[speaker001:] okay how do you feel about them
[speaker002:] well I keep trying to get away from them I used to use a lot of credit cards I guess for a while I would use you know a variety of the the Visa and the MasterCard and the stores but I think I I impulse buy too much with them or I buy things you know I see it on sale and I think oh it's on sale I have to get it and I really don't need it or I really haven't budgeted for it so um the last couple of years I really have tried not to use them at all what about you
[speaker001:] yeah well we have this philosophy we use it when we go off somewhere but we pay for it as soon as we come back you know as soon as we get our bills we pay it off and we only have one we tore all the rest of them up
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum okay
[speaker001:] because I don't like credit cards for one thing you know I mean they're okay I guess if you're on a trip or something you don't have to take a whole bunch of you know cash with you but I don't like using
[speaker002:] um-hum right
[speaker001:] because I've seen too many people that used them and ended up bankrupt or on chapter thirteen and stuff like that because they have this weird opinion that if you use that card you don't have to pay for it
[speaker002:] hum uh-huh that's true if if it's on the credit card it doesn't seem like it's money out of your pocket and sometimes you may think well I don't have the money so you use the credit card it's like fake money or something
[speaker001:] yeah yeah and it gives you a sense um a false sense of security or something it seems like because you say oh well I don't have to pay for it now but you're going to have to pay for it and it seems like
[speaker002:] yeah you think well I don't have it now but payday will come and then I'll have the money but that's probably paying for things that were still owed from last time yes
[speaker001:] uh-huh right are you married oh okay well I know that a lot of young people you know I it took me a long time to get it through my child's head I mean that was her goal you know uh got to have a credit card but now that she has one she's only used it one time but she wanted to establish some credit
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] but I think it finally sunk in you know because she saw some of the other people and just like she heard them say you know well I used a credit card and my husband's sister is the world's worst at oh well I'll just use the credit cards and she has all of her credit cards up to the limit
[speaker002:] um
[speaker001:] you know and I'm I'm thinking woman wake up and smell the roses before they come and get you but
[speaker002:] right besides the fact that how much interest you pay and then this
[speaker001:] right and people don't see that either
[speaker002:] yeah this thing that you thought you got on sale by the time you get done paying with that with all the finance charges because you pay it off over a long period of time you've spent a heck of a lot of money on that thing
[speaker001:] right the only one that we we have that we kept was the Discover card
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and it pays you to use it I mean if you pay your bill off right away if you don't ever have to pay any interest on it because they give you a certain amount every time that you use it
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] and you make that money as long as you don't ever have to pay them any uh interest now it's and people say well you know I'm making money by using this credit card but they don't realize that if they I mean it only takes one time for you to use it and not pay the interest I mean you have to pay the interest not pay it right off
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] that's going to take up what you would have made
[speaker002:] um
[speaker001:] so that's the only reason that we kept that we debated for a long time plus they don't have that um charge on it you know like yeah right they don't have one of those
[speaker002:] service charge you mean yearly fee yeah
[speaker001:] so it we decided that was it you know and I mean everybody calls us and wants to give us a credit card we have we could have credit cards running out our ears
[speaker002:] oh you get that stuff in the mail all the time
[speaker001:] yes yes and then I'll I'll have just like uh department stores they'll call me up you know and I'll say look I don't want the credit card well we're just going to send it to you you know you don't have to ever use it if you don't want to they'll send me any credit card I tear it up
[speaker002:] what I really hate in the mail is like for the credit cards that I do have still that they send you these things that look like checks
[speaker001:] I just can't see it uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] and they say hey you know two thousand dollars you know free to you kind of thing you know all you got to do is go cash those things and you've got a short term loan I hate it I can't believe they have the nerve to do that
[speaker001:] I know it and you know what what's really bad about those though is just like young people if they don't you know we take the time to you know help my daughter she's in college
