by Arlene Wright-Correll

Created on: November 13, 2006   Last Updated: April 22, 2007

How to Get the Most Mileage Out of Your Credit Cards and Not Pay Interest

In 1965 I made a statement to my friend that this country was going back to the "Nobles and the Serfs" and that I would make the world's most rotten serf! This reference was to my personal vision of the decline and fall of the middle class American, especially in the realm of spendable income. In my mind that truly has happened and those of us who prepared for it, each in our own way, are making it, squeaking by, or living real well, depending on how smart you were.

Along the way I have shaken my head over many things since then and one of my many, many pet peeves is the enslavement of our citizens with the constant bombardment of credit card companies and the enticements to use credit cards. Credit cards are great. Used properly they are a first class interest free loan provided you pay them in full each month. Also you may get some goodies like free air miles (which have now become another type of addiction) or as with Discover you get 1% cash back each month and also 5% cash back if you use their card at the gas pumps or really for anything that pertains to car maintenance. Pretty good deal, providing you pay your bill in full each month. However, if you don't you can "forget about it" as they say in Brooklyn! You will never live long enough to pay your debt off.

So with all this in mind, I get a letter the other day saying REBATE CHECK. Well, we get lots of rebate checks because I am one of those gals who upon buying a product I can use or do use and it has a rebate, I send it in and wait for the check to come in the mail.

This little check was for $3.25 and it was a rebate from the Preferred Cardholder Division New Visa and MasterCard accounts department. Whoa... I looked again. Lo and behold another trickster is on the loose again. Once you cash this rebate check it will cost you $89.00 to be enrolled in their Preferred Credit Card Protection Agency (CCPA).. Do these dudes just think I fell off the turnip truck! First off your card is protected. Heck mine were stolen back in 1981 and racked up to $19,972.00 within 4 days after they were stolen even though I had called it in 5 minutes after I was robbed and all I was legally entitled, at that time, to pay was $50.00. I refused to pay even that because I called it in immediately and they took 4 days to get it into their computers. Their fault, they waived the $50.00.

So, pay attention to your rebates and let's declare war on those little devils in the credit card companies. Use your cards wisely and to your advantage. Pay them in full each month. In other words think ahead before you charge something. Can I really pay it in full next month? No! Then go without. A friend of mine had a really gross attitude towards paying for meals on credit cards. He says next time you eat out and pay for it with your credit card that you cannot pay off the minute the bill comes in, just check out the toilet bowl and wave goodbye to your money and your meal! Terrible, but true!

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