A story/plea for Halp

[Ydoow]

Story:

'Hi thanks for shopping at JCPennies, is this everything?'

Me: Yup

'Can I interest you in a JCPennies card? You can save 20% off'

Me: Can I use it now?

'Of course ^-^'

Me: Well I\'d be crazy not to then I s\'pose

note - I\'m getting to the age where I need to move out of my house and have begun collecting these little plastic cards to save money when I buy my own stuff and get all self-dependent.

e.g. Tops grocery discount cards and get 7 haircuts get one free cards, that kind of stuff

*10 minutes of information exchange later...*

'Okay and finally what\'s your annual income?'

Me: >_> uh...

'Just a rough guess'

Me: Well...I guess like $10,000 then... (I work part-time during college, full time during holidays/Summer)

*slight pause as JCP network does it\'s networking*

'Congratulations! You\'ve been approved for $1,400!'

Me:

Me - in my head: Did... I just get a charge card?...

I would have bet my cat\'s life I was setting myself up for a JCP point-system type of thing.

But now I apparently have 14% of my annual income to blow at JCPennies.

But here\'s my question/dilemma.

How do I pay off the charges I spend each month???

Online??

Mail in Check??

WHAT HAVE I DONE TO MY NOW-EXISTENT CREDIT SCORE

[Herpderpsslerps]

They\'ll mail you a bill monthly.

[Ydoow]

Well...that sounds much easier than the 2 hours I just spent trying to register my account for automatic email notifications for online payments...

I wish I could have seen my face when I realized I signed up for a credit card though. I must have literally been \'deer in headlights\'

lol

[Malamo999]

I can\'t help you, but that reminds me when a store offered one of my parents a 'loyalty' card. Turns out it was really a credit card. >.>

[Vanamonde]

I did something similar. With most cards (all?) they don\'t charge you anything on any month in which you don\'t buy anything, and if you pay off the full balance of anything you do charge on the first bill, there\'s no interest. I\'ve had one card for 17 years and a Sears for around 4, and it hasn\'t cost me a penny more than it would have if I\'d paid with cash or check. (I\'ve never used the Sears, because like you, they kind of misled me into it.) Of course, you really should read your paperwork to be sure, but I don\'t think you have anything to worry about. If you\'ve changed your mind, by the way, the paperwork should tell you who to call to just cancel the thing as soon as you pay off the current balance.

Basically, they just gave you 20% off of your current purchase in hopes that you\'d be dumb and just keep charging things. If you cancel it as soon as you pay off your current card, you haven\'t lost anything, and came out ahead by that 20%.

[Ydoow]

I did something similar. With most cards (all?) they don\'t charge you anything on any month in which you don\'t buy anything, and if you pay off the full balance of anything you do charge on the first bill, there\'s no interest. I\'ve had one card for 17 years and a Sears for around 4, and it hasn\'t cost me a penny more than it would have if I\'d paid with cash or check. (I\'ve never used the Sears, because like you, they kind of misled me into it.) Of course, you really should read your paperwork to be sure, but I don\'t think you have anything to worry about. If you\'ve changed your mind, by the way, the paperwork should tell you who to call to just cancel the thing as soon as you pay off the current balance.

Basically, they just gave you 20% off of your current purchase in hopes that you\'d be dumb and just keep charging things. If you cancel it as soon as you pay off your current card, you haven\'t lost anything, and came out ahead by that 20%.

Ahah! Thank you!

I always get another 20% off in the next 24 hours, and having an Orthodontist appt. tomorrow by a large JCPenneys...

Time for a big shopping spree! WOO!

And then I\'ll cancel it. How dare they trick me D:<

[Vanamonde]

Oh yeah, I just remembered there was some fine print about that deal. Some of the services within Sears are not provided by Sears, or some stupid crap like that. They wouldn\'t give me the 20% off of my glasses from the Optical department. > Make sure what you want is covered by the deal before you commit yourself to it.

[Ydoow]

I will definitely double check that...

I kinda need to shop for clothes anyway though so it won\'t be a HUGE deal if it doesnt work

[Vanamonde]

Oh crap. I\'m sorry, but for some reason I was reading your post as talking about a Sears card like mine, even though you quite clearly said Penneys. It\'s probably still pretty much the same, but you should check to be sure. :-[ As they say around these parts, derp!

[Johno]

One thing I wish someone had told me before I got my first credit card -

REMEMBER THAT THE $1400 PER MONTH ISN\'T YOUR MONEY.

They\'re not letting you spend it because they\'re nice. It\'s a short term loan, and you\'re expected to pay it back with interest!

(Sorry, I know this is obvious; but lots of young people get themselves into crippling debt on their first card).

[Ydoow]

Oh crap. I\'m sorry, but for some reason I was reading your post as talking about a Sears card like mine, even though you quite clearly said Penneys. It\'s probably still pretty much the same, but you should check to be sure. :-[ As they say around these parts, derp!

Yeah I was under the impression it was the same, and didn\'t think twice when you said Sears lol

One thing I wish someone had told me before I got my first credit card -

REMEMBER THAT THE $1400 PER MONTH ISN\'T YOUR MONEY.

They\'re not letting you spend it because they\'re nice. It\'s a short term loan, and you\'re expected to pay it back with interest!

(Sorry, I know this is obvious; but lots of young people get themselves into crippling debt on their first card).

This is the exact reason I Poker Faced when she said I\'d been accepted for $1,400 and why I\'ve never really wanted a credit card.

Interest is a killer >_>

I plan on doing a spending spree today, but only because I have like $300+ in my checkings and more than triple that in savings so there\'s like no way I can\'t pay off whatever I buy to avoid the interest.

And I think payday is this week too...

[Lord Wasteland]

I was just about to yell at you, for attempting to replicate the Beatles song when I saw the title.

[Ydoow]

Well that was coincidental since I don\'t really know the Beetles too well :l

[Lord Wasteland]

Well that was coincidental since I don\'t really know the Beetles too well :l

They are called the Beatles, and inspired and rock and roll movement. You have to count in Hendrix, Dylan, the Beach Boys, and many others just to name a few.

[Ydoow]

They are called the Beatles, and inspired and rock and roll movement. You have to count in Hendrix, Dylan, the Beach Boys, and many others just to name a few.

Yeah, I had beatles, but then I said 'Wait. The band is not spelled like the insect.'

And then brain farted.