Credit Card and Insurance Solicitation

[MassHavoc]

If you are like me you get 12000 of these in the mail every day. I found this site through my Sallie Mae loans and checked it out. I already applied for the 5 year online, you might want to do the same. The main reason this happens is if you use any of the sites like freecreditreport.com or the three major credit sites to get a free credit report. Buried in their terms and conditions are allowances to start sending you pre-approved crap from everyone. It's how they make money.



https://www.optoutprescreen.com/



Send this to others. This basically says that no unsolicited CC offers and insurance offers can be sent to you for 5 years. There is also a permanent mail in option, but who uses the mail anymore? Normally I don't post this crap along but they bother me that much.



I get more junk mail, CC offers, Insurance offers, free trials for gyms, stuff jammed in my door, and millions of other things that I immediate throw away and are unwanted. It's beyond ridiculous. It should be illegal, so much shit is jammed in my door, on my car, the fence, it's a waste of fucking paper. They want to do something about the environment, stop the unwanted soliciting of tanning deals. DON'T FUCKING TOUCH MY WINDSHIELD WIPERS! And if you put one more business card in between the fucking window and the rubber guide for it, I'm going to start burning shit down.

 

[Shantz My Pants]

Its funny you bring this up.



Discover has been sending me a pre-approved credit app, twice a week since the start of January. I was tossing them out but now that I have noticed how many they have sent me, I'm going to keep them and see how many I actually get till they stop. It's fucking idiotic.



I'm 21 going on 22. I have two credit cards. One is a best buy the other is a capital one. The best buy has a small balance, maybe 50 bucks. The capital one has a limit of $500 which I'm sure is very little to what many of the older folks here have, and I'm at $250 on it. I don't want or need another credit card. After seeing what debt can do to people especially with the latest economy crash; I'd rather buy something when I have ALL of the money for it, and only use the credit card for emergency purposes (car trouble, gas,hookers).

 

[jakobeast]

Its funny you bring this up.



Discover has been sending me a pre-approved credit app, twice a week since the start of January. I was tossing them out but now that I have noticed how many they have sent me, I'm going to keep them and see how many I actually get till they stop. It's fucking idiotic.



I'm 21 going on 22. I have two credit cards. One is a best buy the other is a capital one. The best buy has a small balance, maybe 50 bucks. The capital one has a limit of $500 which I'm sure is very little to what many of the older folks here have, and I'm at $250 on it. I don't want or need another credit card. After seeing what debt can do to people especially with the latest economy crash; I'd rather buy something when I have ALL of the money for it, and only use the credit card for emergency purposes (car trouble, gas,hookers).

Smart man. Credit cards are good for emergencies, such as car repair and such. The problem is you get sucked into buying anything with it.



You are you, and right now the best thing you can do is carry a balance on your credit card. That how you build up your credit score. Those banks don't like it when you pay it off right away. Do that, and they make no money. They will actually ding you for that. a $250 balance on a $500 limit is cool. That is obviously half you limit, and if you make the minimum payments for a while, they make their money off you and the are more apt to give you a better rating.

 

[Shantz My Pants]

Smart man. Credit cards are good for emergencies, such as car repair and such. The problem is you get sucked into buying anything with it.



You are you, and right now the best thing you can do is carry a balance on your credit card. That how you build up your credit score. Those banks don't like it when you pay it off right away. Do that, and they make no money. They will actually ding you for that. a $250 balance on a $500 limit is cool. That is obviously half you limit, and if you make the minimum payments for a while, they make their money off you and the are more apt to give you a better rating.

That is exactly how I look at it.



When i first got the card, I used it like it was monopoly money. I learned my lesson and to be honest, it was much higher but I've paid it off slowly and I'll probably keep it around 200-300 range just for the safe side.



When I bought my new car, they had to run a credit check on myself. I forgot my score, but the guy at the dealership was actually quite impressed with how good it was for a guy my age. I still needed a cosigner, but he said if this was 5 years ago, I could have easily been given the loan without a cosigner. I was pretty proud about that, but still, it's a dangerous game to get into.

 

[TSD]

That is exactly how I look at it.



When i first got the card, I used it like it was monopoly money. I learned my lesson and to be honest, it was much higher but I've paid it off slowly and I'll probably keep it around 200-300 range just for the safe side.



When I bought my new car, they had to run a credit check on myself. I forgot my score, but the guy at the dealership was actually quite impressed with how good it was for a guy my age. I still needed a cosigner, but he said if this was 5 years ago, I could have easily been given the loan without a cosigner. I was pretty proud about that, but still, it's a dangerous game to get into.

I was surprised I didnt need a cosigner when i got my car in august. My credit score was good until i was looking for a place to live and needed a new car, my credit was barraged with hard hits that lowered my score like 80 pts. My credit was fine before then, but its ridiculous that they lower your credit just because someone looked at it.

 

[Sir Mike of Burbs]

Getting a credit card when I was 18 was probably the smartest thing I could have done. Small limit just the build credit. Signed my own car at 21. Which is super awesome since I'm not to good with money. But the weird part is I've never gotten to many credit cards in the mail. In 4 years maybe only 3 or 4. I'll have to show this to my mom though. I know she spends a good half hour a day shredding junk mail.



On the downside, junk mail keeps the USPS running. That and birthday cards.

 

[Tater]

Its funny you bring this up.



