On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:33:17 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> One of the nastier things they have started doing is sending out these
>> "convenience cheques" with low interest rates.
> 
> Yeah. I always call them up and tell them to either stop sending me
> those checks or cancel my card. Surprisingly, the checks stop. Of
> course, I'm a pretty good customer, so...

I should try that.  Thing is, when juggling balances between cards (had 
some expenses that couldn't be avoided), they do come in handy when 
there's no "you must use the card x times a month to keep the rate".

> It helps to hold the same card for 20+ years and have good credit to
> start with. Otherwise, it's hard to bargain from power.

Yep.  I struggled with credit about 8 years ago, so we've finally gotten 
on top of it now and our credit is good.  The reason for *multiple* 
discover cards was the 0% offer came with a new card only - they wouldn't 
apply it to the old card, but they *also* wouldn't extend the old card's 
credit or set my "member since" date to the earlier of the two dates.  So 
I keep the one card locked in the safe and just never use it.  Every 
couple of years I get a new one and activate it and they ask why I don't 
use it, and I tell them that it's just so I have an account that goes 
back to that original start date.

The thing that bugs me about those cheques the most, of course, is they 
sit in my mailbox.  Nothing like having blank cheques sitting someplace 
where someone can come by and steal them - great way to "prevent" fraud, 
innit?

> I always liked the ads that come with those checks: "Cash some in and
> spend it on fun stuff, or pay off bills, or just put it in the bank for
> a rainy day!"  Yeah, right.

Yeah, that's really creative.  I've gotten in the habit of reading *all* 
the fine print and learning to understand it.  Of course, the easiest 
rule of thumb is "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".  
It's amazing more people don't understand that.

Jim

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