(05-01-2023, 04:44 PM)Ninurta Wrote: Credit card companies are in the business of keeping folks in debt - If one is out of debt, then they are not making money off that person's misery. Years ago, when I used credit, I was advised that keeping a running balance on your card, never paying it entirely off, was the way to raise credit scores. They raise your credit score because they are making money off of that running balance, and they want to encourage you to increase that balance so they can make even more money.

Likewise, banks like big balances in accounts, because they are making money off of your money - they loan it out, then charge exorbitant interest rates, and pocket the windfall for themselves. In other words, they get their money for nothing and their kicks for free.

In 1993 when I got off that hamster wheel, ditched credit companies and banks both - although it took me longer to get out from under the thumbs of banks - I realized a sense of freedom that I had long forgotten. I'm beholden to none of them, they have no control mechanism over me any more, and that makes me feel as free as it does piss them off.

Sure, it's less convenient. If I don't have cash enough to buy something straight out, then I really don't need it that much. After experiencing it, I'd trade that convenience for freedom any day of the week. My "credit score" has likely plummeted into oblivion now, but I can't be assed to even check it. I just don't care. If I'm not going to take advantage of their chains, why would I give a shit what they think of my credit-worthiness?

In the beginning, back when I was just starting out and got married for the first time, everyone insisted that I get credit. They all said I NEEDED credit, and I resisted. I resisted hard. I'd never needed it before, so why would I need it now? But in the end, they won. I got a credit card and built up my credit from there, over a few years. It got to where I could get anything I wanted on just a signature. Anything at all. Credit companies loved me - I was their idea of a "model citizen".

But it bothered me. I could see that this way lay madness and slavery. So I ditched the cedit cards, and never looked back. A few months later, I ditched the wife that insisted on living on credit, too. I figured it would be kinder to let her go find someone that wanted to live the same way she did - a compatibility thing for her. Anyhow, I'm sure my credit ratings fell from A number one  all the way down into the black abyss... but you don't miss something you don't intend to use, so it bothers me nary a bit, and never has.

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(05-01-2023, 08:13 PM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: @NightskyeB4Dawn - I think you are part of a very rare club these days, on keeping the albatross paid off.

I only know from my parents that those hearing aids are $$$ - like astronomical cost!! At least the one's they paid for. I could of bought a small new car.

(05-01-2023, 04:53 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote: That might be why my bank started with the credit rating service. I don’t have to check my rating. They send me a notification of my credit rating at least once a month, without me requesting it.

I agree their goal is to keep their hands as deep in your pockets as they can get them. But to punish your customers for paying you is down right predatory.

(05-01-2023, 08:13 PM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: @NightskyeB4Dawn - I think you are part of a very rare club these days, on keeping the albatross paid off.

I only know from my parents that those hearing aids are $$$ - like astronomical cost!! At least the one's they paid for. I could of bought a small new car.




I have one primary credit card that I rarely use (emergencies) and one credit card for online purchases which has a $500 max limit.

(05-01-2023, 09:11 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote:

(05-01-2023, 08:13 PM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: @NightskyeB4Dawn - I think you are part of a very rare club these days, on keeping the albatross paid off.

I only know from my parents that those hearing aids are $$$ - like astronomical cost!! At least the one's they paid for. I could of bought a small new car.

The cost for hearing aids is ridiculous. My mother is darn near 90 years old and she was really having trouble in her Bible study class, and it saddened her that she could not participate. But she was a hard sell. she kept saying she didn't want me to put out that kind of money for it to end up in a draw or in the ground.

She was convinced that the moment I paid the money she would kick the bucket. She finally agreed when I told her it was my Mother's Day gift, and I wanted to make sure she heard me tell her her I love her if she does start to kick the bucket.

Dental care and hearing aids are truly cost prohibitive to many working class Americans. It is a damn shame.