Planning debt options in Stuff

  • March 28, 2016, 8:53 a.m.
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I just applied for a credit card through my work. I get the $49 annual fee waived as long as I am a staff member. I should have done this ages ago.
My current credit card gives me no rewards whatsoever, besides the no annual fee. At least with this one, I’ll earn shopping vouchers. It was weird though, on the initial application link, it said the application form would show me where to upload my payslip, but it never did that. It just asked for financial details etc. It did however offer the balance transfer option, which I did from my other credit card, so hopefully that should all be sorted within two weeks.
I do have the dentist again on Wednesday though, so I’ll still have to use the old credit card for that one until the new one arrives. Then I can pay that one off and get rid of it for good.

I don’t think a new credit card is the best financial decision in most cases, but I’m only doing this because the one I’ve had for years gives me no benefits of really keeping it around.
The bad thing is that this new credit card only accepted applications of a credit limit of at least $6000. My current one has a self-set limit of $4500, so it’s $1500 more that will go against me when, or if ever, I go to apply for a home loan. Even though I always keep the balance really low or at zero, the banks treat it as the full amount I can use. But I do need to cancel the other one at some point, otherwise both will be considered and I’ll be seen as having $10,500 :o
I wish!
Anyway, I’ll see how the application goes. I’m assuming they will contact me to ask for a payslip, although I had all that ready to go and they didn’t bloody ask for it! It seems like almost anyone could just go online and make up details to obtain a credit card, and that’s rather scary.

I was watching this program on TV a few days ago where they were focusing on an area of Cleveland, Ohio, where most of the homeowners up and left the houses boarded up/vacant because of the Global Financial Crisis a few years ago. Even now, those houses are still abandoned. It happened before U.S banks were just handing out huge home loans and credit cards at really high interest rates (like 15%) that people simply couldn’t afford to pay back. Thankfully it seems to be more regulated these days, but I do hope the fact that I didn’t have to submit a payslip on this application was a minor slip-up. I did have to submit all my details though, so I guess they could easily just ring my work and ask how much I earn, although I also listed that. I just didn’t send the proof.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to finally getting some sort of benefit out of forking out these occasional huge amounts of moolah, like I have been recently with these dental bills, or future overseas trips. And the balance transfer will save me a fair bit in potential interest I would have had to have paid with the other bank.

There was one really weird question at the end of the application. It literally read the following, “Do you agree for us to charge you a fee if you go over your credit limit? We will only charge this fee upon your agreement.”
And then it gives a yes or no option.
WTF? Who would agree to an over-credit fee!? So, naturally I clicked ‘No’.
I thought that was very strange.

I consider this a reconciliation.


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