-A recent article in Time Magazine stated that half of all college students have four or more credit cards.  Four or more?  That’s fucking ridiculous.  I’m twenty-nine and have one credit card.  Why?  Well, I simply did the research and calculated that it would be most beneficial if I accumulated all of my rewards points in one account.  Actually, that’s not true; I just really hate carrying a thick wallet.  OK, that’s not completely true, either.  I also got burned so many times with free t-shirts that were XXXL and promotional towels as thin as paper that I finally stopped accepting all the credit card offers that were foisted my way.  College kids be damned, I’m comfortable with my decision.  Packing a single Amex (alongside a near-useless debit card), I stride confidently cashless through malls and bars.  Call me crazy or, more accurately, call me Plastic Man. 

-Whenever I buy something at, say, Banana Republic, and the cashier asks if I’d like to save 10% by applying for a store credit card, I immediately weigh the pros of saving fifteen bucks with the cons of spending three minutes filling out an application.  I usually decline.  I’d be much more inclined to accept, though, if the store offered certain incentives – such as the option to receive said card in the mail already cut into five pieces and shredded, thereby saving me the trouble.

-My buddy has been carrying a balance on his credit card for years.  Every month, he just pays off the interest.  This, of course, is one of the worst financial decisions he could possibly make.  A part of me thinks he knows this and he’s just punishing himself for getting into debt in the first place.  Another part of me wishes he’d just cope by binge drinking like a normal person. 

-I’ve only seen an American Express Black Card once.  I was in a bar after a gig in Ann Arbor and the kid who had it was about twenty (most likely it was only one of the four or more cards he carried).  I didn’t say anything, but my internal monologue unfolded as follows: 1) “Wow, Black Cards do exist.”  2) “Why does this fucking kid have a fucking Black Card?”  3) “Wait, he’s using it to buy me drinks.”  4) “The bill is only nine bucks?  He just ruined it.”