Useless Credit Cards

No, I’m not talking about credit cards in general (though I’m pretty sure a lot of people hold that opinion!). I’m referring to a couple of my cards, which I’ve not used for more than half a year.

The only three things I’ve charged to my cards in my whole credit life are 1) half of my laptop purchase, as my hard cash wasn’t enough; 2) a “sauna belt” advertised on home TV shopping channels, which I bought for my dad; and 3) my ACM professional membership fee.

After the trio, I stuck to paper and shunned plastic money. Sure, it felt less ‘liberating’ (less cool, perhaps?) to pay in cash instead of proudly brandishing a shiny card at the counter, but this stance of mine has kept me from worrying about debt and the trauma that follows in its wake.

If you’re like me, your resolve will probably strengthen once you read this article on the tricks credit card companies employ. Insidious, hehe.

How about you? Any (untoward) experiences? I’m particularly interested in knowing how my fellow young professionals in the Philippines manage their credit cards. In my case, I currently work from home, therefore there are less chances to shop and less temptation to draw out my cards.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 1:22 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Useless Credit Cards”

ia Says:
March 13th, 2007 at 1:33 am
I stay away from them. Especially now that you can swipe ATM cards at SM. Hahahaha. Though having to withdraw too many bills for a major purchase isn’t very comforting to do. (I did that with Risk and *insert digital camera name here*) In this day and age of the Web and other technologies, I don’t see why all cards can’t gain equal footing with regard to any type of purchase.

(Meh. Idealist. That might probably be a bad thing, though. ATM and debit cards becoming as sneaky as credit cards. Eeek.)
Corsarius Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
ATM and debit cards becoming as sneaky as credit cards? How? In terms of exorbitant withdrawal fees (in the case of your bank)? Hmm…

Now that I think of it, I should probably give a name to my reliable Olympus FE-100. “Chippy”. Yeah, that’ll be ok. As in a cheapo camera, hehe.
Taking My Aircraft Geekery to the Next Level » Crimson Crux Says:
July 4th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
[...] I’ve just barely skimmed through the catalog’s pages (which smell a lot like Magic: The Gathering cards — I used to collect and play them a lifetime ago). Already I feel my hand’s nerve endings pulsate wildly, as if coaching the brain, “Reach out for wallet and pull out those rarely-used credit cards!” [...]