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] but it this is her first credit card thing well when she got her first one she was so excited it was unreal look at this they sent me this money you know so then when I explained to her look you have to pay this back and they are going to charge you interest and stuff of course she ter tore it up but a lot of parents would not take the time you know and they wouldn't even think of it or their kids may not be as close as my daughter and I are and um you know they may not even discuss it they go out and cash that check thinking that you know they've got something maybe they've won something you know somebody sent them something free and go out and spend it
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and um it's just unreal I mean I don't like credit cards I wish that they would come up with some other way to you know the only way you could use them is if you were like on vacation they would let you use it maybe once a year you know I mean of course I guess some people go out and spend their whole entire limit on it like that at that time but um I have seen so many people and I have a friend right now she just got off of thirteen she got uh I can't remember what she called it it's some kind of maybe it's sure or something like that it's something it's some weird name of a credit card and she is charging out of her mind already and I'm going you just got off
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] that's how you got on to it to start with you know what is the matter with this person but um it seems like people just you know they just think well I can just have anything I want
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and I just don't see it like that of course I always see pay the bills first and whatever's leftover that's what you have but um maybe a lot of people don't see it like that but I can't stand owing I mean I cannot hardly tolerate to owe something like you know I guess it's just because I've been brought up like that but um I could not charge to the limit and knowing that I was going to have to pay this thing out for ever and maybe suffer from having to pay out but that's just the way I feel about it
[speaker002:] yeah I think it's it's somewhat a um symptom of our me generation and that we think we need all these things and I think my parents always you know did without or saved up to you know buy things and we consider that so many of these things we just have to have you know like when I first got my apartment and I was setting it up I did try to economize some but you know I was just like well I have to have it all furnished and I have to have all of my kitchen setup and you don't you know do without too much and you know that's how I got started kind of with setting up a household all up you know it kind of like in the short amount of time you know you just have to have these things just you know have them at home have to have them at my own place and that's you know a big expenditure to start um buying all these things that you think or or have to have and actually they're kind of luxuries or you should save up slowly and keep buying them and not just rush out and furnish the whole place you know going in one big swoop save up and then buy it
[speaker001:] right yeah
[speaker002:] but we're not into that we're into like have to have it all now
[speaker001:] oh yeah I guess it is like that though because it seems like more and more people are like that but um I guess it's because I'm older I mean I'm not real old but I am older and um you know I didn't feel like that I didn't feel like I had to have everything I guess it was because well I had everything when I was at home but I I don't know why I didn't
[speaker002:] well we're geared to that we're like okay like I want a living room set and instead of sitting back and and going okay well it's going to cost maybe a thousand dollars two thousand dollars and I'll save for two years people go oh well I'll just go buy it put it on credit and I'll pay it off
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah
[speaker002:] people aren't tuned in to like saving for it and then buying it they just put it on a charge card put it on account and then pay off the bill because they want it now it's always have to have it now
[speaker001:] hm yeah um well it didn't hurt you did it to I mean you didn't go out and charge a whole bunch and lose everything did you
[speaker002:] no no but I have had some times when I've had some pretty good balances on there and uh you know I finally you know paid them all off and thought this is you know kind of nonsense so we don't uh have big balances on them at all now we're we're you know we I use it occasionally but I pay it right off we're
[speaker001:] yeah well you learned then right
[speaker002:] yeah you learn the you know the hard way you hate paying all that interest and I've never been one to itemize on my income tax and never had enough to itemize and so it's just a big chunk of money and you realize that you're not buying anything on sale your paying so much more for that item because you've got finance charge and the cost of having that card every year which is what forty dollars sometimes just to have the card
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] that's a lot of money that you went to buy this item
[speaker001:] um-hum so then
[speaker002:] and then you never feel like you've got anything to to put into savings or anything you're always just paying bills paying bills you know you don't feel that you have any extra to save and I hate I hate living paycheck to paycheck I like to have a little there you know that I can save so I can feel that you know if something comes up I've got the money to pay for it
[speaker001:] right