TRUTH: The truth is, the system is designed to put us in debt. The system relies on us being in debt. Who remembers the stimulus plan? Does anyone also remember the point of the stimulus plan? I can tell you right off the top of my head, the point was NOT to get you to put that money into a savings account for the future. I can tell you right off the top of my head that the point was to get you to spend that money on TVs and cars and clothes and other junks you don’t really need.

I’m not saying it isn’t my fault too. I shouldn’t fall the consumerism crap in America, but I do. And so tens of millions of other Americans. It’s not a coincidence that so many Americans are in such bad debt these days. We’re convinced we need to spend more and more money on junk we don’t need in order to keep the economy from collapsing. Well, it’s neither your nor my responsibility to keep this economy afloat. The best thing I can do for this economy is to get myself out of debt.

The Truth Is Out There

LIE: Credit card debt will destroy my credit rating.

TRUTH: It ain’t helping, but credit ratings aren’t permanently etched in stone. If you focus on paying off your debt. If you close down extraneous accounts that are doing you no good. If you make good, smart, educated decisions about your budget and spend appropriately, your credit rating will come around. The worst thing you can do is think it’s permanently F’d up and just give up. Don’t ever give up.

LIE: Cutting up my credit card means I’ll never have to deal with it again.

TRUTH: Who doesn’t sadly think this is true? God, sometimes calling up the company and canceling the card isn’t enough, so it certainly doesn’t do anything to just cut up that card in your wallet. You have to cancel the account, and you have to demand written verification that the account has been canceled. You want to make absolutely certain that neither you nor some identity thief can go and use that card. And it doesn’t help your credit rating to have a card that is never used. It looks bad. It looks like the card has been maxed out.

LIE: One more card can’t hurt. I’ve been paying off the rest so well.

TRUTH: If you’re paying them off so well, then why do you think another card? Here’s the truth, having all those cards and spending using all the cards is going to kill your credit rating. Stop it right now. Don’t bother with a store card. You don’t need those stupid bonus points. Consider how much you’re probably paying in interest, and you’ll quickly realize those bonus points are at most a tiny, minuscule fraction of the interest and penalty fees you’re paying. Also, you don’t know what the future holds. Maybe you can afford all those cards now, but who says you’ll have your job in a month or two, or who says you won’t be hit with a pay cut? You always want to give yourself enough wiggle room, and you always want to have enough in savings that if you lost your job today, you’d be ok for at least the next six months.

And finally, let me add, Americans already have TOO MANY CREDIT CARDS.

And that’s the truth.

Eh?

The bill was for a $50 purchase from a year ago. And because I hadn’t paid this $50 purchase, I had accrued $200 in late fees. Nice. The thing is, the purchase made a year ago was not me. How could it be? I’d closed that account two years ago, right?  So I called the company, and I said, “Hey, I’ve closed this account.” To which, they said, “Uh, we have no record of that.” No record??? I explicitly remember closing the account. I remember cutting up the card. I remember it! But they had no record, so the person I had closed the account with had obviously lied, didn’t close the account, b.s.

Then, I explain to them, well, there’s no way I used the card a year ago, it’s been cut up and dead for at least two years. The guy on the other end tells me this little fact: you don’t need the store card to make a purchase with the card; all you need is an account with the store, and then if you give them your name, they will charge the card. That seems illegal on soooooooo many levels. So, anyone can just walk into your store, pretend you’re me, and if they luck out and I have an account, they can charge to it? Wow, talk about consumer protection.

So they tell me my only recourse is to file a complaint, and they’ll study what I’ve said, and if it seems the card was misused, they will strike the bill from my account. So I write up my complaint, and I send it in. I get a call 30 days later. The person says I was two weeks late in filing my complaint. That because I was late, there was nothing I could do, so they were going to have to just charge me the $250 no matter what. Was this some kind of crazy scam? I sent them the complaint as soon as they told me about it. How is it my fault it took them 30 days to look at it instead of within two weeks? Do I have to personally go down there and order them to read my complaint on time?

At this point, I’m so fed up with this company. I tell them, look, you just lost a customer for life. Even though I didn’t use your card anymore, I still made regular purchases at your store. But now I won’t. Not ever again, and that’s a bigger loss than this $250. They didn’t care. Said it was $300 because another 30 days had gone by. I was going to scream. I contacted the Better Business Bureau, and I filed a complaint.

