America has, up until now, taken plastic and classified it as progress. Think about this. You are adding 22% interest to everything you buy with a credit card. Each time you buy a $3.45 gallon of milk , you are adding 76 cents to that if you use a credit card after the big banks have jacked your rate to 22%. If that does not stop you nothing will.
Do you remember the days where you carried a dime in your pocket so that you could call home while you were out with friends? A time where plastic cards with endless funding did not exist? I’ve been reminiscing and it is a time we need to bring back so that we send a message out to big business that rewarding those who squandered our money is not acceptable.
Each time you use your debit card as a credit card the bank makes a profit of at least $7.00 a transaction. Regulations have been placed to “stop abusive practice”. We’ll fix this right? WRONG. The fees to your merchants will be raised by $1.00 per transaction. To absorb the increase, grocery, gasoline, fast food, and any other establishments will raise prices by $1.10 per transaction. Who is paying the piper? You are.
Getting the message out will not be easy. Action and sacrifice will be necessary. We will have to return to a time where values and restraint were commonplace and common sense was considered part of an education. We will save money, we will save our merchants money. We will stand up and make a statement, united rather than divided.
Can you imagine if, for one week, everyone paid for everything in cash? If we could spend 7 days living within our means, not using debit or credit cards, the message would be loud and clear. We will not reward bad behavior.
So…for the week of February 7th through February 14th, 2010 let us stop complaining and take action. Go the bank, cash a check for the amount you will spend in that week. Go home and take all your credit and debit cards out of your wallet. Stick to your budget. The impact will undoubtedly send the right message.
