Scary news about your spending habits

Credit card companies have always tracked their cardholders’ spending for three main reasons: to be able to market relevant goods and services to you (beneficial to you and them), to detect fraud (beneficial to you), and to assist law enforcement agencies (beneficial to all of us).

But now credit card companies have now found a fourth, and very scary thing to do with this information…determine your creditworthiness!

4 Ways Your Spending Could Lower Your Credit Score & Reduce Your Credit Card Limits:

1) Shopping at discount & thrift stores (so unfair, especially when you’re trying to shop responsibly!)
2) Purchasing generic brands (crazy, since you are just avoiding unnecessarily paying for product advertising)
3) Shopping at stores that other people who have defaulted on their credit card debt shop at (guilt by association? come on!)
4) Using your credit cards for the vices…cigarettes, alcohol, massages, casino gambling, online gambling, bail bond services

What to do: Adhering to my motto “only purchase what you can afford in your current bank account balance,” when shopping at discount stores and for these products, try sticking to paying in cash. That way, the credit card companies won’t be able to track you or your supposedly “bad” habits.

One way to make spending with your credit cards help you, and not hurt you, is to join UPromise and turn everyday spending into college savings!