[speaker001:] I started when I was in college. You know, they always offer credit cards for college students.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] So I went ahead, and accepted every one that I was offered.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Because I knew it would be easier to go ahead and get them and establish credit early.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] So, I p-, I pack around a lot of them, but I only use a few of them.
[speaker002:] You have a lot of discipline. They make it really easy for people to, uh, to get credit cards, especially college students.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I have, uh, two daughters who, who both are in college or, in fact, one has finished now. But they both have [LAUGHTER] a lot of credit cards.
[speaker001:] And they give you such high credit limits.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] It's, it's easy to get caught up in the minimum payment trap.
[speaker002:] Uh, right. And then they, they give you, uh, uh, the credit limit, and then you're always s-, seemingly up to that limit. Now I have quite a few credit cards that I'm always almost up to the limit on most of them. And that's, that's how a lot of people get into trouble.
[speaker001:] Yeah. I've got, I've got two that I, you know, that usually I'll have a balance on.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And then all of the others I just try to use kind of like you would an American Express card and, and pay it off every month.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And that way I feel like I'm getting, you know, a thirty day loan.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] But I don't have to worry about, you know, running them up too high, except at Christmas. Then they usually go, then they usually get run up pretty [LAUGHTER] good.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Well, you have a lot of discipline. I, uh, I'm trying my best right now to pay off some of mine. I, I've, I've paid off about four credit cards this year.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And, uh, but still I have some that are, [LAUGHTER] are up to the limit. And especially the Visa Card
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] that you can go and get cash on [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] And it seems like every time I'm short of cash, I just go get, get it from Visa.
[speaker001:] Now that's one, that's I've never used my Visa for cash before.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Can you use it like at a bank machine j-,
[speaker002:] Uh,
[speaker001:] or,
[speaker002:] Well, uh, you can go in a bank and just hand them the Visa Card and say, "I want a cash advance." Or if they've sent you a, uh, a number that you can use. You know, a, a personal identification number
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] that you can use in the, uh, impact machines or whatever, you,
[speaker001:] Oh, okay.
[speaker002:] you can do that. Because I have one that I don't have a pin number for. You know, sometimes you have to ask them for that.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And then I have one that, uh, just gave me the pin number automatically.
[speaker001:] Now we got, that's, that's funny you said that. Because we got a credit card, uh, my husband and I got credit cards in the mail one day that we hadn't even applied for.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Now a couple of weeks later we got, we got pin numbers, and then we got, uh, a bill saying, you know, uh, the yearly fee, it was like forty dollars.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And we, we cut them up and sent them back because we, we hadn't even applied for them, and we didn't want them. But they, they had just automatically approved us and sent them without even contacting us.
[speaker002:] Oh, wow! [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] So I thought, man, I don't know if I trust this or not [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Well, they, they do that a lot if you have good credit and you have been paying your bills on time. Ev-, ev-, everybody in the world will offer you a, a credit card.
[speaker001:] It's like, let's see if we can get her to run up her bills [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] But it's hard, I mean, it's, it's tempting when you see something to say, "Well, I'll just charge it." And sometimes I'll do that, but usually I, I will try to pay everything off the next month or
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] the ones that usually have an outstanding balance all the time, I'll, I'll pay more than the minimum payment.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Just I fe-, I feel like even that little bit helps.
[speaker002:] Right. Well, you know, the way the economy's going and inflation and the recession and all that, I think we, we really need to try to stay out of debt as much as possible. That's, that's why I've, I've really started to try to, to pay off mine and get out of debt. Because we never know when we might, you know, get laid off or
[speaker001:] I know it.
[speaker002:] something. Especially me. I work for Texas Instruments, and they've had, had a lot of, of, uh, you know, layoffs lately.
[speaker001:] Well, I work for T I too.
[speaker002:] You do?
[speaker001:] And I think they're getting ready to, to probably sell us out, our division.
[speaker002:] Where are you?
[speaker001:] In Johnson City, Tennessee.
[speaker002:] Johnson City, uh-huh. I
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] know they're selling out somebody in Colorado Springs.
[speaker001:] Yeah. They just, they just announced that, didn't they?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] So, I mean, it's, it's kind of a bad time to be a slave to your credit cards.
[speaker002:] It, it certainly is. I've, uh, I have worked on a part, part time job, uh, where I was a collector.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] For, uh, uh, a jewelry company [LAUGHTER]. People, uh, that they just had this jewelry account. It was Zales jewelry, in fact. And, uh, [throat clearing] a whole bunch of peop-, I mean they have about a thousand collectors, I guess.
