Doing the Right Thing...

As I was churning through my overflowing inbox of unopened mail, side projects, and stuff my daughter likes to throw in there for fun, I came across a brand new credit card that had never been activated. It was from Citi and they had issued it to replace my Zales Card that I had opened several years ago. So, what should I do? Activate It, or call and close it? I decided to activate it, at least at first. I called the number on the front of the card (I really have the activation process down), and just as I heard the distant end start to ring, I hung up.

Printed in GIGANTIC letters next to the card was a different phone number that simply said, 'If you do not want the Citi MasterCard, call and we will close your account.' I dialed the number and within three minutes, the account was closed. No one tried to convince me to stay (or activate the card), I didn't get any great credit offer, nothing, just an automated thank you and a quick disconnect. I feel pretty good.

I'll admit, I had absolutely no intention of using the card, I mean the line was only $4,000. We have too much debt to take advantage of any 0% APR offer, so we would have just wound up buying a TV or furniture or something. Even though this isn't a huge victory over our mounds of debt, it was a step in the right direction. Now, where's my ice cream...