When I was growing up, I remember my father used to keep a credit card hidden in the back of his closet.  It was one of those “In case of emergency” things that he rarely used.  If he did use it, he paid it off at the end of the month.  So, I had it embedded in my mind that if I ever got a credit card, that I had, had, had to pay it off at the end of the month if I ever made a charge.  And for the most part, that’s what I did.

I was surprised when I got a my first credit card.  It was a department store card that came in the mail weeks after I filled out an application at a table in the quad during my first year of college. I had a part-time job that paid minimum wage, and I put down what I earned at the job figuring I’d never get approved for credit.  After all, I didn’t make much money, so why would a credit card company take the risk?  Ha!  Macy’s looked at the “financial me” that was on the paper application, and stamped out a card with my name on it. A few days after it arrived, I went to the mall and bought some socks and a shirt, and felt some unease when I presented my card.  “Will they accept this from such a fresh-faced kid?” I thought.  Yes they did.  And then I did something naive:  I ran upstairs and paid my credit card bill because I thought it was the responsible thing to do. The woman at the credit department had a good laugh when I pulled cash out of my wallet to pay for the credit charge I just made.

She just worked there as an hourly employee, but I’m sure somewhere in the thicket of the billing department, some salaried analyst cringed.  Why?  Well, my behavior marked me as a deadbeat. (more…)