Discover has been sending me a pre-approved credit app, twice a week since the start of January. I was tossing them out but now that I have noticed how many they have sent me, I'm going to keep them and see how many I actually get till they stop. It's fucking idiotic.



I'm 21 going on 22. I have two credit cards. One is a best buy the other is a capital one. The best buy has a small balance, maybe 50 bucks. The capital one has a limit of $500 which I'm sure is very little to what many of the older folks here have, and I'm at $250 on it. I don't want or need another credit card. After seeing what debt can do to people especially with the latest economy crash; I'd rather buy something when I have ALL of the money for it, and only use the credit card for emergency purposes (car trouble, gas,hookers).

What I do at times when I get fed up with junk mail is to send it back to them.

I use the "postage paid" envelope they include and remove anything with my name it.

I rip up the rest and stick it in the envelope with with a note that says "**** YOU, NOW YOU PAID FOR POSTAGE TWICE"

This doesn't stop the junk mail but it does make me feel better when I mail it out.

 

[MassHavoc]

Getting a credit card when I was 18 was probably the smartest thing I could have done. Small limit just the build credit. Signed my own car at 21. Which is super awesome since I'm not to good with money. But the weird part is I've never gotten to many credit cards in the mail. In 4 years maybe only 3 or 4. I'll have to show this to my mom though. I know she spends a good half hour a day shredding junk mail.



On the downside, junk mail keeps the USPS running. That and birthday cards.

This is an excellent point that you bring up that I think everyone at 18 should do. And for me it was even better because I had a CC with my dad on it because he had good credit and helped establish mine faster. It was only for books and such, and he made all the payments because I had no real income while in school but it allowed me starting at 18 to establish solid credit, and more importantly be responsible with my cards because I knew he'd see every purchase I made. To this day I only have 2 cards. My CC and a Costco AE that I just got because I had to get the membership anyway, so I use it to pay for stuff at Costco then just pay it off in full. I think it's as important to establish your credit when you are young as it is to understand how it all works. Like was said above, if you don't have any credit when you start needing it, it's harder to make it good. when I was 19 all the landlords run credit checks. That pings the report, and if I don't have one that's red flags. The more that happens without establishing good credit, the harder it is to raise that score down the road. 13 years later and the only thing that hurts my immaculate credit score from paying every bill on time is my wife.... yeah that's right I said it.

 

[CLWolf81]

Smart man. Credit cards are good for emergencies, such as car repair and such. The problem is you get sucked into buying anything with it.



You are you, and right now the best thing you can do is carry a balance on your credit card. That how you build up your credit score. Those banks don't like it when you pay it off right away. Do that, and they make no money. They will actually ding you for that. a $250 balance on a $500 limit is cool. That is obviously half you limit, and if you make the minimum payments for a while, they make their money off you and the are more apt to give you a better rating.

Precisely the reason why I refuse having a credit card now after being in debt for so long. **** em.

 

[MassHavoc]

I dont' buy that credit cards are for emergency only, I used my a lot for all sorts of things, and pay it then pay them off immediately. Plus you can get the crappy points that build up which I actually hate because it's a horrible gimmick. It's not about credit lines and emergency, it's just about how you use them and how smart you are with them. As an FYI, I believe I heard that it's best to stay under 1/3 of the credit limit on the card or something like that if possible? So say you have a 9k limit, stay under 3k. something to do with the credit score I guess.

 

[jakobeast]

I dont' buy that credit cards are for emergency only, I used my a lot for all sorts of things, and pay it then pay them off immediately. Plus you can get the crappy points that build up which I actually hate because it's a horrible gimmick. It's not about credit lines and emergency, it's just about how you use them and how smart you are with them. As an FYI, I believe I heard that it's best to stay under 1/3 of the credit limit on the card or something like that if possible? So say you have a 9k limit, stay under 3k. something to do with the credit score I guess.

You aren't really building a good number by paying it off immediately. The banks like to get monies from you from the interest, and that is how they gauge the score they give you.

 

[Shantz My Pants]

I dont' buy that credit cards are for emergency only, I used my a lot for all sorts of things, and pay it then pay them off immediately. Plus you can get the crappy points that build up which I actually hate because it's a horrible gimmick. It's not about credit lines and emergency, it's just about how you use them and how smart you are with them. As an FYI, I believe I heard that it's best to stay under 1/3 of the credit limit on the card or something like that if possible? So say you have a 9k limit, stay under 3k. something to do with the credit score I guess.

I use mine for emergency purposes now because I usually have the cash on my debit if I really need something. Plus, if I just put something on my credit card with the purpose of paying it off, I'll use the real money for something else.

 

[MassHavoc]

You aren't really building a good number by paying it off immediately. The banks like to get monies from you from the interest, and that is how they gauge the score they give you.

I meant the purchase, not the card. My wife has been in grad school for 3 years now... Like I could actually pay the thing off... since we've been married I had it down to 0 once..... Once.

 

[Tater]

I meant the purchase, not the card. My wife has been in grad school for 3 years now... Like I could actually pay the thing off... since we've been married I had it down to 0 once..... Once.

Bolded to highlight the message for all single readers.

Please take note.

 

[MassHavoc]

Bolded to highlight the message for all single readers.

Please take note.

Yeah no shit, I got it down to 0 just before we were married and put all the wedding stuff on it, got it back down to 0 finally within about a year then all the school stuff took over. I can't wait till she graduates in a couple of months we work the two incomes for a little bit, then I retire. Yes, I'm done.