Comments on: What was your first credit card?

By: John Garrisi

John Garrisi — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:52:05 +0000

My first credit card was a MasterCard when I was an intern at our church in Denver in 1973. One week after I received it I was in Texas for a regional church meeting. I received a phone call that our then 10 month old son was having emergency surgery at Children’s Hospital in Denver. I was able to go to the airport, put down my card, jump on a plane and get home to be with my wife and son.

BTW, he is now 35 years old.

By: Mr Credit Card

Mr Credit Card — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:10:14 +0000

Amex gold charge card was my first card and only card for the longest time.

By: TC

TC — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:52:13 +0000

My first credit card ended up being 17 credit cards. My husband I and I had just gotten married, we were making good money at the time and every department store or credit card company was looking good to us. After about 4 months of not worrying about paying the bills, my husband had a job cut back–now he was the bread winner of our household. There was no way we could pay for all those cards. They all ended up being charged off and have finally came off our credit report. That was about 14 years ago. We learned a valuable lesson and have turned the cheek when it comes to credit cards. We either pay cash or don’t get it. The class was awesome and we are finally on a budget! We should be debt free in 8 years which includes the house!!! Praise God!!!!

By: Jason Hicks

Jason Hicks — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:16:28 +0000

My first was a Providian, at 18. By 21 I had over $15,000 in credit card debt, at 24 I filed bankruptcy. The worst part about it, is not the effect on my credit, as 12 years later I have a credit score over 750; but rather, the habits that were created. Even today, I struggle with the desire to purchase what I want with credit because of habits created so long ago.

Credit Cards HURT me…and still have a hold today, if I let them!

By: Missy

Missy — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:21:08 +0000

LOL…this came across my reader while I’m with our staff watching Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey.

I signed up for every clothing store company credit card while in college so that I could save a whopping 10%… foolish.

By: moneymonk

moneymonk — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:27:57 +0000

Citibank…$600 limit. I remember the day I received it in the mail! That was the first and last credit card I had. Because I did not understood how the balance went up when I stopped paying it. How can you still charge me for NOT using the card???? LOL

I was young and foolish. I had a good 3 year run with that credit card!

By: JC

JC — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:22:47 +0000

I had a Franklin Bank VISA. I got it in college, right outside the bookstore. I think I might have gotten a free t-shirt or koozie.

It was the first in many poor financial decisions!

By: Saving Freak

Saving Freak — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:27:39 +0000

I got a student card from MBNA. It had a pretty mountain scene. A few years later I ran up the balance. It then took me a year to pay the dang thing off. I chopped it up and never looked back.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:13:59 +0000

Thanks to my first card, I’ve been paying the balance in full every month for over 15 years. I never carry a balance.

I used my Penn State University MBNA card for a cash advance to buy a car. I charged about $500 and it took me about 5 months to pay it off. The interest and fees piled up quickly and it scared me into being more careful.

By: dan

dan — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:31:13 +0000

a Providian Visa Card I got at 24 that I “needed” to build “credit” with. It hurt because I ended up spending more money then I did with cash and had a harder time keeping track of things.