[speaker001:] Man!
[speaker002:] And, uh, there's just so many people that have bought jewelry, which is really a luxury item
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and then they, they just can't pay for it. Something, something happens, you know, and you hear so many stories listening to them. Like, uh, you know, they lost their job or, uh, they, they've signed for a friend. You know, they got it in their name but they
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] got it for a friend and then the friend [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] Didn't pay them.
[speaker002:] wouldn't pay them. and now they're stuck with the bill, and it's ruining their credit and
[speaker001:] Man.
[speaker002:] you really have to watch it, this you know. Because,
[speaker001:] That's scary.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Because every, every month all of these credit cards report to the credit bureau, you know. Automatically, mo-, most of them do.
[speaker001:] I didn't realize that.
[speaker002:] Yeah. And if you, if you're, uh, it's bad because if you, you know, your bill is due on the fifteenth
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] then i-, y-, y-, y-, you-, you're not past due until the fifteenth of the next month.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay.
[speaker002:] But, you know, if you, if you pay one day after that fifteenth, you're not one day late, you're thirty days late.
[speaker001:] They don't, they don't recognize any time difference, do they?
[speaker002:] Right,
[speaker001:] Ooh,
[speaker002:] right.
[speaker001:] that's scary.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] A-, a-, and, anyway, we need to watch our credit reports and all that kind of,
[speaker001:] That's something I never thought about getting, you know, checking with to see what, what your credit report looked like.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. Well, you know, you, you can do that. I believe it costs about ten dollars.
[speaker001:] Might be worth it for peace of mind.
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah. It is, it is. You might even find somebody's been reporting on you and you didn't [LAUGHTER] even know it. You know, you, I mean you might think you're paying something on time or and you, by that day and you're thir-, thirty days is not real bad though anyway. [Buzz] [In phone line that persists through the end of the recording. Sounds like a cordless phone is being used.]
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] If you've got a charge off on your credit report or something like that. That's when it really gets bad. Or something you haven't paid in sixty days or ninety days, you know. And things like that [throat clearing].
[speaker001:] I think that Discover Card has a good idea with, you know, giving you a little cash back incentive for each amount you, you purchase. As long as you don't go crazy trying to get cash back.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And since they don't have the yearly fee.
[speaker002:] Do they charge a lot of interest on that card?
[speaker001:] I don't know.
[speaker002:] I don't,
[speaker001:] I've never, I haven't gotten one.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Just because it's, uh, uh, I felt like with Visa and Mastercard and American Express you didn't need another one.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I would think it wouldn't be, you know, much more than the eighteen or nineteen percent everyone else charges.
[speaker002:] Yeah [clicking].
[speaker001:] So that, that wouldn't be too bad.
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing] Well, always watch out for s-, anybody who bills you out of Atlanta, Georgia. Or there's a couple of other places that are able to charge us like twenty-one and twenty-two percent interest. I know, I had a charge with, uh, Spiegel, [LAUGHTER] and I hadn't read the, uh, terms of the credit agreement really.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And, uh, when I did, I, you know, I realized that, that it just looked, seemed like I was never paying the balance off,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] you know. And I looked at the credit card agreement one day, and it was like twenty-three percent interest.
[speaker001:] Holy cow!
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] And that's the one bill that I hurry up, hurried and paid up.
[speaker001:] Definitely.
[speaker002:] And,
[speaker001:] That's awful.
[speaker002:] and I've always watched it since then. You really have to watch those interest rates. I mean,
[speaker001:] I mean there's no point in giving them any more money than we have to.
[speaker002:] That's true.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] So,
[speaker002:] So anyway, they can't bill you any higher than eighteen percent, I think, in, in Texas. But
[speaker001:] Oh, that's great.
[speaker002:] there, there are a couple of states that can. And one to watch out for is anybody that bills you out of Atlanta, [LAUGHTER] Atlanta, Georgia.
[speaker001:] I'll try to remember that one.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Well,
[speaker001:] Well, let's see. I was trying to think if there was anything else [buzz].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Uh, the, I guess the worst problem I ever had with, with a credit card though was, um, I got a, an item on my bill that I had never purchased.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I had ordered a sofa and had filled out the paperwork, but they weren't supposed to process it until they delivered it.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And I changed my mind,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] but then they went ahead and charged it on my account.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] And it took me about eighteen months to get that, all of that mess off of my account.
[speaker002:] Wow!
[speaker001:] So that's, that's probably the worst thing I've ever had happen with a credit card.
[speaker002:] I wonder if they...