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Advice

Cancel Your Credit Cards (No — wait, they won’t let you go.)

Posted November 24, 2008

Let’s talk about credit cards for a moment. Granted, they’re the Devil’s tool and they’ll lure us onto a path of debt-overload-to-the-point-of-financial-instability-or-even-insanity.

It doesn’t matter why you have them, you’ve got to get rid of them. (First, The Whiner signed up because it was a badge of adulthood. Then we kept adding them on because the more you had, the more you could buy, especially when they were offering those special sign-up deals for new cardholders. And then one day, we finally said, “Enough!” And set out to cancel our cards. It would have been easier to leap onto a speeding train, overpower the conductor, hijack the passengers, and steer the locomotive down to the Caribbean for a fun-filled weekend at the beach.)

It makes a lot of sense to get rid of your credit cards, whether that means cutting them up in little pieces, burning them in a smelly melting-pot, or threading them, one at a time, into a super-duper shredder. After all, the credit card industry is in mayhem right now, with so many financial problems that, naturally, they’re looking for all kinds of beneficial (to them) ways to stick it to their customers (raising interest rates, lowering credit limits, charging higher fees, and so on).

Even without all their recent customer (dis)incentives, getting rid of your cards (along with their extraordinarily high interest charges) is one of the best budget-boosters you can find. Stop paying interest charges and you’ll be amazed how much more money you have for other essentials.

And yet, and yet, and yet. Just consider The Whiner’s experience this summer, when we set out to break the addiction and live a credit-card-free lifestyle (minus one card that we would keep for emergencies-only). Thanks to a home financing that squeaked in before the credit markets ground to a halt, we had the money to pay for this plan (plus some other essential matters). We thought the rest would be easy.

Let’s set the stage for this unbelievably annoying consumer saga by explaining our ground rules. We know ourselves well and therefore we knew that just cutting up those damn cards wouldn’t be enough. After all, as long as we stayed on those companies’ mailing lists, we would keep getting sales catalogues and enticing offers. Sooner or later, we would succumb to temptation. No, we needed to cancel the accounts so that the companies — Gap, Best Buy, all the big department stores, and more — would forget that we existed and we could forget about them in turn.

With this objective in place, we made a list of our credit cards and embarked upon a two-phase plan. Phase one: Pay off the entire balance on the account. (To state the obvious, you can’t close an account if you owe the company any money at all.) Phase two: As soon as the following month’s statement arrived, showing a zero balance, add it to a “ready-to-call” pile that kept getting bigger and bigger.

Since we don’t have a lot of spare time, we set out to cancel just two or three cards a day (yes, we had quite a few). Then we started learning the hard way that credit-card companies don’t want to let you go. So although they’ll sign you up quicker than it takes to breeze through your morning shower, they make it really, really difficult and extraordinarily time-consuming to cancel that account. You could probably install a shower faster than you can cancel some accounts.

We soon realized that tackling one-a-day was a more reasonable summer challenge. Typically, the experience would go something like this: Call customer service, get a recording (of course), hear no option that sounds even remotely close to the one you need to shut down the account.

Listen to the options again. Finally choose something that sounds like it would get to a real person. (This is usually along the lines of, “are you calling about a problem?” or “are you calling to add new features?”). Of course, you’ll need to wait a while before someone picks up. Sometimes, the wait is very long. But this is what it takes to get through to someone or other, whoever that person may be, since you need to be able to tell a real person they’re the wrong person, however, since you’re calling to cancel your account.

When you get to that person, you can count on two things. First, they’re going to say, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” They all say this. It’s like they go through robo-training in the hope that you’ll say, “Oh, thanks. Okay, goodbye now” and hang up. When you don’t say that, they tell you, “I’m not the right person for you to talk to. But if you’ll hold on, I’ll transfer you to someone who can help you.”

You say, “thank you.” But — once you’ve done this a few times — you’ll know that this second person will be the wrong person, too. Hopefully, you’ve got a cup of coffee by your side and you’re multitasking in some way or other. This is a long process.

You’ll be listening to elevator music for a while, of course, but the second person eventually will pick up the phone. Predictably, you’ll go through all the usuals: What’s your account number, your name, your mother’s maiden name, your birthday? (Sorry, we forgot to mention this — that first wrong person will have asked you all this information too, just on general principle.)

