Since this is credit card week, I wanted to share some aspects of my credit card career with our readers. I first got into credit cards when I was a sophomore in college. Like many careers, my history with credit card started off romantically. My first card was a Visa issued by Bank One. I can still remember the card, it had a shiny Bank One logo on a blue and white background. It was love at first sight.
The credit limit was $250. Due my prodigious consumption of pizza and beer in college, I had that baby maxed out in no time.
Later in graduate school my credit card career took a turn for the worse. In the two years it took to earn my masters, I turned that $250 obligation into more than $11,000. I can’t say that there was anything redeeming about my behavior. I wasn’t borrowing to invest and I certaintly wasn’t giving the money to charities for old ladies or orphans in Africa. Some of the debt went to paying my rent and buying food. Frankly though, a lot of it went to partying. I visited New York several times, and enjoyed many fine nights out in the free-wheeling environment of Clinton era DC.
But then I graduated and the party ended. I was facing $32,000 in student loans and $11,000 in credit card debt. The shock of being out of school and eating ramen while living in a basement galvanized me into action. In the course of a year and a half, I had the cards retired. But, thats a story for another time, so stay turned to learn how I dug myself out of that hole.
Best,
James
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