that's what i was going to say. my bank keeps trying to give me money. I owe them, you know, a few *thousand* dollars (although not on credit cards, phew, only a bit there ;), don't own anything but my shoes and my bed, and yet! They think I'm awesome. Apparently they don't remember those letter of suing I got in my early twenties ;)
That's what's so depressing, to me: I went through all this, with the credit cards AND the loans, and I got them all paid off, and then I moved to Chicago and racked up CC debt again and went back for my Master's.
They'll remember a different truth if you ever ask them for more than they want to give you. My credit card company remembers I told them I was unemployed, even though I was still making every payment for more than the minimum, so I still have a crazy high interest rate.
I foolishly tried to get enough of a credit limit that I could pay for something big, if need be, while in Italy. The card with a $700 limit that I'd never let be paid late or go over the limit, it wouldn't give me a cent more. Does that make sense? Luckily I had a card that was being paid off from a high balance that had a ridiculous limit, so it came along instead. I think the moral of the story is 'be carefully extravagant."
Switch cards! I noticed I had 31% APR on my HSBC credit card--which I've had since my freshman year in college--so I went to my husband's bank, got approved for a Visa Platinum with a non-stupid APR, then transferred my balance over to that account. Now I'm looking forward to the phone call in which I demand HSBC drop my APR back down to non-existent. OR ELSE.
(Though apparently it's unwise to close the account? Because having the same credit card open for decades improves your credit score? Well whatever--I can still keep the account open but threaten to put the card in the cuisinart and never use it again. No interest for you, HSBC! You loan-sharking bastards.)
Yeah, i'm much better at not carrying a balance any more, so I'm thinking of keeping the high-rate amazon card for things I pay off right away (cause free amazon money! And also, I have nothing better that I want rewards for) and getting something different for my daily card uses with a sensible rate (and maybe airline miles). Unfortunately, I now have a chase card with a high rate and a bank of america card with a high rate, and that pretty much limits the low rate cards you can find out there, bastards!
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 09:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 09:32 pm (UTC)Must. Sell. More. Books.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 09:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 09:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 09:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 09:47 pm (UTC)Yay money!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-12 06:12 pm (UTC)Sayeth the girl off to rack up MORE student loans. Gah.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-12 11:04 pm (UTC)I will NOT be pursuing a PhD.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 09:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 09:50 pm (UTC)Wait . . .
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 10:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 10:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 10:30 pm (UTC)(Though apparently it's unwise to close the account? Because having the same credit card open for decades improves your credit score? Well whatever--I can still keep the account open but threaten to put the card in the cuisinart and never use it again. No interest for you, HSBC! You loan-sharking bastards.)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-11 10:36 pm (UTC)