This post is dedicated to my blogging friends Ana and Glblguy, who have both been waiting a long time to see this day. You’ve waited long enough. Here it is.
By now you are all no doubt familiar with the post I wrote last week about my beef with Citibank. After that post, comments and response posts were flying. Some of the blogger responses:
- Dirty Credit Card Company Tricks at DebtFREE-Revolution. (make sure to hover your mouse over the links, too…funny stuff!)
- Karen Datko wrote file this under “getting the runaround” on MSN’s Smart Spending Money Blog.
- Mary Sue said See? Told You They Were Evil at Fangirling My Finances.
- Eden remembered why he never wants another credit card at Finance and Fat.
But that wasn’t all. As of the time of this writing (Friday afternoon), there are 47 comments. Many of them are stories about how you have been abused by your credit card companies also. It seems that my experience is not unique….not by a long shot. The comments were strong. Some examples:
InTheHole said,
Credit card companies suck!!! Won’t it be nice to say goodbye to them forever once you pay them off??!!
Michael Kaply said,
I have to quote Dave Ramsey on this one:
“If you play with snakes, you will get bit.”
People wonder how credit card companies make money with their 0% interest offers.
This is an example.
And glblguy said,
That’s how they get you. They intentionally do stuff like that hoping you won’t call them or push them on it.
This is exactly why credit cards are risky EVEN when you pay them off monthly.
They are scum, and will do anything to make a profit from you.
I could say that it was all of your posts and comments that drove me to decide what to do next. But it wasn’t. It was a late night conversation with my husband. We were discussing our options, and I told him that I thought it was time. He was unsure and asked me why I felt that way. This was my response.
It’s been a long, hard year. We’ve had less income than we needed to pay the bills, yet we were able to tithe, pay the bills, and we haven’t really touched our emergency fund in the last few months. Somehow, some way God has provided everything we could possibly need and so much more, yet we’re hanging on to the credit cards just in case? After all of this, do we not know God well enough to know we are taken care of without the cards?
Jim’s response was instantaneous. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Cut them up.”
And since all of you have been so great about encouraging me to pay off my debts and get rid of the cards forever, I wanted to invite you along to see the demise of my cards. There were four of them. Two in each of our names. Are you ready? Here we go!
My first step was to defrost the cards. They’ve been sitting in the freezer since the beginning of September.
Next to decide how to get rid of them. Didn’t I just read about some creative ways to cut up my credit cards?
Oh yeah, here it is…..10 Creative Ways to Cut Up Your Credit Cards at Gather Little by Little.
Next, I gathered my tools.
Eenie, meenie, minie, moe. Which is the best way for the cards to go? I decided against the food processor, since I knew I’d be really mad if my Citibank card broke it. Hammer? Can’t do that in the house, and it’s pouring outside. Scissors? Nah.
In the end, I went with the traditional paper shredder.
Until I got to the last card, that is. Then I decided to have a little fun.
Yes, I used the hole punch! With every punch, I muttered, “Take that! And that!”
And there they are in their final resting place….until they’re taken to the county landfill, that is. It seems like an appropriate ending to the cards, don’t you think?
Now let me give high fives, hugs, and cheers all around! I will never own another credit card again! And after the Citibank card is paid off this year, I will be out of credit card debt forever!!!! Woohooo!!!
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January 7th, 2008 at 4:50 am
woo hoo!!!!
I’m so proud of you!
January 7th, 2008 at 5:49 am
Good for you Lynnae!
Credit Cards can make us crazy, sometimes it is just better not to have them around!
So brave of you to shred them (and hole punch them)!!
Take Care
LJ
January 7th, 2008 at 5:51 am
Although you had to go through a lot first, it sounds like cutting up the card was both fun and therapeutic for you! Congrats and good luck!
January 7th, 2008 at 6:29 am
That’s great! Congrats!
January 7th, 2008 at 6:37 am
I’m telling you you may regret doing this…remember we talked about the problems with paypal? Well, I cannot use paypal to shop without a cc except maybe on ebay…I haven’t tried ebay. But I tried to use it a couple times this weekend to pay for stuff and it won’t go because I don’t have a cc attached to it.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:43 am
I think it’s hilarious that there are sites that show creative ways of cutting up your cards.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:47 am
@Carrie - I don’t use paypal for much except ebay (and receiving payments), so I’m not too worried about it. Usually paypal goes through just fine if you have funds in your account. It’s only when there aren’t enough funds in the paypal account that things start to get a little hairy.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:47 am
@Heidi - Yeah, I really loved that Creative Ways to Cut Up Credit cards article!
