Honest to God, the first time I read this I thought it was a put on...
http://www.bankrate.com/financing/credit-cards/lets-celebrate-credit/
I realize bankrate's sponsors have a vested interest in using credit, but shouldn't they be a little less obvious about it given the current state of the economy?
I agree it is pretty distasteful in principal... it's like a drug dealer telling how great crack is when you just use it for one wild weekend every year on your birthday.
Devil's advocate though... a credit card really is a good thing if you are responsible and intelligent about it. In 25 years, I haven't spent a cent on fees or finance charges. I always get some form of cash back, it is convenient (to use and to help track expenses). It also does help build credit. A good credit rating is never a bad thing, as it does open up options for you - even if you never have need to use them.
I guess it was the target audience that bothered me most. They were visiting students ("The day is sponsored by the American Bankers Association Education Foundation, which is sending out more than 3,300 bankers nationwide to help educate students about building better credit."). The new credit card act makes it illegal to solicit credit cards on campuses and they are using this to get around that law.
We use a credit card also to maintain the high score needed for a clearance. I don't like that you need to use one for a decent credit score but (finally) that's changing. Utilities and big apartment chains like Kormans are reporting to credit agencies now so you don't have to use a card to have a good score. Of course, if you own your home and are mostly off-grid you're SOL.
One used to graduate from high school and get flooded with credit card offers. I always thought that was in bad taste, unless they consider a diploma as certification to go into debt. I think the high schools and banksters are in cohoots, as the schools don't bother teaching the vices of debt. The ad talks about a few credit card cautions, I thought that was pretty large of them.
The worst I have heard of is the people who are outside the bankruptcy courts handing out credit cards to people just having had their debts erased by the judge.
I hate to admit how I got my first credit card (gas card)....grandfather and father had both had Citgo gas cards for the business and they hadn't used them in decades..well Citgo sent a letter saying they were upgrading the information and sending out new cards.
My grandfather and I have the same name so I sent in the reply letter with the required information including my own SS number...not his...10 days later got my own gas card...still have it somewhere though I think they no longer have their own cards.
Tells you how much some of these people pay attention.
Let's celebrate nondischargeable student loans.
I have an amusing personal story about credit.
Wanting to build up my credit history, I got my first credit card at 18--a Bloomingdales card with a $100 max limit. I bought $80 worth of bedding that day, and went on my merry way.
A month later, the bill didn't come. I was at university so I was too busy to think about it, and it simply slipped my mind. Five months later, I finally remembered that the bill had never come. I contacted Bloomingdales and was told that the debt was in collections. It turned out that the clerk at the store had written my address down wrong.
My credit was ruined, and I have had bad credit ever since (due to other things, of course). Yet, somehow, I've lived through my 20s and had a productive, eventful, and enjoyable life without credit. This year I got a mortgage from my credit union despite the bad credit.
So, I learned the lesson a bit unconventionally, but still it has stuck: credit has its uses, but there's a lot more to life than having credit. Just like there's a lot more to life than being a consumer. I don't think about my FICO score much anymore, focusing instead on accumulating capital.
I agree with Chilly. I just wrote an article a little bit ago on my blog about credit cards and my search for the most cash rewards. I pay off my credit card every month and carry NO credit card debt and get some cash back, even on the small amount of expenses I have. Like Chilly said, it's a good thing to have a great credit score even if you don't need it. Also, tracking expenses is huge for me. All cc transactions are routed through my Mint account and auto-sort themselves based on category.
I think the title/day name is the most distasteful part.
Unfortunately I think for all but the most completely off-grid, *some* concern over credit is a necessary evil. I see credit checks increasingly required for things like apartment rentals (where previously things like ability to pay 2 months rent and evidence of employment would have been sufficient), so even if you have no interest in taking out a loan, bad/no credit history may still be a problem.
I finally caved and got an Amazon rewards card last year (having previously had a card with a pretty so-so rewards system). I still have mixed feelings about it...rewards cards do lead to a lot of wealth transfer (only people who are well-off enough to qualify for the cards can benefit from the cash back or other rewards offers, but everyone gets stuck with the higher prices merchants have to charge to cover fees), but then why should I miss out on having the card and have *my* wealth transferred to someone with fewer scruples?
I personally buy so few things that even if everything went on the card, I would not get many rewards. However, I have to travel a lot for work and I pay my travel expenses with the card and then get reimbursed, so the rewards really do work out to be almost free money. The Amazon card is nice as you can simply transfer your rewards to an Amazon gift card so I've been using the rewards money to slowly purchase things off my wishlist...last score was a nice cast iron pan.
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