About Credit Cards and stuff

isn't it cute?

I love, love BPI! It may be odd to sing the praises of a bank/credit card company these days but I'm just so happy with BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) right now. I requested a mini-edge to go with my  'edge' card and it had arrived after 5 days. It may not sound like much but my Shop More credit card from Banco de Oro (BDO), I had to wait 6 weeks for and the card is ugly too. Look how cute the BPI mini-edge is, it has a loop on its side so you could use it as a key ring. They used to send this together with the main card once you get approved, but I guess they are cutting costs so you have to ask specifically for it now. My main edge card is so beat up and old--my signature on the back has become undecipherable it's starting to freak out cashiers. I did not want to pay for a replacement card so I asked for this instead. See, there's a method to my madness hehe.

my Jollibee Real Thrills loot

You do not think I'm going all fangirl on BPI just for that, don't you? Well here's the main thing, they have these promos called Real Thrills. If you charge a certain amount on your bpi credit card, you could exchange your charge slip for meals at participating restaurants or fastfood chains like Chowking, Greenwich or Goldilocks. They have Jollibee the past 2 quarters and I have just gotten around to availing of this promo so I'm stoked because I still have lots more charge slips from when my relatives vacationed in the Philippines from Europe. I charged their purchases on my credit cards, of course. My friend Jane tells me my banks must hate me. They have never had the opportunity to charge me any fees because I always pay in full and on time. Banks make their money on the finance charges they charge credit card holders on the revolving balance left on their bill. If you pay in full they can't charge you anything. They still have the merchant fees that's maybe 3-5% of the list price so I'm not crying for them either.

Christmas season promo 'til January 15

I use my credit card for buying just about everything, it's convenient and practical because I get to keep my cash in the bank for a longer time. Of course I have heard of horror stories about people getting into trouble with credit card debt. My cousin Rose made the mistake of just paying for the minimum amount due every month until she noticed 2 years later that she was just paying for the interest on her balance and took out a loan just to pay it all off. She has stayed away from credit cards ever since. Credit cards in my view are good as long as you do not treat it as extra money for you to splurge on stuff you don't actually need. Don't charge anything if you know you could not pay for it, it's pretty simple. It is a convenient tool for us. But if we don't use it responsibly, we should be ready to face the harassing phone calls of bank collectors--I hear they could be very rude. So charge wisely.