Gray below is off topic.
I’ve never really needed credit nor wanted it. After my only big loan…
(an oddly loaded new, 1989 Camry with a 5 sp. stick - it was fun to drive, even on twisty roads; I made the Sacramento to Tahoe to Reno trip many times, and Squaw Valley used our HW/SW throughout its operation along with Boreal and Mammoth/June. The main person I dealt with at Squaw was a sweet lady who explained the slight modification needed to account for the hazard pay they gave the groomers. She explained that they drive huge CATs on the edges of a ridge line, heavy equipment dangling, smoothing out the slope below, and that occasionally one goes over and caused a few deaths. Her daughter worked at the ice cream shop during the summer (mountain biking was getting really big). Her name was Amber, and she was smokin’. Her mom introduced us, listened to our greetings, then left to catch up on something. She initiated contact between us then left us alone twice. I however was a closet case at work, and it was a bit awkward. I brought a friend’s 9 y.o. son with me once. We rode up the main, huge lift with all the skiers, me in my tie. We were the only ones in it on the way down after having been packed like sardines on the way up. I asked the operator if he’d take it to 100% for the descent - for the kid, really. He said, “We always do!” What had turned from a fairly serene trip up became amazing on the way down, huge sways at every tower, tons of steel swinging wildly through the still, crisp air, feet stuck to the floor like two shoed limpets, feeling the g's, going steeply down so fast. The child cocked his head at me with a worried look, so I said, “It’s OK, look out the window.” We were surrounded by 12,000 ft.+ peaks on one side, and the distant Owen's Valley floor on other, the aptly named White Mountains beyond. He had never seen anything like it, and was too short to previously see out among the schussers. There was no turn-around time except shutting the door. Edit: I hated the times I'd need chains, they were good about plowing, but no salt in an otherwise pristine wilderness. The roads were amazing and pretty steeply banked. One time, heading up to Mammoth, a big storm came up like they do in the mountains. I stopped by a roadside diner to call my contact. She said that part of the roof was coming off and not to come. I was sad for her, but relieved. I didn't want to get stuck up there somewhere in the the High Sierra, there was nobody to eat.)
...I started feeling kind of silly spending more money to get money. Why not save then buy? I’ve never been interested in a home after seeing all the headaches my dad went through, and I hate the feeling of owing.
(Besides the normal stuff he added a large family room by himself with help from my brother and me. One night a surprise storm came, and he hadn’t gotten the tar paper down over the plywood on the shallowly sloped roof. He had a lamp up there with a huge exposed incandescent bulb. It blew over and created a big, bright, explosive show in the dark of the gathering storm.)
...I like the secure feeling that an apartment provides; if something goes wrong, they always come and fix it, and if it’s a wear and tear item, they don’t charge, and they all have been that. I also know the advantages of homeownership, especially for families.
So I just didn’t care. And all these years later I never needed credit for anything until I went to write a check for a new car last year, election day. The place was empty. They wouldn’t take my check because of an “insufficient credit history,” so I had to leave and get a cashiers check, a minor inconvenience. I also realized if something happened to this building, and I’d need to rent another apt., they’d probably check my credit.
So I went about building my credit. I had to get a secured card because of the lack of history, and I continued my usual financial patterns except I now had to move money from one bank to another every month (always paying the balance) since Chase doesn’t offer a secured card.
The credit card is from Citi, and from their website to the way they show you your balance, and that you don’t have to pay it for a while, a long, profitable while, they hope you run a long-term balance, that you fail at their game.
Their monthly due date seems a difficult target. Purchases can take a while to process, and you can’t pay more than their approved balance by even a weekly grocery amount.
I forgot about the impending due date, and used the card (instead of my debit) on groceries the other day. Now I’m trying to pay a $76 amount that is showing as my only balance and their site won’t let me. I click on the amount, hit the pay now button and I get a blank screen. The tab with it has been open since I started writing this. Nothing, no progress bar, just the bank’s logo up top. It happened last night too, I've tried refreshing and rebooting, so now I get to enjoy calling a big bank - tomorrow.
My credit is up in the 700’s now, and my main source of mail is from banks with “the most amazing” credit card offers. At least I can go from having a card with Citi to it all being done at Chase now. I just kept my account open through Glendale Federal then Washington Mutual, now Chase after the meltdown and demise of WAMU with minimal bother in between. They’ve always been good to me (except now that no one needs a physical bank for much, they are so thinly staffed for my semi-annual laundry quarter needs).
The wonderful world of credit. It's nerve-wracking even if you don't run a balance.