You’ll say, “I’m calling to cancel my credit card.” They’ll say, “Oh I’m sorry to hear that.” (Yes, we know. This is a truly agonizing and yet utterly predictable process. Just go with the flow.) Just wait. More will be coming.

This person will then say something along the lines of: “We’d like to offer you a (fill-in-the-blanks here, but it will be something good: 15% shopping discount card, higher credit line, one-month-free-of-interest-charges).”

You say, “Thank you very much. But I’ve decided to cancel all my credit cards.”

They say, “Your relationship is very important to us.” Now, because The Whiner is weak, very weak, and will do anything to get off a telephone call that is taking too long, we tend to say “Of course I’ll always be shopping at your store but I prefer right now to be doing it with cash. It isn’t anything against you guys. I’ll always be your customer. I just want to get rid of my credit cards.”

You would think this would be enough to wrap things up. But no. No. No. No. This is usually the point in the conversation where the second person says, “I’m so sorry to hear this. But, of course, I understand. I just need to transfer you to someone who can help you.”

At this point, of course, you’re practically suicidal. But you say, “thank you,” and keep holding because, if you hang up now — as we were sometimes forced to do — you’ll need to start from square one if you want to get this card canceled.

So, more of the same. You hold for a really long time. Eventually that third person picks up the phone. You go through the usual: Cardholder’s name. Mother’s maiden name. Your birthday. Your account number. Your address and phone number.

Sometimes, if they want to make you really crazy, they ask you your secret security question. (There was actually one time when The Whiner was so frazzled that we got confused about the name of our first pet — Opie, forgive us — and the woman refused to cancel the account. So we did indeed need to start all over again, after a few quick phone calls to family members and a few moments of banging our head against the wall.)

But if you’ve made it this far and you’re still thinking coherently, you’ll be close to the finish line. It’s a good bet that this person will try to talk you out of it one last time. He or she will offer the same goodies, maybe even better goodies. If that fails, there may be scare tactics: “Are you aware that if we close this account it may be some time before we can consider a new application from you again?” They’ll remind you about their special rewards programs. Their great sales for cardholders. They’ll miss you.

This is where you robo-talk them. Just say “thank you,” “I know,” “I’m sorry” in whatever order seems to work best. Eventually, they’ll cave in and close the account. (Not always, though. Macy’s sticks out in our minds for how extraordinarily difficult they made the process. They refused to close the account until they launched an “investigation” to make sure that we didn’t owe anything we were hiding. That added months to the process.)

Yes, we’re credit-card-free now. But we’re left with one unforgettable memory of what we think of as our credit-card-from-hell-summer: One woman, one company, no names (after all, she’d probably get fired if we identified her). We told her that we wanted to cancel our credit card because of everything that was going on with the economy.

She replied, “Oh honey, I completely understand. These credit cards can kill you. The economy is so awful. We’ve all got to do what we can to survive. You’re absolutely right to scale back on these cards. Let me go right ahead and cancel your account.” Give that woman the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Whiner wants to know: How do you feel about credit cards? Any companies you love to hate? Experiences you’d like to share?

Reader Comments

  1. morrison

    I canceled all my credit cards back in 2001. No mortgage either. Or car loan. My FICO score is zero: shows no consumer history for eight years.

    All I need is my debit card and my Visa/Mastercard Check/Debit card. All backed by actual cash in the bank. I’ve been to Europe several times, book airlines, hotel rooms, eat out, shop online. Credit cards are just so overrated.

    Don’t need them. Don’t use them. I see how well it’s been working out for American Express, Citibank, Discover, yada, yada, yada. They should all crash and burn.

  2. Susannah

    Morrison, I’m jealous. I fantasize all the time about canceling my cards. But I don’t have the spare cash to do it. To be honest, I can’t even pay them off. I try not to use them, but sometimes I can’t live up to that either. I get mad every time I get those bills every month.

  3. chris

    We did this back in the early-mid 1990’s. Cancelled everything but one card each. Every 4-5 years we open an account for something like computer or television to get the deferred interest, pay it all off within the period of 3-6 months that are granted and then immediately call them up to cancel the card. Next up – paying cash for the next car we buy.

  4. Hilary

    The worst experience we had was Discover – they would never let the balance get to zero, so it was impossible to know the exact number to send the final check. So say we had $25.00 on the card and sent in a check for that amount. They would accumulate interest in the intervening time, so the amount due would be something like $26.67 – and we’d still have a balance due.

