Finally Closing Credit Cards 2020

[gen_zod]

Maybe a purge attempt by Wal Mart of old synchrony account holders? Not sure but wishing you the best! 

[wasCB14]

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@gen_zod wrote:

Maybe a purge attempt by Wal Mart of old synchrony account holders? Not sure but wishing you the best! 

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I've never had a Walmart card. I picked a random address in San Juan and I'm looking at a ~25% pretax surcharge on flashlights and toothpaste.

It could be weight-based. I added heavier-per-dollar toilet paper and the surcharge rose to 59% pretax overall. On 120 rolls of toilet paper alone it's about a 99% surcharge.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Yeah, seems weight based but even so wasnt there last year. I had ordered a 50 lb bag of dog food and actually came in mail lol. I tried a 20 pound bag later......holy fico came super late and the bag was beat up bad. Never again would i order dog food with them. 

[tehdrizzle]

That's one of the problems with credit cards.  They are a trap, plain and simple.  It's much less hassle to just close them all and live off cash within your means.

[AverageJoesCredit]

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@tehdrizzle wrote:

That's one of the problems with credit cards.  They are a trap, plain and simple.  It's much less hassle to just close them all and live off cash within your means.

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If i had the means, ie cash, i'd do so but id still want 1 credit card to use to get some rewards back for the spend but always pay in full the charges. Having 2 or 3 in total as backup would be ideal just in case but  thats just me

[Anonymous]

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@tehdrizzle wrote:

That's one of the problems with credit cards.  They are a trap, plain and simple.  It's much less hassle to just close them all and live off cash within your means.

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How about living within your means WITH credit cards? Cash is a hassle.

Going to get cash, breaking big Bill's, dealing with change, making sure you have enough when you are not sure how much you'll need when going somewhere. 

Credit cards have problems too. Fraud, closures, undisciplined use.

But it is so much easier to use cards when sudden expenses occur, online purchases, etc. You just need to know how to use them responsibly. 

[Anonymous]

I never did understand that mentality towards Credit Cards, they're simply a tool to be used. If you can't handle thim similar to how an Alcoholic can't be around Alcohol, or a gambler in front of a slot machine, then I somewhat understand. 

It's just that in today's world you'd be hard pressed to get by without one, from car rentals, room rentals, online buying, you name it. While you can technically pay most things with cash, you're still going to need that CC number to cover "possible incidentals" which are requred at either resevation time or at check in.

And last time I checked Amazon doesn't take cash, nor to any of the store's online portals. I guess you could buy a GC with cash to sue at said places, but that just seems like an increased hassle.

[Anonymous]

I just closed Discover a few days ago, good riddance. They refused to give me any kind of cli so I don't care haha. I don't really chase CLIs anymore (or cards for that matter) but Discover bugged me.  I'm thinking about closing VS. I have zero use for the "shopping cart trick" card from back in the day. Possibly Apple too. One Chase and one Amex, easy peasy lemony squeezy LOL. 

[Anonymous]

Took me months to discover this thread... lol... typical me, always behind the curve.

That surcharge was ridiculous.  I'm not much of a fan of ordering online from walmart, they've messed up orders in the past for me too.  Easier to just go to the store, they're bleeping everywhere.

If you're looking to nix a few cards, I guess that's one way to choose.

But, $238k is impressive especially on $25k (or less) income.  If that is an "AverageJoesCredit" what does that make me with my paltry $5k across 3 cards?  Behind the curve, like always.  I should change my screen name to "BehindTheCurve"... or "WellBehindAverageJoe"... or something.

On the anti-credit-card mentality, it comes from a fear of debt, or going into debt.  I have that fear myself.  That's why my TCL isn't higher.  I don't trust myself with more.  At least I let myself have 3 cards with various rewards so I can somewhat optimize my rewards... maybe not to the point of some people who have 10+ cards just to pick the one with the best reward per purchase, but enough for behind-the-curve me.  At my level of spend "optimizing rewards" wouldn't gain me enough to be worth the effort.