Hell has frozen over

For the first time in years, I have a credit card, thanks to Capital One, the folks whose commercials feature barbarians asking, 'What's in your wallet?' The credit limit is small, but will increase if I make a purchase within 5 months and make five consecutive payments. And no, I did not rush right out there and buy something, although I did link my Roku player to it to avoid any unfortunate issues with my debit card. I'll likely do the same with the Science Fiction Book Club, which no longer forces me to deny or accept featured selections, but still. This also means that when I go on my Chicago trip, I can use it for the incidentals at the hotel and not have $40 held out of my chequing account. Little things like that make my life easier.

The plan is to get something in about the $30 range (I need a shower curtain liner and a couple of things for the house, so probably it will be that.) Then I'll pay off my bill in full. Then I an continue to charge small chunks I can pay off easily so that I get the increase in credit. The limit is such that I could pay the whole thing off on a good month, if need be. But I want to keep as much credit open for such things as the Chicago trip, whenever that happens this fall. There's no annual fee or anything like that, purchases are protected, although the annual percentage rate is fairly high, so this is not something I want to carry much of a balance on.

Capital One lets you choose what your design will be for the card. Mine is green with a lady bug on it, strange I suppose, considering the barbarian motif. I thought the envelope a little heavy for a rejection, but they've been sending me quite a few offers and I thought it might just be one of those. I stared at the card for a good fifteen minutes before activating it. :)

I've been stupid in the past with credit cards, but I've been watching how YKWIA handles his credit and I hope to follow his example, using it responsibly and paying off most or all of it before it becomes a liability. We'll see.