Right there on the credit card company web site’s home page. Credit 101. An assortment of tips re how to use credit responsibly. Condensed, they read: "Don’t live beyond your means."
Good advice, but a more consumer-friendly version of the list might include:
Fnd a scissors and cut in half every credit card with an NFL team logo or a picture of a country singer on it.
Don't apply for any more credit cards. Today, while revising this article, I had to stop and answer the phone. On the other end was someone trying to get me to do just that. Sorry, but there's something about someone speaking with a foreign accent offering me a General Motors platinum VISA that brings out the cranky in me.
Open your bill the day you get it and read every line on it. If there are still any service charges you don’t understand, give us a call and our customer service reps will give you all the information we allow them to give you. In other words, you’re still on your own.
Read what’s printed under the words IMPORTANT NEWS. Open every piece of mail you get from us, even if it looks like junk mail. Enclosed might be Important News that, in six months, payments made on odd-numbered days in months with an R in them won’t post until the next business day.
Know what our grace period really is. We won’t tell you, so you’ll have to figure it out yourself.
It will cost you ten dollars to use one of those "convenience" checks attached to your bill.
Go back to school and get that law degree that will allow you to read and understand your member agreement. On-line universities now make anything possible.