10 purchases not to make on your credit card
The word ‘credit’ causes consumers to freeze these days. The very mention sparks a range of emotions, from anger to grief, relief to anxiety. The worst thing you can do is panic — and do nothing, according to Atlanta native John Ulzheimer, president of San Francisco-based Credit.com.
Consumers want desperately to get on the right track and reduce their debt. Georgians’ average FICO score just two months ago was 667, fourth-lowest in the nation. While it can’t be fixed overnight, there are steps we can take to avoid future mistakes and correct the ones we’ve already made.
Marketplace.org turned to Robert Manning, author of “Credit Card Nation” to compile a list of 10 purchases we shouldn’t make on our credit cards. Among them:
- Don’t use your card to buy lottery tickets, your credit card company might think you’re irresponsible.
- Don’t suddenly start using your card at discount stores, lest they assume you’re worried about your finances or job.
- Don’t pay for spa treatments with a credit card, it may appear that you’re worried about money.
- And don’t buy porn with your card. It might indicate you’re trying to escape from financial worries
Have you curtailed your credit card spending? Do you think credit card companies really care about where you use your card, or just whether you make your payments? And does where we use our credit cards really say anything about us?
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11 comments Add your comment
Friday, July 10th @ RAW NEWS | Rodney Says | Rodney Anderson Blog
July 10th, 2009
11:17 am
[...] 10 Purchases NOT to make with your credit card [...]
JJ
July 10th, 2009
1:15 pm
American Express called me recently demanding to know why I had an American Express green card that I was not using (card had a high credit limit). I told them that I called several years back to say that I was not using the green card but instead all my purchases were going on my American Express Delta Platinum card and I wanted to cancel the green card because of the annual fee. American Express representative said at that time that I could not cancel the green card because it was tied to the American Express Delta Platinum card. Well, can you imagine how quickly they agreed to cancel the green card during that conversation! I could hear the keyboard clicking furiously.
Duh!
July 11th, 2009
6:32 pm
10 Things … did you not see the “READ MORE” link at the bottom of the text?
Disappointing that it just led to some other website. AJC continues to prove that it is unable to create unique content. Sad
Good Speller
July 11th, 2009
9:09 pm
If you use your CC to purchase lottery tickets, they might think ‘you’re’ irresponsible. Not ‘your’ irresponsible. ‘You’re’ is the correct word, not ‘your.’ Love the column, but yeesh! Spell check is NOT ‘proper word check.’
lovelyliz
July 12th, 2009
8:00 am
Does it really matter? Owe too much/ don’t owe enough, raise your interest rate, lower your FICO score. Spend too little/spend too much, raise your interest rate, lower your FICO score. Use the card too much/don’t use it enough, raise your interest rate, lower your FICO score. If you pay off your card every month, they may very well cancel the account on you, lowering your FICO score. I agree some spend behaviors are more agregious than others, but they can for any reason,not particularly because of anything you are doing raise your interest rate, lower your FICO score.
Your dog passes gas, raise your interest rate, lower your FICO score..
toni
July 12th, 2009
8:49 am
I cut up all my credit cards. Was surprise when one of them called me offered to lower my rate from 23% to 10% for one year. The reason being is that I had destroyed the card and they wanted to raise the rate and I opposed it. I keep send the same amount that I have always sent and since I am fixing to have another paid off it will free up more money to send them to pay it off in the year.
Marcus Graham
July 12th, 2009
8:57 am
10 Purchases NOT to make with your credit card ….
ABSOLUTE DRIVEL! No where does this guy cite his sources. Furthermore, for a lot of the purchases that he mentions, the level of detail is not that great to know what was purchased. For example, on his Web site, he says don’t be retreads. WTF!!??! When was the last time Kaufmans or Butler’s coded the credit card transaction (NOT THE RECEIPT) as a retread pruchase?
SharonH
July 12th, 2009
9:27 am
That sounds like absolute garbage. I know I won’t be buying that guy’s book.
MC
July 12th, 2009
9:41 am
Don’t spread unfounded rumors that “if you buy X, they’ll cut your credit.” Show us the facts or shut up. Credit card companies don’t know *what* you’re buying, only the name of the merchant and the total amount. Any credit card companies that actually penalize customers for particular kinds of purchases are going to lose business to those that don’t.
Dinty Moore
July 12th, 2009
2:10 pm
This article’s crap. I’ve never seen a place that would accept a credit card for lottery tickets. Only cash. Most porn purchases come back as “so and so sports bar and grille”. Never seen nor heard of a credit card company doing what this article claims. My guess is the AJC was hurting for material for the paper and asked someone who normally sleeps outside on the sidewalk to come up with an idea for a case of ripple.
RAW NEWS | Rodney Says | Rodney Anderson Blog
July 15th, 2009
10:27 am
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