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And then there were three

I have four credit cards. Two have zero balances, one usually does but I used it to pay for an event last night for which I will be reimbursed next week, and the fourth card has the accumulated balance from all the other cards, to the tune of $11 000 CDN.

One out of the four cards charges an annual fee of $29 because it is a "low-interest" card. However, the card that now has the $11 000+ balance is a good two percent lower than my "low-interest" VISA.

I can access probably about $45 000* (EDIT: I checked my records and it is actually closer to $60 000) in credit between the four cards. The "low-interest" card has a limit of about $30 000 of that 60 000. I was going to cancel the card this summer in order to avoid paying the annual fee, but that would drastically alter my debt-to-credit ratio. I will probably cancel it anyways and try not to worry about the hit to my credit rating.

Yesterday I received a letter from VISA telling me that they are soon going to be switching to chip-technology. My new card and PIN should arrive in the mail within a month. I am wary of this new technology, because of the things I have been reading about store scanners that can read the information about a card when its owner walks through it. As well, this change in technology makes me think the VISA will be too much like a debit card, which is also dangerous in the temptation kind of way.

I'm thinking of calling VISA and canceling the account within a few days, before they send me the new card. I want to be debt-free and card-free within a couple of years, so I don't need any fancy new technology. I want out of this game.


Seriously,
Karissa


Comments

  1. Can you cut it up, or hide it so that you can't use it, but you keep the good credit?
    I have yet to hear about the new chip-technology...that's kinda scary.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Simplelivin has a great idea. Keep the credit but not the card. You can always get a replacement when and if you need to use it.

    ReplyDelete

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