A new game: Let's see which cards DOESN'T decline...

[Becks]

I mean, having a couple maxed out credit cards sucks as it is. But 11!? This is why the only card I have is my debit card. Can't spend what I don't have.

Same here. I would like a credit card, though. It just might come in handy. (I really don't spend a lot of money, my passions are used books and nice--inexpensive--earrings.)

[Andara Bledin]

GOD I hate the "well, that's weird" phrase customers say to me every single time their card is declined.

No, it's not weird, ma'am. It's called you suck at life and suck at managing your money. I'm not going to swipe it again because it won't work no matter what you think.

No, sometimes it is weird. I do the credit card processing for my work, and we have two different processing systems that we use, one for each company.

We have had many instances where one processor won't go through (usually with a vague and often inaccurate reason) but the other one will work fine. And we had a card last week from someone we know has the credit available, but neither processor could make the connection to whoever administered the card, so we were completely incapable of charging it at all.

[edit to add] Oh, and I always try them a second time if they don't go through the first time. Most of the time that doesn't help, but every so often it does.

^-.-^

[Killer Bees]

Someone having that many cards on hand would send up an armada of red flags to me, that just screams credit card fraud. There's no way someone would be able to open up that many cards under their name without the CC companies declining them for having too much available credit for their income.

It's a lot more common than you think. I recommed the book "Maxed Out" by James D. Scurlock. It's a scary insight into how the credit card companies and banks think and the sneaky tricks they pull to get you to dump your life into the debt toilet.

I have one card with $3K limit and I'm paying it off like a mad thing so I can get out of debt. Then I will not have any more credit and I refuse to get into debt any more.

If it's not cash - it's nothing.

[Kogarashi]

Someone having that many cards on hand would send up an armada of red flags to me, that just screams credit card fraud. There's no way someone would be able to open up that many cards under their name without the CC companies declining them for having too much available credit for their income.

And I'm just trying to figure out how she got some of those later cards if they're all maxed out (which implies she's not too interested in paying them all off anytime soon). Shouldn't that have shot her credit rating down a whole bunch?

GOD I hate the "well, that's weird" phrase customers say to me every single time their card is declined.

No, it's not weird, ma'am. It's called you suck at life and suck at managing your money. I'm not going to swipe it again because it won't work no matter what you think.

Well, I would be one of those "That's weird" people, because in my case it would be weird. Hubby and I have one single card, and while we charge everything to it (Amazon points, you know), we pay it off at the end of each month and rarely get close to maxing it out. We treat it like a debit card, really. Hubby likes it that way, because it means far fewer entries in the checkbook's register. One payment to the CC company instead of 20-some-odd payments to stores, gas stations, etc.

I have one card with $3K limit and I'm paying it off like a mad thing so I can get out of debt. Then I will not have any more credit and I refuse to get into debt any more.

I had a $5K card a few years ago (before I got married) that I unfortunately (and rather stupidly) managed to max out. I was barely making the minimum payments each month, and living off of ramen and canned soup. Hubby helped me pay it off, we cut it up (no rewards points), and I've been much better since (partly because I have to share the money with someone else, which helps a whole lot). And that $5K was the opening limit. My parents think it was because I bought a chess set a good while back from one of those "Something Mint" companies that sells collectables, and there were monthly payments on the pieces, which I paid on time. But for maxing it out, what was I thinking?

[Sofar]

I can't imagine anyone even owning eleven credit cards, let alone maxing all of them out. Does this person just max out a card and get a new one?

[greensinestro]

That is appalling! I have several credit cards and only once did I max out a card. It was my first credit card with a $500 spending limit being my credit union had a youth program for first time applicants. This card was maxed out only because I had used it upon moving out, and needed things like groceries, household items, etc.

11 cards! I think if I maxed one out now with say, a $10,000 spending limit, it would make me lose sleep at night. How much money does one owe with 11 cards?

But, I've been places like Home Depot, Wal Mart, Target and other places and have seen customers hand the clerk card after card until one accepted. So, each and every day, people like this go through out their lives with these useless cards in their wallets, not knowing how much they owe, nor caring, yet make the attempt to use them.

[cheese]

My parents have around 50 different credit cards - all with no balance on them though. They have very good credit and get offered them all the time with incentives such as 10% off if you open today, or £50 cashback or whatever. And then they pay them off straight away and never use them again, although their limits get increased every year. They could probably have quarter of a million in avaible debt sitting there. I suppose its possible she may have been in the same sort of situation and then lost her job or got divorced or something and maxed them all out. At least she was not sucky about it though, I can imagine many people screaming how it is your fault..

[Estil]

Damn, her credit report must really SUCK :P

[greensinestro]

Damn, her credit report must really SUCK :P

No, it doesn't, or she wouldn't be able to get card #12, #13.......

[Gawdzillers]

That is truly horrifying. The idea of having 11 maxed out credit cards would be enough to send me into heart failure. I wonder how common that sort of thing really is...

How many spoiled rich kids are there in the world?

[Hon'ya-chan]

How many spoiled rich kids are there in the world?

Too many for Darwin to process.

[Andara Bledin]

As I mentioned earlier, my boss used to have 13 cards and is now down to 8. Most of those cards have $10k+ limits, and at least half of them get maxed out and paid off every single month.

As for how someone with a lot of cards gets more... As long as she makes the minimum payments every single month, the credit card companies adore her. They hate people who pay off their balances every month before they get to add any interest. But if you carry a balance, and make payments, you're their darling.

^-.-^

[slick]

As I mentioned earlier, my boss used to have 13 cards and is now down to 8. Most of those cards have $10k+ limits, and at least half of them get maxed out and paid off every single month.

As for how someone with a lot of cards gets more... As long as she makes the minimum payments every single month, the credit card companies adore her. They hate people who pay off their balances every month before they get to add any interest. But if you carry a balance, and make payments, you're their darling.

^-.-^

This is totally true. I have an AMEX card that I got because they offered me 0% interest for one year. I wanted to make a few big purchases. So I got it, made the minimum payment on it, and before the interest would kick in, I would pay the whole thing off (I put most of my savings in a money market account through my bank, earned a fixed rate of 5% or so for a year, it was free money basically).
Well I screwed up on the last payment. I owed over $10k, but posted a payment of just $1k (exactly 10% of the actual amount). I didn't noticed until I got the next statement, and I owed a ton. Felt like a dork, what a retarded mistake to make (so much for that free money due to interest).
Anyways, before I posted the full amount to pay off the card, I noticed that the cards limit increased. I called AMEX to ask about it, I was told that they did it as a courtesy since I was approaching my limit.
Wow is all I can say. Still doesn't excuse anyone from running a card to maxed out status, knowing they can't possibly pay it off.

[Starlord]

My wife attempted to make a purchase at the local WM, and the card reader rejected her card. We had just gone through a case of identity theft, where the thief put us over $1,500 in the red through using her debit card. She paid with cash, and the next day went to the bank, and the card checked out okay. Turns out that the card reader was failing and had to be replaced. On the ID theft, turns out the thief was not very smart. When stealing identity, the trick is to buy a lot of high dollar items one can unload quickly for cash. This dimbulb paid his utility bills with it. Made it real easy for the police to track him down.

[Hon'ya-chan]

When stealing identity, the trick is to buy a lot of high dollar items one can unload quickly for cash.

You-You mean...I have to sell that $1500 Leather Corset that i've been dreaming about?