Is Obsessively Appylying for Credit Cards a Mental Illness?

[Anonymous]

I think its definitely an interesting topic...... Credit addiction like many other could be healthy up to a certain point, if u go past that point it will be damaging for u and/or ur family/friends. The card approvals subforum is like a subforum in a poker forum where u show off ur recent score. Some use it for information sharing of what got them the approval but others just want the congrats and feel success.

Good luck with ur paper.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of good posts here. I do agree that it is a combination of several factors up to and including addiction, OCD, peer pressure, & possibly other mental illness. If you do decide to take this seriously I am sure you can find dozens of people to interview here on myfico. Best of luck to you and I'd be interested to see the results

[Anonymous]

Some of this is probably fairly new. Myfico and various fako sites can give us up to the month-week-minute updates on a set of scores that are really complicated and can change daily. It's like a nonstop personal sporting event. All the card getting/having is an extension of that, and on forums like these where people talk endlessly about what the Joneses have, you're gonna get some people flinging themselves off the deep end. Some of us used to only get info on our credit when we apped for something, now you can completely immerse yourself all the time. For the right personality, it can be consuming and yes, addicting.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Some of this is probably fairly new. Myfico and various fako sites can give us up to the month-week-minute updates on a set of scores that are really complicated and can change daily. It's like a nonstop personal sporting event. All the card getting/having is an extension of that, and on forums like these where people talk endlessly about what the Joneses have, you're gonna get some people flinging themselves off the deep end. Some of us used to only get info on our credit when we apped for something, now you can completely immerse yourself all the time. For the right personality, it can be consuming and yes, addicting.

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+100000

Very well said. I'm already addicted 2 days in. And yes the information here is invaluable and likely you will never figure out half the stuff here on your own. It is a community effort and everyone is addicted lol...

[pipeguy]

Give it a rest with the ponticication - "Compulsive behavior" - really? Like chastizing others because you know best ....(and your shadow poster).

I have over 50 inquiries on my EQ file from the last 2 years and I have all the credit I could ever use, but that doesn't mean I won't open a new account if that opening will benefit ME such as the John Deere account I just opened - yes I have pleanty of credit to buy a new John Deere riding mower, and through Lowes ($17k) or HD (10k) I can get zero percent financing too, but the John Deere tradeline doesn't report and it's warranty is better, etc. 

This forum is full of folks that have gone too far both in misusing credit to BK to recovery to just understanding and managing credit - I don't think we need each other obsessing on condescending attitudes toward others that don't fiollow their idea of what makes a perfect recovery.

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@USF813 wrote:
What a timely thread. Yes, I do believe mental illness plays a part in obsession with credit cards. Addicts also tend to respond aggressively towards those who make note of their compulsive behavior - as witnessed recently on myfico. They don't want to hear the truth so they lash out at any and everyone. This behavior is what drove them to BK to begin with, and the wiping out of debt allows them to start the cycle all over again. BK never did address the underlying cause of the credit and/or debt accumulation.

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[pipeguy]

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@akula wrote:
Yes, you should find plenty of individuals on myfico to interview. Especially ones with 50+ inquiries on one CRA, while using the guise of aggressive credit rebuilds.

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Or those that have all the answers and stand in judgement of fellow travelers

[redbeard]

Probably a lot more manic depressive.

Peoples normal credit lives are when young, they get to much credit (use to much credit), get in a bit of a jam, swear never to use credit again, then eventually settle down into a 'range of credit' that works for them, usually wishing they could pay it off.


Others, end up in real trouble with credit, then try to fix it, find out they need a few cards to improve their credit, then go crazy getting credit. Of course, after a few, more doesn't help your credit, unless you are overusing credit, but it makes you feel good that you can get credit again.

This is the 'manic' state that the shopping cart trick plays to. Don't worry that you can't afford this stuff.... small monthly payments and its yours.

I'm curious to see stats on people who have 10+ credit cards and what the eventual default rates are on those. Yes, some can manage it well, my guess is most are great for a while but eventually start pushing balances from one to another. I know I've been there. Deep hole to dig yourself out of.

People with solid credit probably don't run into the 'apping' syndrome as much (some will, of course). The thrill is gone a bit when you can assume an approval and don't have to check with a forum or a database to get insight on what CRA they pull or if a derog will eliminate the possibility.

[pipeguy]

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@atd1970 wrote:

I am thinking of researching and writing a Thesis Paper. The range would be OCD to PTSD. Any thoughts?

The paper would include past-present-future narratives; however, a post-quantifiable method would still be employed. 

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It's an interesting theory but I think looking at the psychology of "percieved rewards" and self esteem has to look at the bigger picture of want vs need and why folks buy 5000 sf homes when a 2500 sf will do or $100k cars. "Acceptance" by gaining a credit card is both a need and an ego driven want which is caused by the marketing of the big credit card lenders. Colors, so called status, credit lines, etc are all marketing - especially the "rewards structure" of late. The fact that one can achieve a certain card is a big "reward" which in fact is no reward at all - it's just a way to let you spend your money. $300 or $500 for an annual fee? Just another way to make you think you are getting something for free where that same money could buy you a pass to an airline club if you really wanted it. Free room at a hotel? Sure as long as you remain a loyal customer and stay at our hotels. 

I'm not saying that a select few can not come out ahead by paying for so called elite cards, I'm just saying most don't but the marketing has us believing that if you flash the "Witz Bang Super Elite Whatever card" that somehow you are "special" in the eyes of a minimum wage clerk that rings up your sale and couldn't care less - somehow that clerk's "approval" of your so-special card makes your life better. 

Do some people get caught up in the quest? Of course they do just like buying new i-pads the day they come out or a new shiny car every other year or a big house that they really can't afford - marketing and "percieved worth" as far as status in life is a hugh push that drives what we do - it "rewards" us and makes us feel good, even if its nothing but made up nonsence by those selling us the good life. 

Can this get out of control - of course, but mental disease? Not hardly. 

[Themanwhocan]

To the man with a Hammer, all problems look like Nails...

Mental health people are going to be seeing mental health issues in everything they see. Its absurd. Am I compulsive? You bet! I wash my hair every day. You think thats crazy, well, it just so happens I have greasy hair/scalp. I also have a compulsion to eat at least 3 meals a day. 

I know of people who compulsively read books, or watch Golf (I think to help themselves fall asleep), as well as all kinds of things.

Sitting around, doing nothing, and not gaining new knowledge and skills, now THAT may be a mental health issue.

If you want to study crazy people, then study everyone that eats Corn Flakes. They were invented by John Kellogg at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, and his brother...

[MarineVietVet]

This is already going downhill fast.

Locked and under review.