Your Thrift Store Purchases Can Affect Your Credit Cardsby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 27 Jan 2009 12:07 PM
Basically, although the credit card companies can't see exactly what you are purchasing, they may consider it risky behavior if you spend money at casinos, fast food restaurants and thrift stores. Okay, let's put aside for the moment all of that data mining and how scary it is that there is all sorts of assumptions and conclusions about our persons based on our shopping habits. Let's just look at the three types of establishments that are linked with risky behavior. Casinos, yes, I can understand this one. If you are gambling on a regular basis and charging it to your credit card then maybe you aren't making the best financial decisions. Then again, you may have plenty of money to spare and consider the casino a form of responsible leisure. Fast food restaurants? This one is a little harder to swallow but still understandable. Fast food is usually cheap, so it might be a conclusion that people who are charging fast food can't afford to pay for their food in cash and must resort to charging it. But, many people don't even carry cash anymore and like the convenience of using a credit card. I personally think that the credit card companies are way off with the thrift store shoppers. Paying $2 for a handbag instead of $500 seems like a responsible choice to me, not an indicator of risky behavior. In my experience, the people who I've known to be in financial difficulty with high credit card balances wouldn't set foot in a thrift shop if someone pointed a gun to their heads, so to speak. And those that do shop there, don't usually live above their means, although perhaps it could happen. What do you think of this issue? Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right. Favorite Deal Websites: Related Articles: Smart Buys for Stimulus Checks Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments Memartha (306) 27 Jan 2009 03:55 PMTalk about a bias of capitalism! The thrift store "thing" probably assumes that if you can't afford retail and must charge thrift, you're in bad shape. What a load of baloney. Hmmm... If you're charging baloney at the supermarket, does that mean you're a bad credit risk? dms1987 |
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