Dear Visa, we don't want to be your slave any longer, we can live without you, our family is more important than having what we can't afford, we will change our lives, we will change our family tree, and we will learn how to say, "NO" to ourselves. We have to start somewhere, so we are ending our relationship with you...forever.
YEAH!!! Good for you guys. I too was writing something the other day about how we have become a slave to our culture and money, and I'm no one's slave! Wait a second, didn't Christ free us from this, why are we allowing it in our lives!
ReplyDeleteWe stopped using ours as well. It's been a year and we are STILL paying it off, but the numbers are going down and soon we will NOT be connected with the credit card at all! God bless you guys!
Good for you Holly!!! We are doing the same thing, it is NOT paid off, but cutting it up has freed us from it's bondage...our goal is to have it paid off in 1 year, then, aside from our mortgage we will be debt free..it's ridiculous isn't it...to be a slave to a piece of plastic!?!
ReplyDeleteWay to go! We have a couple of cards for emergencies only. It's very freeing to not have that bill over your head every month!
ReplyDeleteHey Mary, did you know if you have an emergency fund in an accessible money market account then you don't need a credit card for emergencies? Also, you can use a debit card for anything that requires a card...reservations, car rental, plane tickets..etc. It's just too much of a temptation for us to have one at all...because it seemed like we were always having "emergencies".
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Debi! We have one credit card with a very low credit-limit on it, I use it for online purchases as I feel like if someone got ahold of it fraudulently they could do way less damage (and cause us much less hassle) than if they got one of our debit card #s. I also carry a card with one of the department stores because the coupons and discounts I get make it worth it. Never carry a balance though, on either card. If I happen to use them, I turn around and pay them off that month.
ReplyDeleteMonica, if you have a debit card that is backed by Visa, they protect it exactly the same as a credit card if you run the transaction as a credit. It's on their website. I'm not sure about the Mastercard debits. We have a Visa debit card that actually gives us 1% back on every "credit" transaction. You are very wise never to have a balance, unfortunately, I am like most of the general public that easily falls into debt by way of convenience or misjudging what constitutes an emergency.
ReplyDeleteYay! Way to go!
ReplyDeleteWe also do not currently have any credit cards. We have 2 debit cards-one through our bank that gives us a high-yield checking rate when we use it 6 times a month, and one Target that is only a debit card that uses our bank funds and gives us 5% off our purchase EVERY time which is amazing really. I should blog about that too. I learned my lesson the hard way about credit cards in college and then after a trip to Mexico when we did have a real emergency and I was 'glad' we had the card but then we didn't pay it off right away..oops! We'll never do that again!
So the only thing we don't have is a seperate 'emergency account'. I can't seem to convince Steve that we need a seperate account for this but he figures if we are sticking to our budget then we will only use $ we need and then the leftover will be saved in the same high-yield checking account for emergencies. For me though, I like the idea of having it seperate but this works too for now.
p.s Monica-kudos to you on being responsible. If only everyone was like you with their credit responsibility we'd all be in better shape financially!
ReplyDeleteErika, I too LOVE the Target debit card, plus you can use manufacturer's coupons and target.com coupons on the same item and you get 5cents back when you use your own bags....YAY Target! I am so impressed with all of you ladies!!! Honestly, you are the exception to society!!! You are glowing examples of responsibility!!
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