How to Handle Credit Cards
Credit is an economic fact of life. We are forced to use it. Unless you are exceedingly wealthy, you have to use credit to purchase a house or a car.
The problem with credit today is credit cards. On one hand, it is difficult to function in our society without a credit card. A good credit-card repayment history establishes your credit rating making it possible to obtain a mortgage loan. People have been turned down for a mortgage loan because they never had credit-card debt. It is harder to get a mortgage loan with no credit history, than it is with bad credit history! Credit cards make online purchases faster and easier. You need a credit card to rent a car, although most firms allow you to pay the final bill with your debit card. You need a credit card to guarantee a late-arrival at a motel.
On the other hand, many do not properly use credit cards; they abuse them. Wise Solomon warned, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Prov. 22:7). Credit is not a sin. Just know that when you borrow, you are working for the lender. As Matthew Henry wrote, “Sell not your liberty to gratify your luxury.”
What is the proper use of credit cards? Listen to an expert.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, Walter Cavangh of Santa Clara, California holds the record for having active credit cards. He has 1496 of them! He has oil company credit cards, bank credit cards, credit cards from ice cream places, and shoe stores. He even has a card from Harry’s shop for big and tall men—although he is neither. With his cards, he has access to $1.7 million in instant credit.
Cavangh is also the proud owner of the world’s largest wallet. It is a custom-made, 38 pound wallet that holds 800 hundred credit cards in plastics sleeves that would stretch 30 stories.
Cavangh’s collection began as a bet. In the early 1970s, he made a bet with a buddy to see who could collect the most credit cards by the end of the year. The winner won dinner. Cavangh won. His friend only gathered 138; Cavangh collected 143. Someone at a party, who found out about the collection, suggested that he notify Guinness. After Guinness entered him into the record book, he realized that to keep up his title he would have to keep collecting.
Although Cavangh possesses 1496 credit cards, he is a one-card guy. Furthermore, he pays off that one card in full each month. This retired financial planner says, “What good is putting money in a retirement plan if you’re paying 18% on a credit card at the same time?” His philosophy is, “Never use a credit card to buy anything you can’t pay off in a couple of months. If you don’t have the discipline, you shouldn’t have the cards.”
We need to learn to use, not abuse credit cards.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 10/31/2007
The problem with credit today is credit cards. On one hand, it is difficult to function in our society without a credit card. A good credit-card repayment history establishes your credit rating making it possible to obtain a mortgage loan. People have been turned down for a mortgage loan because they never had credit-card debt. It is harder to get a mortgage loan with no credit history, than it is with bad credit history! Credit cards make online purchases faster and easier. You need a credit card to rent a car, although most firms allow you to pay the final bill with your debit card. You need a credit card to guarantee a late-arrival at a motel.
On the other hand, many do not properly use credit cards; they abuse them. Wise Solomon warned, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Prov. 22:7). Credit is not a sin. Just know that when you borrow, you are working for the lender. As Matthew Henry wrote, “Sell not your liberty to gratify your luxury.”
What is the proper use of credit cards? Listen to an expert.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, Walter Cavangh of Santa Clara, California holds the record for having active credit cards. He has 1496 of them! He has oil company credit cards, bank credit cards, credit cards from ice cream places, and shoe stores. He even has a card from Harry’s shop for big and tall men—although he is neither. With his cards, he has access to $1.7 million in instant credit.
Cavangh is also the proud owner of the world’s largest wallet. It is a custom-made, 38 pound wallet that holds 800 hundred credit cards in plastics sleeves that would stretch 30 stories.
Cavangh’s collection began as a bet. In the early 1970s, he made a bet with a buddy to see who could collect the most credit cards by the end of the year. The winner won dinner. Cavangh won. His friend only gathered 138; Cavangh collected 143. Someone at a party, who found out about the collection, suggested that he notify Guinness. After Guinness entered him into the record book, he realized that to keep up his title he would have to keep collecting.
Although Cavangh possesses 1496 credit cards, he is a one-card guy. Furthermore, he pays off that one card in full each month. This retired financial planner says, “What good is putting money in a retirement plan if you’re paying 18% on a credit card at the same time?” His philosophy is, “Never use a credit card to buy anything you can’t pay off in a couple of months. If you don’t have the discipline, you shouldn’t have the cards.”
We need to learn to use, not abuse credit cards.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 10/31/2007