    What we finally had to do was to send in a check that was *over* what we owed and they would issue a refund check. Which, as you might expect, took weeks to get to us.

  5. Larry

    Agree that credit cards should be used modestly. One thing to watch out for with those store cards you sign up for so you get a 10 or 15 percent discount on initial purchases. If you don’t ever use them, they still can shop up on your credit report as existing cards. Even if there is a zero balance, this will lower your credit rating by a few points.

  6. Hope

    I’m confused. I heard Suze Orman say cancelling credit cards will lower your FICO score. We have quite a few that just sit, but I’ve been reluctant to cancel them. How does it affect your credit score to cancel all but one or two cards? (Example: GE credit for 12 interest free months on household appliances. Paid off within the 12 months, no balance. Lord & Taylor store card, no L&T near me anymore, no balance; only used when visiting NYC.) Can someone please clarify this?

  7. Jack Jr.

    My understanding is, the more cards you have, the higher your potential borrowing is – and that works against you because you could always go out and charge up a storm. So if you don’t use a card and don’t need it, you’re always better off canceling it.

  8. matts

    I don’t think cancelling cards is such a good idea. Morrison below says s/he has no credit history (and no FICO score) for the past eight years. How on earth will you get a mortgage then?

    Suze Orman recommends cutting up the cards (and, obviously, not using them anymore) but not cancelling. That preserves your credit history AND prevents you from frivolous spending. This sounds good to me.

  9. LH

    DO NOT CANCEL YOUR CARDS unless you truly have zero debt on any accounts whatsoever, and you have no plans of making any major purchases (for which you might need a loan) any time soon, like the next ten years. Definitely stop using them; cut them up if you have to, but canceling credit cards can backfire on you big time.

    I was told that it was better for me credit to not have many open, so I closed one that was raising its APR. This lowered my FICO score because my total debt became a larger proportion of the total credit I had available. The change in my score sent up a red flag and caught the attention of my other credit card, who very suddenly cut my credit line in half — to within a few dollars of the current balance. They also raised my APR to 30%, making my minimum payment very high. There was nothing I could do about it, like transferring the balance elsewhere, because now no one else would issue me a credit line. Since my debt was now 100% of my available credit, my FICO score was trashed. This had all been an attempt to be responsible, and I got completely screwed over.

    The ins and outs of credit scores are pretty retarded in my opinion, but the way they work is the way they work. Don’t let this happen to you.

  10. Gooch

    A few reasons to keep cards, even with 0 balance:

    1 – Car rentals
    Let’s say your car is totaled, and you need that rental feature form your car insurance. Enterprise, which is standard for many insurance companies, will not take a debit card for the deposit on the rental unless they do an employment verification.

    2 – Credit Score
    This is tricky. One problem is, the algorithms used for FICO scores are proprietary. While Eloan of freecreditreport.com will tell you good v bad on your report, you have no way of calculating your own score. As far as I understand things, it is good to always have at least a few major cards hanging around, even with a 0 balance.

    3 – Emergencies
    Even though they should only be a last resort, it is good to have that extra space in case of an emergency. My own example is what was listed above – a totaled car. I was able to quickly get a replacement vehicle, and will even profit a bit from the insurance check. However, I am living on my CC for a few days until that check comes through.

    4 – Rewards
    One of my methods is to use a rewards card, pay it off in full each month, and then reap the rewards. I spend enough annually to make the cost of the rewards (JetBlue flights) more than the annual fee.

    Using credit as a regular crutch, however, should always be avoided.

  11. Gooch

    LH –

    One of the ideas that has some support in the Obama administration is to make what happened to you illegal. It is scam that a decision you make with one card can suddenly affect your entire debt picture, sometimes arbitrarily.

  12. amy

    Whiner, I’m blinking at your post in disbelief. I would suggest that before you make any more decisions that have to do with financial instruments, loans, credit, etc., you run it by someone knowledgeable and friendly.

    1. A significant component of your credit score is the length of your credit relationships. A card held for 15 years shows you’re more financially stable and trustworthy than a card held for 2 years. By cancelling all your cards, you’ve just severed most or all of your long-term credit relationships, and will have to start fresh.

    Consequences: As others have noted, the lower FICO score. This means higher interest rates if, next year, you find you must take out a loan; it also means that if prospective employers use FICO as a quick-and-dirty on the credit check, you’ve shot yourself in the foot.

