I enjoy saving money that way. One way we''ve found to stay on budget is to take out our own personal "allowance" each month in cash and ONLY use that cash. Its easier to keep track of how much you have left when you are actually handing people physical money and not a piece of plastic.

 

[steph72276]

OObiecoo, you guys sound a lot like us. I always thought we didn''t need to do a budget because we didn''t spend more than we made, but once I started sitting down and writing out everything it was crazy how much we were throwing away every month in groceries and especially going out to eat. Now that we are on a written budget every month, it feels like we got a huge raise. We still budget for going out to eat and some clothes and other fun stuff so we don''t ever feel deprived, but it''s amazing how much money you can save just be being aware of where every cent goes. I am like you, I would still cut out coupons and such even if we were super loaded just because I like to save money where I can.

 

[steph72276]

HAHAHAHA! Hilarious!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff

 

[crown1]

good one! did you notice the date? seems no one followed the advice.

 

[AGBF]

I heard a report on the radio today that a man with perfect credit had had his credit limit lowered because he shopped for discount products and spent less money than usual. The credit card company punished him for frugality. Apparently a bill barring credit card companies from doing this is pending somewhere (federally or in my local area). I did some cursory scouting on the Internet, but no real research. If anyone else has the inclination to do some research into this, I think it would be interesting. This was the first thing that made me angry enough to consider wanting to join a movement to put credit card companies and banks that engage in the credit card business out of business! It really made me angry. I wanted to get rid of usurers and just show those companies that they couldn't get away with their abuse and their shenanigans any more!

Even though I am one of the ones who supposedly "uses" them (paying off debt every month, but getting rewards), I think that they are a blot on the land!

Deborah

 

[steph72276]

Just thought this was ridiculous....
I went into Macy''s the other day to try on some jeans. Found a pair that fit perfectly (so hard to do!) and almost everything in the store was on sale except these jeans. So I went nicely up to the saleslady and asked her to check the price and see if they were on sale by chance. She rang it up and said "oh if you buy it on your Macy''s credit card, you can save $30." I said, "well I don''t use credit cards, but I will pay the sales price in cash right now." She then tells me that she cannot accept that amount in cash and that I could open a Macys card. I told her very nicely that I won''t be buying them on principle that they penalize people using cash and that it was too bad they lost a sale, because I was the only one in the department and it looked like they could use the business. What a shame that they do this so that people will use their card and hopefully for them won''t be able to pay it off so they can collect the 21% interest

 

[AGBF]

Date: 3/11/2009 5:08:59 PM
Author: steph72276

She then tells me that she cannot accept that amount in cash and that I could open a Macys card. I told her very nicely that I won't be buying them on principle that they penalize people using cash and that it was too bad they lost a sale, because I was the only one in the department and it looked like they could use the business. What a shame that they do this so that people will use their card and hopefully for them won't be able to pay it off so they can collect the 21% interest

Steph, my husband and I have had this discussion again and again...not because of principle, but because of the bother. He doesn't want to be bothered with my opening a new credit card just to save $30.00 or so. He wants me to use our old one. Sometimes I open up a new account somewhere because opening a new one gets me a discount and he gets really annoyed, even though I don't plan ever to use it again after the initial purchase, because it makes work for him. (He pays the bills.) Needless to say they never get any interest from us let alone 21% interest!!!

Deborah

 

[zhuzhu]

No credit card company has ever received a penny of interest from us (and we charge for everything), however the new ones keep on coming into the mail! This is driving me crazy!

DH recently purchased a ATT phone and is expecting a rebate, guess how the rebate was delivered? on a ATT credit card!! We can not even use the rebate UNLESS we use this brand new ATT cc that was automatically opened on his behalf! That is just plain rude and tricky!

 

[steph72276]

Date: 3/11/2009 5:28:50 PM
Author: zhuzhu
No credit card company has ever received a penny of interest from us (and we charge for everything), however the new ones keep on coming into the mail! This is driving me crazy!


DH recently purchased a ATT phone and is expecting a rebate, guess how the rebate was delivered? on a ATT credit card!! We can not even use the rebate UNLESS we use this brand new ATT cc that was automatically opened on his behalf! That is just plain rude and tricky!

That is just plain tricky. It is sooo important these days to read all the fine print. So annoying how they sneak those things in.

Obviously for those of us that have responded on this board, we are not sending the credit cards interest every month...but there must be tons of people that do, or they wouldn''t have the credit card only policy in place. I''m sure they make more off the interest on some people that they do off the profit from the clothes.