Tell me what you think ... credit card issue

[MANWHORE]

I've had this AOL account for a very long time. My sister is the only one that uses it,so i canceled the credit card it was being billed to(have too many cards which is the reason i canceled it)and i just didn't have time to put in her billing info. Now,i get a bill for this canceled card 3 months after i canceled it saying i owe 3 months for AOL which was still being charged on the card. I called them and they said that they can't break a contract between me and any company so they had to keep taking the charge. .. I just talked to AOL lady and she said whether i had a contract with AOL or not,it should be against the law for them to bill a canceled credit card. Now,i have no problem paying what i owe AOL but if it's not legal for the card company to do what they did,i don't want to pay them,just for being stupid. .... Make another long story short. I ordered some of those penis enlarge pills ... OK COME ON! It was a long time ago Anyway,they were billing my card every month and sending me a new bottle. I tried several times to get in touch with them,but i couldn't,so i canceled the card. The card was never billed again and it was days later that i got a letter saying they needed a new card. Yeah,they were quik to get in touch with me then. I can't stand when companies try to take advantage of people.... So,what do you think i can do. I would just not pay the credit company but i have great credit and don't want anything negative on my record.... By the way,those pills never worked

[Bob Smith]

Credit card companies are evil. They are pure and simply evil. They promise all sorts of great things trying to get everyone to sign up, then once theyve got you hooked, they will do everything legal (and some not) to make you pay crazy interest rates, high fees, bad customer service, etc. IMO, you should ditch all your credit cards and use only debit. F*ck the credit card companies that ruin peoples lives.

BTW, keep calling your scamming credit card company and say that you arent going to pay for those 3 months and that it is their fault that there are charges, not yours. Once a credit card is closed, you can no longer charge to it. What could certainly have happened is that they simply "told" you that the card was cancelled when in fact it was not. That is a pretty common tactic in the industry. ALWAYS request written confirmation that a credit card is closed and has a zero balance.

[thick]

Credit cards are definitely evil. Fuk em

[CyniQ]

They can be useful. You just have to be paying attention... Really close attention.

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by CyniQ

They can be useful. You just have to be paying attention... Really close attention.

Useful how?

[Grizzly]

You can't rent a car with cash. Many hotels require credit cards. If you never purchase anything on credit, then you have zero credit and can not buy anything on credit until you establish a good credit base.

[Bob Smith]

You can establish credit without a credit card. Hotels take debit cards, as do car rental places and everywhere else. My Visa debit card works every single place that accepts a Visa credit card, with no exception. And most places that extend credit (stores and whatnot) will extend credit to someone without a credit card.

[novicebb]

Read your Credit Card customer rights form and go from there. I would also find out what is your credit card companies (bank that issues the card) email and mailing address. Send email first explaining the problem and why you feel you do not have to pay. Keep it professional, polite, factual and short. Make a copy of it. I say email them first because it is quicker. You will not get the proper response from the Bank Issued credit card company trust me so get ready to mail a letter via certified mail next. Again keep it professional, polite, factual and short. When I say factual that includes including any records to prove your point.

I would like to know if your credit card is an AOL credit card or any other type of TIME WARNER credit card. The reason I ask is because I had a friend that had a Sony credit card and purchased music from Sony's "connect" music dowload site. He had a dial up ISP and many of the songs lost connection transferring from the site to his sony "walkman" mp3 player but his credit card was still charged. Even though he had his credit card supposely reimbursed and actually credited for 5 additional future songs, he noticed that his next statement and following statements was still being charged for the cost of songs that were downloaded and late fees. He realize that the reason one is because since he still used the card to purchase other Sony products due to the card's discount feature for Sony products, Sony still charged him for the interrupted downloaded songs.

ANyway back to what you have to do to rectify your card. You will probably get reimbursed after you send the letter because the bank that issued the card really don't want any problems over such a small fee. Now if the fee is large due to continued monthly charges and late fees then you may have to just keep going through certain channels to remedy the problem. See most credit card companies expect you to not go through all this and just say "hey I give up. I will just pay whatever I owe and be done with it". You may have to go through the abritrator process.

Now for the penis enlargement company. Dude you are screwed. Most of these companies that claim to "enlarge your penis in size" that you see on infomercials and spam emails are fly by night companies. Most have ingredients that you can get on your very own and get for a hell of a lot cheaper than getting their products. Ignore their calls, block them if you have too. Do not, and I do mean do not give them your new credit card number.