    I expect much of the FICO nonsense to change in the next few years, but you’ll still have to live through them, and it’s not a great time to be throwing lifejackets overboard.

    I would suggest signing up for one of the FICO/credit monitoring agencies to see what, if any, effect this move has had on your score, and (if it’s a problem) what you can do to fix it. Give it several weeks for the news to hit the credit reporting agencies.

    2. What are you going to do if you need to travel and you don’t have cash in your bank account? Here’s a very common scenario from the last major recession, and one that will be playing soon in Detroit: Needing to travel 1500 mi to a job interview without having cash in hand for travel expenses. Sure, you’ll have the money at the end of the month, but that doesn’t help you when the lady on the phone wants you to come out for an interview pronto.

    3. Same question if you/family member are seriously ill, need meds today, and you have no money today. Yes, a lot of people get into serious trouble that way. I can tell you, though, that I’d pick financial ruin over physical ruin any day. Any day. And the cards are much cheaper to deal with than the money-shop guys are.

    It seems to me you’ve gone way overboard here, when all you needed to do was to get in touch with DMA and have them put you on the no-mail list. Then you wouldn’t have gotten so many catalogues in the mail.

    Finally, if you genuinely cannot stop yourself from spending money you don’t have on crap you don’t need, to the point of self-harm — if it’s a compulsion or addiction — I would recommend therapy. They actually have people now who specialize in this.

  13. lee

    This was recommended as a site to get advice during these times, written by an economist, no less. It’s advice, all right — BAD advice. I’ll stick with Suze Orman.

  14. Sally B.

    Holy Cow! My friend Beth Seetch just sent me your website after I sent out a mass e-mail about the perils of buying “gift cards” and the hell I went through, wasting 45 minutes of my day trying to cancel an unsolicited Mastercard from Ann Taylor. I went through the same exact experience – tons of prompts that had nothing to do with canceling, pushing # after # which never gave me the option to cancel the card, then finally got a customer service rep who said “oh, you called the wrong number – you have the Ann Taylor Loft Mastercard, and we only handle the regular AT Loft card, so she gave me a different number to call.

    I called that number and went through the same 25 minutes or so of prompts, hitting # after #, and the only difference in the end was that this was ENTIRELY automated – I never got a rep, but finally got to the (and this was of course the last option)”if you wish to cancel your card, please enter. . . .”. I thought I’d go insane and really wanted to just hang up – but I’m glad I didn’t because it ended with “your account has been closed and we will contact the credit bureaus”.

    I have 2 credit cards, one for personal use and one for business use. I’m thinking of canceling my biz card as I am self-employed and can just keep careful track of my biz expenses on my personal card. At least I get cash back on my personal card and have never in 20-plus years bought what I couldn’t afford (only twice, during two moves, did I let the balance slide – for one month).

    P.S. Also had a really bad experience with Discover card many years ago. There I was just paying bill after bill and as I went to pay the Discover card bill I looked at it again (first thought it was my personal Mastercard) and thought “how can this be? – I NEVER applied for or owned a Discover card. So of course I called them and they demanded to know my SS# and my mother’s maiden name. I asked why I should give them any personal information when if they check my address they’ll see I don’t have an account with them. I was given to a supervisor who actually got nasty with me and said “if you don’t give us the information we’ve asked for we’ll go after you for the amount of the bill”. I was livid, but I gave her the info, and guess what? I was passed along to another person why explained that my info checked out, that someone with my name who lived in the Bronx (I lived in Manhattan) disappeared without paying their bill, so they did a search for people with my name in the NY area and chose to send ME the bill! I too was working 10-plus hours a day, in addition to my everyday chores and I wish I had gone to the news with that story (like “Shame on You”), but instead I demanded they send me a letter admitting their mistake – that took two or three calls and all I finally got was a statement that I did not have an account with them – no letter of apology – nothing but a sheet (which I still have on file). Needless to say, I’d never apply for a Discover card.

    On a more favorable note – I was sent an Emigrant Direct Mastercard when I opened an account with them a few years ago, but I never used it. I just received a letter that due to lack of activity on my account, it has been closed, please cut up the card. It’s a pleasure doing business with Emigrant Direct.