I wanted to warn others not to fall for this trap. After only a few days, a representative of the company called me. They apologized profusely. Oh, you didn’t need to contact the better business bureau. We could have worked this out. There was no need to do that. They removed the $300 bill I owed them. Then, they asked if they could do anything for me. I told them, close my damn account this time! And this time, they sent me confirmation the account was closed.

So, I guess the moral of the story is, cry and complain and tattle-tale, because it’s the only way these companies give a crap.

M.

But then I realized that’s stupid. Why should I feel bad that they’re not going to take my money anymore? Why should I feel bad that I’m not going to pay their ridiculously high interest rates on this store card? It dawned on me that this was less like a bad prom date and more like liberation. It felt good. It felt like I was breaking out of prison or something, like I’d gained some small measure of my freedom back by denying this company my money. They don’t need it. They don’t deserve it. They make SOOOOOOOOO much money without me.

Now, here’s one trick I learned from closing credit accounts. Always make sure the account is actually closed. I’ve previously closed a couple small accounts, and after thinking the account was closed, I would later receive a balance statement in the mail, or I’d get an updated card. When you call these people, I think maybe they get in trouble if too many accounts are closed on their watch, so if begging and pleading with you to keep the account open doesn’t work, they’ll just lie and tell you they’ve closed the account when they haven’t. Ug. So I’ve gotten in the habit of always asking for written proof that my account is closed. Also, I’ll usually call back the company a day or two later and just ask, “Hey is my account closed?” I’m not taking any chances. There’s too much identity theft these days. Even if I’m not using the account, if it’s open, that provides someone else with the opportunity to use it. It’s like turning down that guy you can’t stand for prom, showing up to prom, and realizing you’re still with that guy.

Ok, enough with the prom metaphors. Is it a coincidence my high school reunion is coming up???

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It makes me sick. Why do we live like this? Why do we have a system that relies on us spending all of our money on crap? I don’t need any more crap, but apparently, if I don’t go out and buy more crap, then the market will crash and it will be entirely my fault. No one’s telling me that if I don’t put money in my savings account, then the market will crash. No one’s telling me if I don’t invest in stocks or a retirement plan, then the market will crash.

I guess what it boils down to is despite having no money, a crappy job, and bills up to my eyeballs, if the corporate pigs aren’t making giant profits this holiday season off my credit cards, then they might have to wait another year before they upgrade the yacht, buy that small polynesian country, purchase his 10th home in the Hamptons, and waterski on the bloated corpses of all us poor people who are dying just to get by.

Why don’t these so-called “experts” just be honest and say if there’s not enough spending this holiday season then some CEO might have a slightly smaller golden parachute when he bails out of his failing corporation and that means a bunch of rich folks won’t be happy.

We wouldn’t want that.

WOW!!! Great for them. Wonderful.

I wish I could say the same for me. I’ll probably have to rely on credit though to make any purchases. My debt and student loan situation has become so bad that I have hardly enough money left over for rent, food and other bills. If I don’t turn to plastic to make at least some of my purchases, I won’t be able to buy anything… !!! And I know I shouldn’t, but could I really go a Christmas without getting anyone anything? Even if I go dirt cheap and make people gifts this year, I’m still going to be digging out the plastic because trust me (I’ve looked) there isn’t even any cash between my couch cushions anymore. I think last week I took what quarters I had left between the cushions, and I purchased a sandwich from mcdonalds.

Yes, that’s my life. Not even a quarter to my name.

M.

Ok, so I’m counting. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…12. My god. I have 12 credit cards. 1 is a bank card. Does that count? Probably. 3 are legitimate credit cards. One I have for frequent flyer miles (because I can afford to travel, lol). Two are just regular mastercard and visa. And the remaining 8 cards are all store cards. Store cards are the worst offenders: high interest rates, huge late fees. And they suck you in. You don’t really think it’s a credit card when you’re buying it, and you always get that huge discount when you open the card.

I can think of at least five of these cards where I was like, “Well, I don’t really want the card, but that 20% discount is tempting…I’ll just get the card for this one purchase and then…” but then nothing. I end up using the card all the time.

Ok, here’s my promise, every day from now until Christmas, I cut up one of these store cards. Why do I need 8 store cards? I don’t think I even have any money available on any of these cards. I think they’re all maxed out. I’m in a cold sweat just thinking about it.

So, today’s goal: cut up the Victoria’s Secret card, call up the company and cancel the card, sigh a huge sigh of relief. And then have myself a good cry.

M.