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Friday, November 25, 2011

My notice to credit card companies

Dear credit card companies:

I am done being a slave to you. You don't care about me you just care about how much money I'm going to give you. You are sneaky bastards. You hide behind complicated contracts so the consumer has no idea what they are actually signing up for. You hike interest rates for no reason. I'm looking at you Macys card. I always pay on time and you raised my interest rate for no reason. When I asked why you told me that everyone's interest rate went up.

You sit there and lie. You claim that it is important to do the best you can for your customer. It's quite insulting that you even pretend you care. You give politicians money so they won't pass laws that hurt your chances of screwing over the consumer. Why would a politician look out for our best interest when we are not funding their campaign for re-election? It's disgusting how much banks are tied up in our politics.

So this is me, telling you I'm done. We're done! Here's how I plan to finally be DONE with you:

The government is not going to put credit card companies and banks in their place but you can do something about it. Pay off your credit cards. I'm going to have to tighten my belt if I want to get this done but I know I can do it. I don't want to be giving banks my money. I want all that money I pay in interest to go into my bank account. It may take me a few years and I'm going to have to make sacrifices but to be free from debt will feel so amazing. Then I'm going to use my cash back card and pay off my balance every month (I'm doing this with one card right now) so the bank will be paying me to use their card.

I will never use Bank of America. If you can, use a local bank. You'll be helping local businesses and helping to end the tight grip these huge banks have on our society. Learn more here.

I'm working hard on setting up an emergency fund. This is one reason why I got into credit card debt. I would have a big car repair bill and I would charge it because I didn't have the money in savings. No more!

I feel like a movement is starting. People are tired of being a slave to banks and credit cards. The government is not going to help us but we can help ourselves.

4 comments:

  1. This is all excellent advice. I've always used credit cards as a convenience, not as a loan. You have some buyer's protection in case something goes wrong and you don't have to carry around wads of cash. Plus, unlike a debit card, you can easily make sure the purchases are valid before paying the bill.

    I couldn't agree with you more about BoA. I have a mortgage through them and I regret it. Initially, they were the biggest pains in the you know what to deal with. It's not even that each person I talked to was unreasonable. It's that they are incredibly unorganized and inflexible. You really are just a number to them. They keep sending me offers to refinance but then when I speak with them their appraiser low-balls me to the point where I can't afford to refinance. And the mortgage that I have with them falls through some stupid loophole (that BoA set up) such that I can't use the Making Home Affordable program that Obama set up for people that don't have enough equity to do a traditional refinance. I used to have a BoA checking account as well, but now I use Cambridge Savings, which actually has a very good interest rate AND refunds all ATM surcharges from any ATM worldwide!

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  2. This post. I don't even have words. Simply a bravo.

    One day, I will be able to join alongside you in this.

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  3. @Charlie - that loop hole sucks. There's no need for that. I feel like BOA is sneaky like that.

    Thanks Nico!

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  4. Credit cards are the worst. When your early twenty-something new to the adult world you don't realize the whole you can put yourself in.

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