January 7th, 2008 at 6:51 am
GREAT JOB LYNNAE!!!! I am SOOO proud of you
I do love the hole punch idea for Citibank - it really does serve them right.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Wow Lynnae! I’m inspired to have my own late night discussion with Hubby and think I’ll use your post to get it rolling. Thanks!
January 7th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Wow, a new method of “cutting up the cards”. Love the punchhole idea!
Way to go!!
January 7th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Yay, we have another convert. Taking over the world, destroying one credit card at a time!!
January 7th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Yay for your peace of mind!
I don’t mean to be a party pooper but… what if you need to call them again? Remember you had to defrost your cards to argue with Citi in the first place because you couldn’t find the number anywhere?
(I hope you wrote down the phone number of at least the one that isn’t paid off
)
Congrats
January 7th, 2008 at 7:58 am
YEAH!!!! That is AWESOME Lynnae. You now have deep water faith in deep water
Congrats! Love the way you captured the photos too!
January 7th, 2008 at 7:59 am
@PaidTwice - You can find the numbers on their websites, and they can look up your credit card number with your name.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:13 am
I love the fact that your security is in our mighty God - not in plastic. You’re an inspiration!
January 7th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Good for you! You have had a crazy year, *hugs*
January 7th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Yay! Congratulations!
January 7th, 2008 at 8:46 am
@glblguy - In Lynnae’s other post she said she couldn’t find their phone number on the website, which is what made me think of it.
She can ask me though, I still have my citicard lol. For $175.17 more dollars, anyway.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Great job Lynnae! I am just at the baby steps of taking them out of my wallet. Yikes! I feel so naked!
I can’t wait till you have the “we’re out of credit card debt” party!!
January 7th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Woohoo! Isn’t it a great feeling?
You should mail a small pile of shredded cards to each company with your letter closing the accounts. Could you imagine the look on the face of the person who opens it?!
January 7th, 2008 at 9:00 am
@Paidtwice - Of course I wrote down all the information. You don’t think I’d let Citibank off the hook, do you?
@Krista - I love that idea!
January 7th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Congratulations!
The shredder is my weapon of choice. I have a miniature one I take to my FPU classes so people can shred their cards.
I’m still trying to come up with something creative to do with my personal shredded cards.
Encase them in a plastic block and use them as a paper weight? Make a mosaic?
January 7th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Go you. (Just don’t forget to cancel them in the end–wee cut ours up then forgot to cancel them–I was young and a bit silly.) Then ,since we didn’t have any money on them and we didn’t use them I forgot we had them completely and eventually got a bill from one of them with some weird amount (a fee of some sort, after not using them for over 2 years) at which point I FINALLY canceled.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Congratulations! And what a fun way to kill the cards. Thanks for making my morning. After my own “annual fee” discussion with Orchard last week, your card killin’ spree gave me quite the tickle. Good for you!
January 7th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Been said already many times but…..YEAH.
I can’t say enough on how much that I beieve that they need to be chopped, not just put away.
Congratulations on destroying those that would destroy you!
January 7th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Make sure that you call each company and close the account. Just shredding isn’t enough. Make it really final! I haven’t had a credit card since August 2001. You can do it!
January 7th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Awesome! I’m really glad you cut those credit cards up…don’t you feel the burden lifted? That’s the way we felt when we said goodbye to the credit cards. Though we didn’t get so creative with the destruction. Just plain ol’ scissors for us. (So neat, the hole punch!) Anyway, I can’t wait to see the next step in your financial saga.
January 7th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Lynnae, I am gonna just go ahead and declare YOU the true winner in our Great Credit Card Debate
You will feel SOOO much better when you get Citibank paid off and out of your life for good…and never have to go through the hassle they have put you through this past week.
January 7th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I second the win in our debate!
January 7th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Well done. Somehow people survived without them in the past!
January 7th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I am so happy and proud of you both you, even though I don’t know you in any way other than your blogs. Good goin’.
How wonderful that you got the message that God does indeed take care of our needs.
May you feel pure joy from this act of faith for many days, months and years to come.
