[speaker001:] do you use your credit cards very often
[speaker002:] um no not really we use gas cards more than anything
[speaker001:] okay is that just out of habit or convenience
[speaker002:] uh basically convenience
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh which led to habit I guess
[speaker001:] okay I don't use gasoline credit cards I used to have one but I didn't use it uh I used it so seldom that I'd get letters from Mobil uh reminding me that I had a credit card to use
[speaker002:] oh really yeah we don't we don't ever we don't carry a whole lot of cash with us so we use the the gas cards because our families are both out of town and like when we travel and stuff we use the gas cards
[speaker001:] right so you basically use them as an alternative to carrying cash
[speaker002:] yeah yeah and then we have a an American Express that's through TI that Steve uses just for TI stuff
[speaker001:] are you uh solicited a lot uh for other uh credit cards
[speaker002:] yes yes a lot
[speaker001:] what what uh criteria do you consider on whether or not you'll accept a particular card
[speaker002:] uh probably the uh uh if there's a premium each year and the uh the APR
[speaker001:] yeah I won't get a card if there's an annual fee
[speaker002:] and there's it's it's kind of hard to beat TI
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and so uh you know usually we just trash it just tear it up and trash it and most most of the time it goes unopened
[speaker001:] yeah I I I think that Texan's is charging thirteen point nine percent uh interest
[speaker002:] yeah if if that much they're thirteen something but I'm not sure if it's I think it's a flat thirteen right now
[speaker001:] it could be could be I don't uh use them often enough to even keep tabs on it
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but most of them charge between eighteen and twenty one percent per year
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I think that's
[speaker002:] and then you're then you're if you're that lucky you get to pay them another twenty five bucks a year just to be that privileged to get twenty one percent a year
[speaker001:] right right and I look for a grace period too so that they don't charge interest on from from the day of purchase
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] and of course no annual fee
[speaker002:] yeah that would that would help a lot I I'm not even sure why I mean the purpose of an annual fee I'm not really
[speaker001:] well I I think it just generates revenue for the companies that uh for the banks that sponsor the credit cards
[speaker002:] well I guess so because it's not any more prestigious to have to pay it uh as far as getting another card where you don't I mean you know
[speaker001:] no uh I get uh applications for cards from oh different places for various reasons uh I got an application from Home Depot for their card
[speaker002:] oh really
[speaker001:] and uh the incentive there was that they'd give you ten percent off on your first purchase with that credit card
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so I got that card just so I could uh make a major purchase
[speaker002:] have ten percent off but you got to use that credit card
[speaker001:] right and get a discount on it
[speaker002:] right yeah that
[speaker001:] I did did the same thing with uh Foley's they uh uh had a fifteen percent discount on a purchase if you just apply for a card
[speaker002:] yeah right I did that with my husband uh he was off working at TI in Austin one day and so I went out to the mall to kind of look around and hit Mervyn's and found some stuff stuff after Christmas on sale and ended up getting fifteen percent off already off of it already whatever it was lower and I think that's the only card I have that's
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know recently is gotten a Mervyn's card and I used it for I think for the first time when I was in Houston this weekend and I have I've had it for months
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I always maintain a zero balance uh I don't like owing anybody anything
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I don't I don't like it a whole lot either
[speaker001:] if you want to borrow money there're better ways to do it uh I think you can get a loan through the credit union for about uh oh I don't know nine or ten percent now I guess
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] and uh keeping a credit cards uh charged up is just uh not a very good way to uh to make to make use of borrowing money
[speaker002:] yeah I never understood how people could I mean there are some people who say well I can't charge it it's at it's limit and I thought God how can you charge a credit card to its limit it just it just I guess it's that that you know lack of discipline when you have a piece of plastic that says pay later you know
[speaker001:] yeah it's the buy now pay later plan and uh live for today
[speaker002:] yeah and I just it's that yeah it just borrow worry about it tomorrow
[speaker001:] nobody bothers saving any money
[speaker002:] yeah and it just I don't I don't really go for them and I in fact I had my own before we got married and ended up cutting them up just for the fact that TI had lower rates
[speaker001:] yeah sure
[speaker002:] you know and decided and I mean when I tried to close with Chase Manhattan it was just like pulling teeth
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] I mean I couldn't close they'd send me a statement every little this is your new you know balance with bonus points or whatever you know and it's like look I closed this months ago and I don't want any more of your letters I don't want anything and well you have a credit balance well send me a check you know
[speaker001:] right yeah well there's a a basic problem too with not using credit cards that they are good credit references when I closed on my house mortgage uh the mortgage company was looking for uh references credit references and I didn't have any credit cards charged up at all I keep the balance paid off so they make lousy credit reference then
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah yeah they do but we we were in in that same boat a couple of years ago and they had said well just list your major ones and and the balance still owed on it you know or give it a balance still owed on it and
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] that's all we did
[speaker001:] when the balance is zero it doesn't help much
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] I get a lot of uh pre approved applications from various organizations and I throw all those out
[speaker002:] yeah and it's like well who are you to approve something for me without my permission anyway
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] but I think um I think what you can do as far as I don't think as many companies when you are a good customer I don't think they report that as much as they should their delinquent customers
[speaker001:] right uh-huh
[speaker002:] because a lot of times you have to write a nd ask them to report it to the credit bureau so that you look like you have good credit as far as you know paying off you know your cards early or on time or whatever
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] that usually doesn't happen unless I've heard people say well you have to write to ask that and I say well you know if someone's so quick to turn you over because you're thirty days late
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] I think they should they should do do that more often
[speaker001:] yeah I think you're right uh
[speaker002:] what do you think about that uh Discover card
[speaker001:] I well uh funny thing about the Discover card is I just pulled a uh one dollar check from them out of my briefcase today that expired uh last month I didn't cash it uh they they sent me a dollar uh refund from last year's purchase I I used it one time
[speaker002:] oh really
[speaker001:] and uh I got a dollar credit a dollar check but I didn't uh cash the check and the check expired but on my last statement I noticed that they credited my account with a dollar credit
[speaker002:] the dollar you didn't cash
[speaker001:] could very well be
[speaker002:] oh oh well I was wondering how that that worked because it's like you know we'll pay you for and I'm going wait a minute you know
[speaker001:] I've got so many uh well I don't have a lot of cards but I've got a lot that I never used uh I stick basically with uh the Texan's MasterCard and uh very seldom use the American Express card
[speaker002:] yeah we don't we wouldn't even have one if it wasn't for TI and Steve traveling we just
[speaker001:] sure corporate card
[speaker002:] you know
[speaker001:] I would never pay thirty five dollars or more a year for uh use of a card
[speaker002:] no and uh we basically just have the we you know we cut up a lot of cards when we you know like it's just as easy just to use two you know instead of paying so much