Have you cut it up?

[Kate]

Have you cut up one of your credit cards lately? Okay, maybe not cut it up, but have you paid off a credit lately or in the past few years?

I remember when I paid off my credit card that had my computer on it. It felt so good to make the last payment and to not receive a statement that next month. I think that feeling in itself is encouraging me to get rid of my last one.

How did you feel when you paid off one credit card?

[Kyleigh]

Since getting my first credit card at the tender age of 16 (it was a benefit of being a bank employee) I've alway paid off the balance every month. When I got married, my husband shared that same objective, so we never have a carry over balance. I'm sure the credit card companies hate us. ;) We get that happy feeling each month when we pay it off. Or is that relief?

Kudos to you for paying off your balance! That has to be a great feeling! :)

[Kate]

Wow, that's really awesome! And yes, I'm sure the CC companies hate ya. ;) That is okay though.

[DayDreamer]

My husband and I bought our first washer and dryer with a credit card and paid it off over the next 6 months. Making that final payment was a wonderful feeling! We usually only pay with cash, debit, or pay the balance each month if we use a credit card, so I'm sure the credit card companies hate us, too! But it never seems to stop them from sending us CC offers all the time! :)

[YellowRoseTex]

My husband and I have no credit card debt. We have one main credit card that we use and the balance is paid off each month. When I first met my husband he had never had a major credit card such as a Visa or Mastercard. He had department stores and gas cards, but not a major one. We applied for one and got approved. I told him that we needed to be careful as the charges can add up very quickly. Sure enough, within a few months we had a $1,000 balance on that card. We put the card away and worked towards paying off the balance. That was the last time we carried a balance.

We are also very careful when making major purchases. For example, when we bought our house we needed some new furniture, it would've been very easy to go buy on credit and get everything at once. But what we did was to purchase one item, pay it off, than decide what our next purchase was going to be. It didn't hurt anything to sit on our old sofa for six months until we were financially ready to purchase a new one.

[clogaholic]

My DH and I have been working at getting rid of our credit card debt. We've made a lot of progress and it feels good :)
I have cut up most of them and only carry a couple now.

[momofwmubuffettfan]

We also have no credit card debit. And we're passing this good policy on to our daughter, who at the tender age of 24 has about 6 different credit cards, but no balances on any of them. She uses them and pays them off right away. She's got excellent credit ratings already.

[Melody]

I have to admit, that we have one card that has gotten uncomfortably high. We no longer carry it with us, but it will take us about 2 years to get it paid off. :eek: It is sad when you are paying for things that you don't remember buying. A lot of it was charged to help get my dd through college (unexpected expenses), but there was probably a better way to handle that. We have no balances on any other cards, and hopefully in a couple of years can be completely card debt free!

[QuiltAngel]

We only carry a couple of credit cards and have a small amount on one. It is the one we use for most things. We try to use cash most of the time. We recently cut up a gas company card and decided to use our VISA, cash or debit card there. We had their card for over 20 years and suddenly they went crazy if you were a few days late. Not that we make a habit of that but sometimes things happen.

[txgurl]

We have a credit card that is growing, and soon it is going to get paid off. It makes me nervous when it gets too high.
Credit card companies don't help people by sending all this stuff in the mail either. We are always shredding them and tossing them out. We are now getting mail for our DD who is away at college. I am wearing out the shredding machine. :eek:

[YellowRoseTex]

I still get credit card offers in my maiden name! And I get offers for that are addressed to "the parents of Kim ....." That is just crazy! I've been officially married for 11 years, am 42 years old and both my parents are deceased. These credit card companies do not care, they just want someone to sign up so they can reap the interest. :stomp:

[wingriderprincess]

Nope! No credit card debt here either! We use one when we travel and pay it off at the end of each month. :)

[emarray]

Like I'm taking one more step toward destroying evil in the world, LOL. Credit cards are EVIL!

At this point, with each card I chop, I feel relief that's quickly taken over by the depressing knowledge that it's one down with way too much more to go (I'm equating chopping credit cards with paying off the debt). But it's also one thing we'll never have to deal with again, and THAT feels good!

--Meri

[blondgrl]

I would have to agree with you ((emaray)), I also don't like to use credit cards. We receive so many offers for new credit cards each day it's unbelievable! I have paid off all my outstanding credit cards and closed out all the other accounts. I would rather just save up for things I purchase than to pay extra for them with the interest on a credit card. It's just too tempting to wait and pay it off "later"! So, I just don't do it. I think they are ok if you pay them off immediately, but if you don't, then you face the interest charges. So....I tend to stay away from that kind of debt, gives me a piece of mind.

[Luvmabug]

I know first hand the problems someone can get into with credit cards. I haven't had one in years. I prefer to use my Visa/debit card, which takes the money out of my checking account. By doing that, I know my *limit*. But the credit card companies are something else. Like blondgrl, we get the offers almost daily. Recently we checked our credit reports and found one company had 17 inquiries on my husbands report. 17? We had never even filled out an application with them! I agree, I like the piece of mind...aww

[MaggieSt]

We cut up most of our cards. Now, DH and I share one Visa card where he can get points towards the entry fee for a World Poker Tournement. Most of our purchases go on that card. I do have a MasterCard which I keep in my jewel box at home and the Visa card is usually in there also.

I do have a bank debit card but I only pull that out for emergancies. As it stands, after the holidays, our debt on the card is just over $4000, but I should have all that paid off by April.

[Linzomama]

OH YAY! Good jobs, everyone. :) We just paid of our one and only ever credit card. It was for this wonderous laptop I am so addicted to. I don't think we will ever finance anything again.

[sagespot]

That is just the best feeling ever!!!

After we got married, we spent a solid year paying down all the credit card debit we had as singles.

Now we pay off each card every month. We use an Amazon visa for household purchases (because I'm an avid reader and he loves music) so we get gift certificates as rewards for the card; and we use a Target visa for foodstuffs as we're big into shopping at our local SuperTarget where we get discount coupons to use as rewards.

Probably my favorite credit card reward to redeem is the Marriot visa I use when I travel. This last December we realized that we had accumulated enough free nights that we stayed for two weeks in Prague, Czech Republic for FREE!!

Now THAT was a super good reward for paying off the credit cards every month. :)

Sage

[MalteseJane]

We pay off our credit cards every month. We don't carry a balance. Credit cards don't like us. On top of that all the checks they are sending us every day go right to the shredder when they arrive. We use mostly the GM card because it gives us 5% on the purchases we make to be used to buy a new car. Right now we have 2,279.00 $ accumulated that we can use to buy a new car. It's a nice downpayment. I also have a Chase Continental card that gives free miles.

[Mori]

When I was a lot younger & single, I used to have every credit card under the sun & was totally out of control with my shopping sprees! :shop: It led to my declaring bancrupcy because I just couldn't keep up with the payments. :dizzy2: Today I don't have any credit cards & I feel a sense of freedom. If I can afford something I'll buy it & if I can't I won't ...it's that smple. I sometimes miss having at least one but this way I'm more in control. :cheering:

[AgingGracefully]

there is way to get your name off of these mailing lists. When I bought my house and moved, all of the sudden my mail box became full of offers. Sometimes I get as many as 4 a day. One of the offers that came recently there was a phone number to call if you wanted your name removed from the list. It is like the National Do Not Call List, except it applies to credit offers. I called and got my named removed so at least I can save a few trees.

Kathy