Ouch.... I admit to being very proud of my current "credit portfolio". But I'm not stupid enough to think that the ability to borrow money equals real wealth. It means that I tackled a serious problem in my life, began to get my financial management skills on track, and am now deemed a safe risk in the credit world. ONE relatively easy endpoint assay with which I can gauge my success is via my "credit portfolio". It tells me that I am *thought* by corporations to be financially smart, a mental state... ...which would be proven true by the success of my OTHER endpoint assay, which is how quickly I get out of debt and begin to create real wealth. This is difficult - but I'm fighting and making progress everyday. This is precisely why I value both CreditNet AND Motley Fool. Both boards help me monitor how well I'm doing on either "endpoint". And, incidently, striving for a decent "credit portfolio" actually contributes to the attainment of real assets by giving me more for my money in several ways from apr decreases to promotional offers to rewards... ...hence my reason for posting here on how to get various rewards cards for free (i.e. no annual fee BDDs) and how to move money around from card to card to get the rewards (i.e. for certain cards C2it.Com) *without* adding to the debt that's already there. Now, it is true that I just paid a $30 annual fee for a rewards card - but that $30 is saving me $400+ on real benefits that I will need soon. And when I close the account, I will have part of the $30 fee pro-rated back to me. To me, that's a (albeit) small step in creating wealth. In the meantime, I pay down my debt and eventually the "credit portfolio" endpoint won't be nearly as important as investing in appreciating assets. But until then... "what *is* in YOUR wallet" matters a great deal. My two cents on your post...
Re: To PsychDoc: re credit portfoli marci, I love the points you've made. Seriously, very well put. When I saw the other individual boasting, with the last item on her list being something like "and lots and lots of student loans!!!," I was reminded just how well the credit industry has indoctrinated us with respect to their overall wholesomeness. We've been brainwashed to believe that what they've got is good for us, and I'm not so sure of the nutritional comparisons given the many families I've seen who have been literally destroyed by debt. In fact, the negative social implications of consumer credit were rarely seen prior to the mass proliferation of credit cards in particular. Several recent studies have shown that the average number of credit cards held by middle class families with at least one employed adult is greater than 12! Twenty years ago, the correlate number was less than 3. Chargeoffs and bankruptcies are at an all-time high, and that simply must impact our collective moral and ethical frames of reference. (And on and on and on -- you've read it all also, so I'll dispense with all of that.) Anyway, discussing credit card acquisition within the context of commemorating successful credit repair is certainly a good thing -- and I think I'll create a post like that myself sooner than later because it encourages others as well. On the other hand, bragging about 21% car loans and "lots and lots" of student loans (which practically any student is guaranteed upon application) really signifies something else -- a peculiar, almost worshipful, glorification of the credit industry generally and of practically any consumer credit obligation specifically. Doc
Re: To PsychDoc: re credit portfoli Thank you, PsychDoc. I just wasn't sure if you were giving a broad criticism of Creditnet members' emotional investments in our various "credit portfolios". I understand, now, that you were focusing on a dis-jointed post about having credit with no real thought to the cost of that credit. Here, I agree with you. The economy is such that it is very tough for people to live like our parents did with absolutely no credit. It would be nice to buy a car for cash on an *average* one person salary or put down 20% on a home with that same average one person salary. The economy is such that *that* is very hard in most areas of the country. And so, we get used to buying a car on credit and translate that into permission to buying life's other "necessities" on credit, too. It's nice to measure success via this avenue, I think. Agreed. Something has gone awry in that reasoning and reflects a really poor undestanding of what a *loan* really means. Thank you for responding, Randy.