  15. Tom

    When I have a issue with a company, I generally write a letter, paper and ink, not email. It generally is shorter than waiting for an eternity on hold on some 800 number. If I feel strong about an issue, I write a letter to the CEO, president of the company. I doubt if he or she ever sees the letter, but I am sure that whoever he or she sends it to will more likely listen to the president of the company then me. If I were canceling a credit card, I would send it certified, attached the receipt to the letter and the last statement, throw it in a drawer and forget about it.

  16. Laura A.

    My husband and I have been debt-free for years. We own everything outright.
    I recently cancelled our American Express cards. Haven’t used them for years
    and don’t see the point of shelling out $85 per year for something I don’t use.
    To their credit, (pun intended) it was very clear which option to enter to reach
    a representative who cancelled my cards without giving me grief. She even told
    me that if I changed my mind Amex would be happy to reinstate my account.

    We still have a personal credit card ($14 annual) which we pay off each month,
    and a business credit card (no annual fee). Keep a couple of credit cards.
    Pay off the balance each month.

    BTW we have a Chevron credit card which we also pay off monthly. Be sure
    you’re never late paying this one! They charge a PUNITIVE fee of $30!

  17. Rebecca

    I had a credit line that I paid off, but kept open. Then I read in the NY Times that credit companies were revoking credit lines of customers like me (in great standing, but haven’t used the credit card in a while). So I called them to make sure all was well, and sure enough, they had completely revoked my credit line.
    Just so ya know…

  18. George Topor

    If you want to cancel a CC. Usually best to cancel the ones you have had the least amount of time first. Before you enter the telephone maze try checking the little printed booklets that tell you how you may close an account, or check the web site. You might just be able to close the account by mail. That would be nice.

  19. amy

    Aha, I see I missed the “keeping one for emergency use only”.

    Whiner, that’s called “having a credit card”, not “being credit-card free”. I’m glad to see you kept one. It does make me wonder, though, if the “it doesn’t count if I just ______” is part of what’s getting you guys in so much trouble repeatedly. It’s a common enough problem — I’ve “meant” to lose about three pounds for a year and a half now, but at some point each day I decide it doesn’t count if I just have _____ because ______. This is utter bullshit, of course, and is reflected in the fact that my pants are still snug.

  20. The Whiner

    Amy, Possible future articlet: Econo diets? We’d like to help you with those three pounds.

    Sally B, what a story. We “love” the way the credit card company was trying to get you to tell them all your personal details when you never even opened the account to begin with. Doesn’t it sometimes seem as though these credit card companies are one step removed from scam artists?

    When financial companies have been making bad business decisions and throwing ridiculous credit lines at consumers for years now, why are we the ones who are supposedly to blame for the credit-card crisis? Kind of reminds us of asinine anti-Whiner Phil Gramm who deregulated the economy right down into the crapper (or George Will, when he said that Americans are the “crybabies of the Western world” — thanks, George!)

    Meanwhile, anyone else have any credit card stories to share? The gorier, the better (we know you have them).

  21. dd

    You can estimate your FICO score at this site:
    http://www.bankrate.com/brm/fico/calc.asp
    You should always keep your credit card that you have had the longest. They tend to keep increasing your credit limit the longer you hold the card, so having one or two cards is easier. Pay off the credit card balance each month unless you like to pay double digit interest rates.

    As for canceling a card, write a letter and send it by certified mail. Make sure you write in your letter that you do not wish to be contacted by e-mail, phone, or mail with any marketing material by the company or any entity that “shares” information with the credit card company after the card is canceled. And don’t under any circumstances cash a check from the credit card company, as you may be unknowingly buying disability insurance or life insurance. I’ve had to do this for my mother, who inadvertently signed up for disability insurance (she’s retired) and reopened her credit card account. Don’t waste your time on the phone.

    Add your kids to your credit card, so that they can start out with a great credit score when they get their own credit card (from the same credit card company).

  22. Britty

    Macy’s….egads, Macy’s!I ended up with their card only after they unceremoniously absorbed Chicago’s great Marshall Field’s. I used the card once, and when I went to pay it off online, found that the amount I owed was one dollar more than the amount I had charged. As near as I can figure — and this is from reading the paper statement — that extra buck is a finance charge that I would owe in the event I failedto pay the minimum payment due on time. So just in case I wasn’t paying attention, they’re gonna get that buck up front? What in the world is that all about? I’d love to cancel the darn thing, but now that I read about your experience, I think I’ll just let it fester in a drawer until the loathsome Macy’s is in turned absorbed by some other entity.