January 7th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
GOOD JOB! I felt so free when I finally did this! Yay!
January 7th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
WTG!! I simply shredded one, but you’ve given me some great ideas for my last 2! Congrats!! Lindzy
January 7th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Lynnae, that’s kewl then. My biggest thing is that I live so far away from good stores that I order sooo much stuff online, nothing that I don’t have the cash for (obviously, in order to order online I have to use my mom’s card
and I have to give her the cash…LOL!)
January 8th, 2008 at 11:02 am
WoooooHooooo!!
Great job!! WTG!!’
Doesn’t it feel great?
January 8th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Nice.
January 10th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Hang on to them…Then when they send you YET ANOTHER stupid credit card offer, you can send them some pieces in thier postage paid envelope. MAYBE they’ll get the hint.
Congratulations!
January 13th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Wahoo!!! On Thursday I cut up all of my credit cards too! I had over 10 - all store cards. I canceled them all by phone and then punched out the middle of the swiping stripe and punched out various numbers or important information. I put a couple of them through the shredder but held on to five of them. Do you know what I’m going to do with those 5? I bet you do
I’m going to mail them to Dave Ramsey and get a free copy of his book Financial Peace (I already have read a copy of TMMO that was my mom’s).
Yay!! Let’s all celebrate.
It feels powerful, doesn’t it? I thought it was damn scary. I actually felt bad about destroying, and spent many minutes staring at all the pretty cards… so shiny and attractive. UGH. And then I went mad with the hole puncher.
Way to go!
January 13th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
@ carrie
I have used PayPal with my Visa DEBIT card for 5 years and never had a problem. You can use a “card” without using a credit card and all is well.
@ paidtwice
I cut up all of my cards (10+) and on occasion I’ve called to make sure my account was still closed, or for some other reason necessary, and I always just called the 800 number under contact customer service links various on the websites. It’s always taken me about 30 seconds to find the phone number, so I don’t think this will need to be a concern for her
This thread is great.
January 13th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Way to go Shanti!!!!!
And you can get a free Dave Ramsey book for sending in shredded cards? Mine are still in the paper shredder. Maybe I should dig them out!
And I agree that it was scary, but it feels soooooooo good afterwards!
January 13th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
@Lynnae
Every now and again he announces that he needs credit cards to cut up in front of audiences at FPU and other various classes. He usually announces that if you’re in TN and you want to stop by the station in FP Plaza, he’ll give you a free book of your choice for every five cards (yep, that means 10 cards equal 2 books!). Recently he announced that you can mail them in too. I emailed his customer service for the address and I hope to get a reply in the next week. If I don’t, I’ll just mail them with a letter to the main office and let them sort it out
I could have saved 10 to send in but I don’t need two free books… I’d only like the one
January 15th, 2008 at 5:17 am
Lynnae, you go, girl!
I’m very old school in that I still cut up the cards and send them back to the credit card company. I had a cleansing experience like that last Spring. I have one card left with a balance. You’ve inspired me. Maybe it’s time for that one to go too!
March 11th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Just because God saved you from yourselves doesnt mean that tithing is Gods will. God has saved me from death a few times when it was my own stupidity that put me there. I have quit going to Church and the false doctrine of tithing is one reason why. I have tithed and it almost killed me. Show me anywhere that tithing is a new testament concept. Its not. Tithing in its present form was invednted by catholics around 500AD as a TAX.
So perhaps God saved you from yourselves while you padded the pockets of the Church. Perhaps he even honored your intentions but spreading the tithing propaganda bugs me. Too many Christians are sheep who follow people off the cliff. Thats the same reason so many (me included before I got a brain) voted for Bush.
May God Bless You
March 11th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Im sorry I commented on the wrong post
July 24th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Last night after sitting at my computer for the passed hour paying bills, I said this is crazy. Some of my credit cards are over 22%!!! My husband and I are at least 6,000 dollars into credit card debt. We work our asses off and don’t seem to be getting ahead. After reading a few articles, out came the scissors and goodbye to Macy’s, JC Penny, Sears, Best Buy, and Capital One. It was almost a relief just by getting up the nerve to cut those cards up. We would always pay a good chunk of change on them and then with in the next month just rack up the balance again. I am now making double and tripple payments on all these cards and plan on being CC debt free by eary next year. I am never falling into this trap again. Cut them up people, you will feel a sense of relief by just doing that.