“Feel Free” Courtesy of Your Credit Card

Imagine seeing an advertisement where on the front page you see a man laying on his back on green grass with his hands behind his head. His eyes are closed and he’s smiling. “Feel Free” is written in simple lettering. That man looks so content and so happy. With my hectic and currently snowy life, I would love to be like that man.

After opening this real advertisement, you see why this man is so content…

“A cash advance…can help you manage your finances and ease you out of a short-term cash crunch. Or just provide you with the cash you need for something special – like a vacation.”

Wait a minute. That man on the front is feeling free because he is spending money he doesn’t have and borrowing at an 18+% rate? I don’t want to be like that man anymore. Sure, I want to “feel free” and I’d like a vacation as much as the next person, but I want to do it with cash that I haven’t borrowed.

I think there should be some ads going out with that same man on the front with the following inside…

“Spending less than you earn is a basic principle that can help you achieve financial freedom and have enough to enjoy life and “feel free.”"

Yes, I like that one much better. Do you have any other ideas?

Posted by Tricia on March 4, 2007 at 9:44 AM in Credit Cards | 9 Comments »
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Nerdy responded:
Posted: March 4th, 2007 at 10:47 am
I think they should show a picture of the same man working a second job to pay off his credit card!
Tim responded:
Posted: March 4th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I’m a sucker for the mastercard ads…”for everything else there is mastercard.” charge it and your memories will be with you forever right along with your mastercard credit card bill. Isn’t it nice that mastercard wants to assist you in recollecting those fond memories? so there you are having $1 for gellato on spanish steps, $35 flowers, the look on your wife’s face as you renew your vows, priceless…skip forward thirty years…you are sitting their remember those fond memories holding your mastercard credit card bill with 30 years of 28% interest. PRICELESS.
Tricia responded:
Posted: March 4th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Nerdy – good point!

Tim – I’ll say one thing, the credit card companies know just what to say get us to want to overspend. You have a good point with paying for those memories 30 years down the road.
Matt responded:
Posted: March 5th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Wow, that’s a very misleading ad. I really think they should show this guy being all free and happy at first then panicking when he gets his bills and that 18% that he took to ‘feel free’ is what causes him to have problems for years after.
Doug responded:
Posted: March 5th, 2007 at 7:40 am
Debt producing traps, be they payday or car title loans, are predatory. There is no national campaign that CSFA or Advance America can promote that changes the fact that these companies are in the business of trapping people into a debt cycle. And high debt is anything but green fields and piece of mind.
Dr. Jim Claunch responded:
Posted: March 5th, 2007 at 8:41 am
I recommend Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren’s book The Two Income trap which shows that now one family in seven with children has a bankruptcy. Perhaps we can help you are some others who are victims of the credit card industry. Our company Gulfstream Financial is the nation’s only professional financial liablity portfolio management corporation. We are not a debt consolidation service nor are we a debt counseling service. With a customized plan for each family we help our clients to be free of all creditor obligations in seven to ten years including their mortgage without increasing their bills, without harming their credit and without asking any net money out of pocket to enroll. Our clients must have $22K in consumer debt over and above their mortgage,have a 600 credit score , own a site built home or have the ability to get a new mortgage and have a job or retirement income. We can not help everyone.
Debt Be Gone responded:
Posted: March 5th, 2007 at 9:36 am
My husband actually just came across an old Best Buy card statement (that card is closed and paid off, thank goodness!) that says, “here’s a card to use just for fun!”

Riiiiight.
michael responded:
Posted: March 5th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Three comments. 1. Read Elizabeth Warren’s book. 2. If you borrow 10,000 on a credit card at the regular going rates, and make the minimum monthly payment specified, it will take an average of 27 years to repay the debt. Do you really think the card companies actually want the debt repaid? Which brings me to … 3. Credit card companies originate debt, package it up, and re-sell it via securitization to special purpose vehicles that depend on the debts in sold to them NOT being repaid — because they are buying a stream of income. That stream is only enhanced if it goes into distress, because of the additional income from late fees and default interest. To boot, the same CC company that sold the debt to the SPE also manages the debt for a fee, so they monetize the debt package up front, and make fees on it on the back.

Now, if that doesn’t make all of us using credit cards feel like mullets, I don’t know what will …
Sheri responded:
Posted: March 7th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Citigroup made the national news this morning regarding doing away with the “universal default.”