    The one other credit card I have is a Visa that’s been around for 25 years now, no annual fee, and I try to pay the balance in full every month. It hasn’t given me any trouble, and I spend remarkably little time thinking about it. File under “Necessary Evil,” I guess.

  23. Britty

    Macy’s….egads, Macy’s! I ended up with their card only after they unceremoniously absorbed Chicago’s great Marshall Field’s. I used the card once, and when I went to pay it off online, found that the amount I owed was one dollar more than the amount I had charged. As near as I can figure — and this is from reading the paper statement — that extra buck is a finance charge that I would owe in the event I failed to pay the minimum payment due on time. So just in case I wasn’t paying attention, they’re gonna get that buck up front? What in the world is that all about? I’d love to cancel the darn thing, but now that I read about your experience, I think I’ll just let it fester in a drawer until the loathsome Macy’s is in turned absorbed by some other entity.

    The one other credit card I have is a Visa that’s been around for 25 years now, no annual fee, and I try to pay the balance in full every month. It hasn’t given me any trouble, and I spend remarkably little time thinking about it. File under “Necessary Evil,” I guess.

  24. amy

    Cognitive Dissonance Alert:

    “Citi is wonderful, it’s a great company, we and our spouses have worked there forever, how could we ever leave.”

    “Banks A-Z are horrible bloodsucking leeches.”

    Ahem.

  25. Sunshine

    We had one that actually DIDN’T cancel, even though I did all that, plus sent cancellation in writing, by certified mail. They actually had the nerve to send me a letter telling me how glad they were to be doing business with me and looked forward to years of our relationship in the future. WTF?

    Is that even legal?

    Indentured servitude is alive and well. With 30% interest rates being common and usual, you’d better get out now, while you can.

  26. D. Kostrikn

    I’ve been down the credit card cancellation road, and then was told by a financial adviser, that was the wrong thing to do. It will show up on your credit report, sounding as if you were canccelled by the card co., so it shows up negatively.It is better to cut the card up ,(I use my Staples shredder) and never think of it again. When I kept getting blank checks from several accounts, even after I’d closed them, I wrote to demand they stop sending them. They also made me glad I had a shredder..just think,VAMPIRE, and treat the card cos appropriately.

  27. Hope

    We keep a Sears Mastercard so my husband can Christmas shop in secret every year. (I manage the finances and admit to being a bit of a Nazi on that front. There isn’t much privacy when the charges show up online immediately, poor man. But he has a great accountant.) This year we pulled it out and looked at the interest rate (24%), and called to cancel it. After shifting him to two people, they lowered the rate to 6.99, so we decided to keep it awhile. They do really argue when you try to cancel, though. It’s held by Citi, so I don’t suppose they want to lose customers at this point.

  28. Jeff

    We treat credit cards like debit cards. Whenever we charge something on our rewards credit card we deduct it from our checking account. Then we can pay the bill when it comes in and we have much more credit available than we could ever use, except if the roof blows off or something else catastrophic strikes. It took 20 years or so of paying finance charges to figure this out though.

  29. Nancy

    I’ve cancelled credit cards in the past, and I thought it was actually quite easy.

    The thing is, lose the phone.

    Type up a one-page letter that references your credit card account number, tell them you want it cancelled right away, and also tell them you’re enclosing the cut-up credit cards. (I’d usually just cut them once, so they could see the names on them or whatever.)

    No problems. Maybe things have changed, since I haven’t cancelled one since…I don’t know when.

    I applaud you for being able to pay off some of your credit cards. No such luck here, where my husband has been out of work since last March (long, long story there as to why), and I just recently got out of the hospital (major health issues; thank goodness for health plans, or we’d be completely bankrupt instead of just mostly bankrupt, lol).

    Once my husband finds a job, though, I’m thinking of negotiating settlements on most of our credit cards (which means banking some money away and letting whichever card we choose to go delinquent for a while), but we’re not at that point as yet, alas.

    Good luck to you!