[MANWHORE]

That penis thing is long gone and taken care of .... I have a ton of credit cards that i never even use. The one i cancelled was fleet now bank of America. I don't have AOL or any card like that. My wife and i desided to only use Discover card since we get cash back. I always keep at least 2 other cards in my wallet. I usually have the blue card from Amex and Mastercard Citi in there just in case they don't take Discover. We owe nothing besides this months bill on any of our cards and we have always paid monthy bills in full. They haven't made much money off of us ... well not off of me but my wife,even thought she had the money,she used to make monthly payments(before we started dating). I told her to stop paying the interest,and start paying the whole bill. We only use our cards because we don't like carrying alot of cash and sometimes don't know how much we will need and we have built some very good credit backrounds with them .... Bob,card companies can make the interest as high as they want,if you pay in full,it doesn't matter. We have 7% but we don't care what it is. It's a pain in the ass the 1st few years of getting these cards because they don't stop calling with new and exciting offers,but they don't call us anymore. ... Novice,your right about people not wanting to go through the trouble,because i will probably just pay the $50 .. I didn't care about the money,since i owe for AOL but just the fact they kept charging a cancelled card pissed me off.

[CyniQ]

Originally Posted by Bob Smith

Useful how?

I have a couple of rewards cards that allow me to accrue frequent flyer miles and cashback. I have thousands of dollars in bills that I have to pay every month (duh). I mean suppliers and vendors to pay. I can use their credit, which is free. Or I can use my credit cards, that pay me in miles or other incentives for using them.

[novicebb]

I hate credit cards and that is why I pay almost everything in cash. If I have to order something online I get a pre-paid card and load it up with about 2 grand. I am so secretive now that I hate leaving records. Many more will be like this when you find out that the whole world knows about you. I read in a magazine and I believe on this board or maybe another board that you can do a search of your user names of various forum boards, your nick names and actual names and find tons of stuff about yourself online. Try it one day and see if I am lying.

[Grizzly]

Sure you can. I'm all over the place on the 'net. Type in my name and you'll get atleast 20 sites dedicated to me. Okay, so they're not really "dedicated" to me, but I'm on there.

Car repairs and new appliances. How's that, Bob. Don't know about you, but I never have 1200 dollars laying around, so if I were to need a new fridge, I"d be fucked. It's sort of the same reason my car has a big dent in it. I don't have the cash to fix it.

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by Grizzly

Sure you can. I'm all over the place on the 'net. Type in my name and you'll get atleast 20 sites dedicated to me. Okay, so they're not really "dedicated" to me, but I'm on there.

Car repairs and new appliances. How's that, Bob. Don't know about you, but I never have 1200 dollars laying around, so if I were to need a new fridge, I"d be fucked. It's sort of the same reason my car has a big dent in it. I don't have the cash to fix it.

Then you should put some money in a savings account for such emergencies so that you dont have to use credit.

[CyniQ]

I don't know. I've heard it argued rather impressively both ways. You can save all your income, live like a pauper, and have nothing to "show" for it. Except the money itself which devalues daily given the conditions of the currency markets of late, and inflation. Or you can buy property and other assests, live like a king, and spend all your income on debt service. Who's to say which is better? In the end, you may come out on top either way. However, on the one hand the end is fairly conclusive and predictable. On the other hand...

[Bob Smith]

I am all for buying property for personal and investment purposes, even using mortgages to do so. But I think people should be otherwise debt-free before doing so. That means no student loans, no credit card debt, no bank loans, car loans, etc.

Also, if you save all your income, that doesnt mean you have to live like a pauper. Sure, maybe a couple years of living well below your means in order to get out of debt, but once the debt is paid off then there is a lot more money available for investing in paper assets, property, whatever. No matter what side of the fence you come down on, I think it is absolutely imperative that everyone has money set aside strictly as an emergency fund.

Also, if you have ever read "The Millionaire Next Door" or "The Millionaire Mind" then you would realize that the majority of American millionaires are not extravagant people, they dont all have brand new cars every year, they dont necessarily make huge incomes ($100k+). According to all of Thomas Stanley's research and work with millionaires (25+ years worth), the average millionaire lives in a paid-for house, drives a paid-for American car that is ~5-7 years old, buys really nice shoes and has then resoled rather than buying another new pair in a year or so.

All of that research fits my grandparents nearly to a T. And also my ex's parents, whom I recently found out that they are worth $1M+. My grandparents never bought new cars, their house was paid for, they didnt buy all sorts of fancy crap. But they did go on international trips every year or two, they belonged to the local country club, they lived comfortably but not excessively. Same with my ex's parents, who I am very close with. Their house isnt quite paid for, but its almost there. Their cars are 5-10 years old, they have quite a bit in investments and are partners in a commercial property that brings in a nice monthly income above his salary (the mom has always been a stay at home mom, so no income there). Oh, my grandparents and ex's parents didnt take out loans for anything other than their house, always saved money, and never carried credit card debt.

Edit: I dont know why I didnt think about it at the time, but my wife's parents are in exactly the same position. Lived in the same house for nearly 30 years, never have CC debt, pay cash for their cars, paid cash for our wedding. The only payments they have every month is cable, phone and food. I dont care what your income is, but you can build up a lot of money and investments if your only payments are cable, phone and food!