As you all know, we no longer use any credit cards for anything. When we started the Dave Ramsey plan we shredded them all in our shredder. (Okay…I held onto one, but it’s now gone). A few days ago, I decided it was time to close the accounts associated with those non-existing credit cards. For a while the inactive cards I had closed all by themselves, but I still had ten one or two accounts open. *ahem*
I will tell you the easiest credit card to close is Capital One. You can do it automatically…no talking to anyone. I had some department store accounts (that were only opened to get a discount) where the customer service rep asked me why I was closing. I would reply with, “I don’t use them,” and they could see that I didn’t….ever. I guess in this economy they don’t want to try to hold onto you as a customer, they must need the unused credit.
The most surprising credit card encounter was my GM Card. I actually had $1.94 credit! Wonder how many years they have had that? I immediately requested the check and just received it today. I will be closing that one after I cash the check!
The most difficult one to close was the Chase credit cards. Not difficult in the fact that I couldn’t part with the card because I had some attachment to it. It was difficult because I actually had the rep try to tell me what Dave Ramsey says about credit cards. He asked me why I was closing all three accounts and I told him that I don’t use credit cards. Then he asked me why I don’t use credit cards.
Me: “I’m on the Dave Ramsey plan and we use only cash.”
Rep: “From what I understand, Dave Ramsey recommends that you keep one credit card open for travel. So when you reserve hotels or cars you can do that.”
Me: “I have a debit card to do that.”
Rep: “Yes, but they don’t offer accidental insurance for car rentals, luggage loss, theft, etc.”
Really?!? Did he just try to tell me what Dave Ramsey says? It was comical because in the Financial Peace University DVDs Dave Ramsey actually says, “They will say that ‘Dave Ramsey says’…”
And it’s true. People in certain industries think they know what Dave Ramsey’s plan is, but they don’t. Dave Ramsey does NOT ever believe in having credit cards at all…period…end of story.
Anna
