Giving Up Your Credit Card

Could you give up your credit card(s)?  How hard would it be for you to do?

If you had to give it up to save a relationship or a job, could you do it?

Imagine for a moment that all your credit cards have just been stolen.  Did you just feel a moment of panic or loss?

What is this bond between us and our credit cards?  Could it be that the borrower is slave (in bondage) to the lender as Proverbs 22:7 suggests?  Proverbs 6:1-5 suggests that when we find ourselves in the position of borrower, we should not sleep until we have “saved ourselves like the gazelle from the hand of the hunter…”

Now try a quick experiment with me:  Compare the length of time you had your oldest credit card to the length of time of your longest dating relationship (including marriage), or the length of consecutive time spent working for the same employer.

For Example:

  • My longest held credit card:  18 years  (cancelled in 2010)
  • My longest dating relationship:  4 months (give or take a month)
  • My longest time with same employer:  17 years

I had the same credit card longer than any dating relationship (by far), and longer even than my longest time with the same employer!

To be honest with you, even though I willingly and readily cancelled and cut up all my credit cards in 2010, I still felt a slight pang of loss when I actually cut them up.  Ridiculous, right?  Wouldn’t happen to you.  Right?  Okay, tough guy, cut them up…c’mon, what’s taking so long?  Cat got your scissors?  Yeah, not so easy, is it?

I have hosted 7 Financial Peace University classes since 2010, and the most difficult part of every class has been the call to cut up credit cards.  It is amazing the lengths to which we will go to defend our need to keep at least one credit card, especially the one that is “only for emergencies,” or the one that “gives us mileage points.”   It’s hard, even though we know at least 3 new credit card offers will come in the mail this week.

I know I can’t make you give up your credit card, but before you dismiss the idea entirely, I highly recommend watching the documentary Maxed Out for more exposure to the darker side of the credit card industry.

I dare you to give up, and cut up, a credit card right now.  Don’t worry, they will send you offers for new ones, even if you’re dead (seriously – watch Maxed Out).

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