Credit Card Irony

Nope, this isn’t a serious blog entry. This is about personal credit card irony.

I hope I haven’t told you about this already.

My daughter went to college when she was sixteen. She must have been seventeen and home in Springfield, Massachusetts, for the summer when the story I am about to tell you took place.

We had gone to G. Fox & Company, a department store in Hartford, Connecticut. It turns out G. Fox was having one of those big in-store credit card promotions. There was a nice lady at a card table greeting everyone coming in, and, if you applied for a credit card, you got so many dollars or per cent off your first purchase.

So Lauren applied. The lady personally filled out the application for Lauren.

She asked Lauren where she worked.

“______ College.”

“And the department?”

“Financial Aid.” Of course, this was work-study.

“What is your income?” the lady asked Lauren nicely.

“$600.00,” Lauren said with confidence.

“$600.00 a month?”

“No, a year.”

The lady was terrific. After she got over her surprise, she gave Lauren a credit card with a $600 limit.

Lauren’s credit card karma isn’t quite so easy now that Lauren is a regular working woman. About three years ago, she got a XXX (Store) Credit Card with a rather small credit limit.

Around the same time, I applied — one of those promotions again, but no nice lady to fill out the form for me — I had to do it myself. My income was just about nil. My credit rating was nothing to brag about. The computers were down or something, so they couldn’t authorize or deny my credit card right then, but I had applied so I got my reward — 20% off — just for applying!!

A week or so later, I received a form letter saying that my application had been denied. Okay.

A year or so after this, XXX, on their own, sent me a credit card. They gave me a limit of $7,000! That’s big!

Basically, I don’t use it. Lauren uses hers and always pay before she is charged interest.

Recently, they raised my credit limit to $17,000!!! Lauren was aghast! I was floored too. This is a mistake, of course, because I know I don’t qualify, and I don’t think they have a heart of gold.

At the same time as this bizarreness with my account, XXX kept Lauren’s credit limit low, and they raised her interest rate considerably!

You get it, don’t you? Lauren merits a high limit and low interest, and I don’t even merit a credit card at all. Lauren gets zapped, and I get my credit limit raised! HAHA.

Life is sure full of ironies

Do you have any credit card stories to tell?

P.S. Lauren will undoubtedly say that I didn’t the facts straight. If she thinks so, she should write her own blog, then, shouldn’t she?

Posted by Gloria on September 25th, 2008 under these topics
Purely Personal, Godwriting Journal

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7 Replies

Reply from Marko on September 25, 2008

“Recently, they raised my credit limit to $17,000!!!”

It could be a sign that the Universe approves your allowing of more financial abundance in your life.

Reply from Lauren on September 25, 2008

You didn’t get the facts straight:) It is actually two different cards. The store card - I have a $1000 limit, perfect payment history, no balance and they just raised my rate to 24.9%.

My maximum credit limit on any card is $5000. Yours is $17,000. Life is not fair.

Reply from Jack van Raders on September 25, 2008

I have one Account.and one card.All in one Credit card,savings card,cheque account. No pay back time if overdrawn the percentage starts strait away what my percentage is I do not know as I very seldom go over I can get overdrawn by 3000.- never been raised. I do not need it anyway.About time I send an other cheque. Pay Pal and I do not compute> do you accept visa card direct without going through Pay Pal? if so let me know. Lots of love light and have Fun. Jack

Reply from Gloria on September 27, 2008

Beloved Jack, you are a dear to ask. I will find out. I used to have something that did that, but I don’t know if it is current. I’ll get back to you. Thank you.

Reply from One on September 27, 2008

PayPal accepts Visa, Mastercard and American Express. When payment is made with one of those cards, even if one does not have an account with PayPal, PayPal will automatically create a free account for the payer.

These days I’m a little befuddled with money. My work however, requires me to have a basic understanding. There is every reason to use common sense and logic when working with the concept of money. It’s useful to investigate and learn from people who do know.

I have 3 credit cards and 1 debit card. 2 credit cards, I do not use. I keep only for the purpose of emergency business funding and am happy to pay the annual fees on them for this service.

The credit card that I do use, has my money in it and not the banks. This means that the bank pays me interest. In fact I get the highest interest on the money that I have in my credit card. So high that nobody believes me and very few people know about. I think it is a big secret that very few have discovered. Would you like to hear about it?

Ok, I can tell you, but it may not apply to other countries. This works in South Africa. I hope a banker does not read this and change the policy because I’m spilling the beans.

I get paid interest on a sliding scale on my credit card. I have put in enough money into the card to get paid the maximum interest on that sliding scale, which is 6.5% per month. I’ll repeat that. I get paid by the bank 6.5% a MONTH on money that I have “saved” in their credit card.

Even though that interest is taxed, it’s still one of the highest interest rates one can get from money stored in banks.

Here are a few other benefits I experience from this practice…
- my swipe transactions are free
- I earn voyager miles on spending my own money (I’m sure this is a mistake on their sides, so lets keep this between us)
- a credit card is so simple to carry around
- I can use my card anywhere in the world
- I can pay for things on the internet

Overall I think it is a very good service the bank is providing me. It’s almost like *they* are paying *me* to give them a chance to provide me with *their service*.

I’m sharing this little secret because I think it is a way for us to beat the banks. Credit is good only if it is not used. So instead of using the banks money, I suggest putting your own money into your credit cards, earning interest on it and being debt free.

Now there is a sinister side to this story. By using the above method I am in essence supporting the credit industry because the bank takes my money and lends it to people who borrow money and charge them an interest rate that is BLOODY MURDER. I redeem myself today, by sharing this secret with the whole world So if everybody would save their money in their credit cards, use that money and not the banks, we will soon own the banks.