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Top Five Reasons You Were Stupid Enough to Get a Credit Card
I’ve been thinking about the great and powerful credit card fairy, and have come up with some possible reasons why you might have succumbed into signing up for a credit card.
If any of these describes you, don’t worry… you are not alone. Millions of other suckers have agreed to bow down to 29.99 percent interest and kiss their futures goodbye. I’m writing this right now on the four hundred dollar laptop I bought on credit. Don’t judge me. It’s pretty and I needed it.
The Free Sandwich
You were at the dmv or coming out of the walmart parking lot and there was big sign with a picture of subway sandwiches on it. You stroll over, they give you a coupon for a free sandwich, and BOOM: you’re hooked. College just wouldn’t be the same without hovering over that clipboard with a blue pen, ready to sign your life away.
You’re Broke
Yes it’s obvious, but if you actually had a good job, you wouldn’t have the time to be trolling the internet looking for handouts.
Your Lady Friend/Man Friend/Partner/Shorty Needed Bling
It might be hard to believe, but there may be a reason why they have bad credit and the store won’t let them buy their own ice/bling bling. I believe that they should start selling those little credit card scanner thingies so that people can give r credit checks to their loved ones. Whoever makes those home drug test kits for wayward teens could expanding their franchise and make a bundle.
Zero Percent
for those of you out there who don’t own a calendar, maybe you should have bought one with that new credit card. Then you could have circled that day 6-12 months later when your zero percent interest card would begin screwing you over with 29.9999% interest. I know it’s tempting, but think of how much crap you will have bought by the time your interest kicks in. You could probably open up a Radio Shack in your bedroom by the time your interest kicks in. If you read the fine print, if you’re late on 1 payment during the 6-12 months, they have the right to start charging you interest. If I’m going to be screwed over, it might as well start from the moment I start buying stuff. That way I’m not lured into false hope of thinking that I can actually afford to shop at the mall instead of the dollar store. ( I don’t even think they take credit cards at the dollar store.)
I Don’t Know
I think I covered all the basics in numbers 1-4 but I can’t just have a list of the top four reasons you were stupid enough to get a credit card. It’s not as catchy. Maybe I should put in some of patent lines people say when they’re about to get a credit card:
” I’m going to build up good credit by buying small things and paying it off every month.”
“I’m just using it as a filter for my purchases.”
“I need to rent a car/ book a hotel and they don’t take cash”
“It comes in pink and matches my purse”
” I’ll cancel the card after the interest kicks in”
“I’ve got a job interview tomorrow”
If any of the above reasons applies to you, then too bad. At least you still have that frisby/keychain they gave you when you signed up. Hope it was worth it.
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How about this one: it’s much more convenient than carrying cash and it comes with a rewards program. Problem is that it is much too convenient. And why do I keep getting application forms for preapproved credit cards when I am not employed? Don’t they check this out, or do they send preapproved credit cards to everyone?
My mom always says: “Tired of the credit card companies wasting trees. Maybe if I just get the dang card they will stop sending me 20 jumk mail offers a week.”
Just found this posting.
Here’s a simple calculation: let’s suppose you want to spend $400 on your laptop. Let’s suppose you get a credit card that gives you zero percent interest for a year, and you use it to buy the laptop. If you just made a payment of $33.33 per month for a year, you’d have paid off the laptop without incurring interest. Better still, some of the money you’d have paid out to the credit card company by buying the laptop outright can earn interest somewhere.
I think only stupendous negligence in financial management or chronic impatience explain why people get into credit card debt. And even without zero-rate cards, for regular credit junkies, their impatience only allows them to be ahead of the curve once, on their first credit-fuelled purchase. After that, they’re into a cycle of monthly payments that cost far more than the equivalent monthly savings would.