  30. Sally B.

    Well folks, all I can say is if you DON’T NEED IT ABSOLUTELY DON’T BUY IT!! I’ve been the victim of credit card scams and B.S. as I said in my former posting, but my policy has been to keep as few (in my case 2) credit cards as possible, and if you’re happy with one keep it for the long term – they will give you the best customer service. Also, how about all of those credit card checks that come in the mail offering you a discount if you transfer to their card? I’ve lambasted Bank of America for that (as has my husband) many times. I mean, how easy is it for people to steal your mail and not only get your account number, but a CHECK to transfer what you owe (I’m bleary eyed from Thanksgiving still and I don’t know the implications – but I don’t want those transfer checks coming in attached to my credit card bill – somehow I think they could cause trouble down the line). SO, how do we get control of all this nonsense? Any ideas?? I for one do not have the time or desire to send certified letters. My Emigrant Direct card was canceled because I never used it. When I call them I get fantastic personalized customer service. Contrary to what one of the other “whiners” wrote, I believe they did it in the best interest of their customer. Since my Citibank MC (with cash back) has been with me for over 20 years, and I and my husband both have accounts with BOAmerica, we’re not worried about them either as we’ve made it very clear to them we’d pull all of our accounts if they messed with us (and we will). Banks can’t afford to lose customers anymore. Main point being, unless there is an emergency situation, think twice before booking that expensive vacation, buying that big screen TV, etc., unless you CAN AFFORD TO PAY IT OFF RIGHT AWAY. I/we enjoy our cash back on our 2 cards while paying no interest. We could get the news teams more involved with this – they have been helpful (CNN giving advice to consumers with credit problems and warning them about the scam artist “credit counselors” (never ever pay for credit counseling – there are plenty of free services you can Google in your county that will work with you and your creditor to set up a deal you can handle). Meanwhile, as I said before, I set up rules in my life years ago, slam dunked them into my husband’s head once we got married, and we are blissfully debt free.

  31. Nano

    I hate them all. Especially when they know you need them, and they raise their interest rates. Bank of America made me the most angry, however. I like their bank, hate their mastercard branch. They actually raised my rates because I had the audacity to pay EARLY by one day in the month – which they then said I paid twice in one month and therefore was late. Needless to say, they are now gone. In fact we are in the beautiful position of owing nothing, not even our mortgage. Yay!

  32. Suz Ledbetter

    We paid off and canceled all credit cards a year ago. FICO score? Who needs it? Only someone planning to go in debt again. A debit card works just fine for car rentals, airline tickets, online shopping, any other type expense. An emergency savings account fund covers . . . well, emergencies. Routine expenditures are budgeted and paid in cash. In addition, home utility billing was changed to averaged rate: we know exactly how much the gas and electric bill will be. Sure, mild months, we pay more than we would on standard billing, but far less during a heat wave or cold snap.

    Credit cards are not necessary evils. They’re debt waiting to happen. No FICO score and you want a mortgage? Go for manual underwriting–which was the manner by which mortgagers loaned money before the idiotic and innocuous FICO score was invented to the benefit of lenders. If your mortgager won’t provide manual underwriting, find another lender. Simple.

    By the way, we’ve been battling Bank of America for 13 months regarding an account paid off and closed Nov. ‘07. Charges we didn’t make or authorize were added Feb.Mar ‘08. No statement was mailed until July, showing late fees for nonpayment of those charges to the tune of $499. I think months of calling, letter writing, notifying states attorney generals and etc. have resolved it, but wouldn’t bet on it. I will happily, joyously never, ever have a credit card again.

  33. Suz Ledbetter

    Umm, why would anyone teach children to be in debt? And enable them to go into future debt, thanks to a great FICO score? I realize that sounds judgmental, but is truly a different way of looking at finances–i.e., our grandparents and possibly parents loathed credit. They saved for rainy days and large purchases, including mortgage downpayments and vehicles. The tactile sensation of hard-earned cash leaving one’s palm is far greater than zipping a chunk of plastic through a magnetic reader–which credit card companies count on and we’ve bought into wholesale, so to speak. Make a, say, $400 monthly car payment to yourself for 10 months and you can buy a $4000 car (likely sticker-dickered down some, as you’re paying cash.) Keep up those $400 payments to yourself and in another ten months, trade it and the $4000 car for an $8000 one. If that’s not yet to the dream wheels category, keep saving and trading until it is. With this formula, slightly delayed gratification would net an excellent, paid-for vehicle in a relatively short time.

    Look at purchases as debt dollar amount accruing, rather than monthly payments’ (alleged) affordability. That’s the carrot; the debtload is a really big stick beating you for years.

  34. JC

    Late breaking news flash! Sooz Orman is having a going out of business sale. All her patented bad advice is half-off until further notice.