You know when you go to the mailbox you are going to find at least one of these two things, a bill and/or a new offer for credit. Today I am going to talk about some good reasons why you would want to stop receiving new credit offers.
Now we all know what credit means….that someone is offering you their money for you to use and for this benefit, you will be paying them, the lender, back the original amount of their money, plus some of your own money called interest, which could be 22% or even higher….ouch!
Oh I know these offers can be very tempting by stating 0% interest or no annual fee…..trust me, they wouldn’t be making the offer if they weren’t pretty sure they were going to make a profit from that “0%” that they are tempting you with. Chances are pretty good you will miss a payment, or they will change a due date by a day or two so your payment arrives late, and once that happens…bam, the 0% is gone and the 22% is your new interest rate because you failed to meet their nearly impossible terms for the 0% rate.
If you think these offers are coming more often now than in the past, you would be correct. Consumer Credit Counseling Services says that “financial institutions are soliciting people who have good credit right now” more than ever, why, because they need the money, and people with good credit are their best best, they figure you will pay, but still make a mistake not to meet the original terms of the deal.
Yes, it is flattering to think that you are considered to be an individual with good credit by receiving these offers, but don’t buy into it. You want to keep that good credit, not by getting more credit cards, or additional loans and building more debt, but by doing just the opposite. Paying with cash. Yes, you heard me, if you have to buy something on credit, or with a loan (besides a house) that means you are admitting, “I can’t afford this, so I am going to have someone else front me the money” and then inside you tell yourself, “oh I can pay this off with my next bonus check” which you have already allocated to last weeks credit purchase that you forgot about. The cycle continues until one day you have more debt than you have income.
The first thing to do when you receive an offer for new credit is to shred it, with a cross cut shredder. Don’t just throw the offer away in the trash…that is the worst thing you could do (well besides filling it out and applying for the credit) Shred it so no one else could gain access to it and take your identity, but that is another topic we will talk about that in Monday’s blog.
The second most important thing you want to do is opt out of all these credit/loan offers. Remember, your goal in life is to pay cash and live debt free, so there is no reason to apply for credit as that will only make you poor and someone else rich with your money.
To opt out of these offer go to https://www.optoutprescreen.com or call 1–888-567-8688. Make sure you choose the option to opt out for life. Credit is not your friend when it comes to wealth building….Cash is.
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