I’ve never really needed credit nor wanted it. After my only big loan…
(an oddly loaded new, 1989 Camry with a 5 sp. stick - it was fun to drive, even on twisty roads; I made the Sacramento to Tahoe to Reno trip many times, and Squaw Valley used our HW/SW throughout its operation along with Boreal and Mammoth/June. The main person I dealt with at Squaw was a sweet lady who explained the slight modification needed to account for the hazard pay they gave the groomers. She explained that they drive huge CATs on the edges of a ridge line, heavy equipment dangling, smoothing out the slope below, and that occasionally one goes over and caused a few deaths. Her daughter worked at the ice cream shop during the summer (mountain biking was getting really big). Her name was Amber, and she was smokin’. Her mom introduced us, listened to our greetings, then left to catch up on something. She initiated contact between us then left us alone twice. I however was a closet case at work, and it was a bit awkward. I brought a friend’s 9 y.o. son with me once. We rode up the main, huge lift with all the skiers, me in my tie. We were the only ones in it on the way down after having been packed like sardines on the way up. I asked the operator if he’d take it to 100% for the descent - for the kid, really. He said, “We always do!” What had turned from a fairly serene trip up became amazing on the way down, huge sways at every tower, tons of steel swinging wildly through the still, crisp air, feet stuck to the floor like two shoed limpets, feeling the g's, going steeply down so fast. The child cocked his head at me with a worried look, so I said, “It’s OK, look out the window.” We were surrounded by 12,000 ft.+ peaks on one side, and the distant Owen's Valley floor on other, the aptly named White Mountains beyond. He had never seen anything like it, and was too short to previously see out among the schussers. There was no turn-around time except shutting the door. Edit: I hated the times I'd need chains, they were good about plowing, but no salt in an otherwise pristine wilderness. The roads were amazing and pretty steeply banked. One time, heading up to Mammoth, a big storm came up like they do in the mountains. I stopped by a roadside diner to call my contact. She said that part of the roof was coming off and not to come. I was sad for her, but relieved. I didn't want to get stuck up there somewhere in the the High Sierra, there was nobody to eat.)
...I started feeling kind of silly spending more money to get money. Why not save then buy? I’ve never been interested in a home after seeing all the headaches my dad went through, and I hate the feeling of owing.
(Besides the normal stuff he added a large family room by himself with help from my brother and me. One night a surprise storm came, and he hadn’t gotten the tar paper down over the plywood on the shallowly sloped roof. He had a lamp up there with a huge exposed incandescent bulb. It blew over and created a big, bright, explosive show in the dark of the gathering storm.)
...I like the secure feeling that an apartment provides; if something goes wrong, they always come and fix it, and if it’s a wear and tear item, they don’t charge, and they all have been that. I also know the advantages of homeownership, especially for families.
So I just didn’t care. And all these years later I never needed credit for anything until I went to write a check for a new car last year, election day. The place was empty. They wouldn’t take my check because of an “insufficient credit history,” so I had to leave and get a cashiers check, a minor inconvenience. I also realized if something happened to this building, and I’d need to rent another apt., they’d probably check my credit.
So I went about building my credit. I had to get a secured card because of the lack of history, and I continued my usual financial patterns except I now had to move money from one bank to another every month (always paying the balance) since Chase doesn’t offer a secured card.
The credit card is from Citi, and from their website to the way they show you your balance, and that you don’t have to pay it for a while, a long, profitable while, they hope you run a long-term balance, that you fail at their game.
Their monthly due date seems a difficult target. Purchases can take a while to process, and you can’t pay more than their approved balance by even a weekly grocery amount.
I forgot about the impending due date, and used the card (instead of my debit) on groceries the other day. Now I’m trying to pay a $76 amount that is showing as my only balance and their site won’t let me. I click on the amount, hit the pay now button and I get a blank screen. The tab with it has been open since I started writing this. Nothing, no progress bar, just the bank’s logo up top. It happened last night too, I've tried refreshing and rebooting, so now I get to enjoy calling a big bank - tomorrow.
My credit is up in the 700’s now, and my main source of mail is from banks with “the most amazing” credit card offers. At least I can go from having a card with Citi to it all being done at Chase now. I just kept my account open through Glendale Federal then Washington Mutual, now Chase after the meltdown and demise of WAMU with minimal bother in between. They’ve always been good to me (except now that no one needs a physical bank for much, they are so thinly staffed for my semi-annual laundry quarter needs).
The wonderful world of credit. It's nerve-wracking even if you don't run a balance.
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