I live my life by the following statement:
An object at rests tends to stay at rest and an object in uniform motion tends to stay in uniform motion unless acted on my an external force. – Isaac Newton
My Story
I was a senior in high school. I signed up and was granted approval for my first credit card one week following my 18th birthday. It was a Capitol One Platinum credit card with a credit limit of $500 and 21% APR. I remember thinking that $500 was just enough for me to purchase some things that I really wanted, but not enough to do any sort of damage. At the time I worked 20 hours per week at a major department store, earning $7.10 per hour. That comes out to roughly $560.00 per month. I knew I would be able to pay my balance every month if I were to max out, but maxing out was rarely the case.
For the remainder of my senior year and high school and through my third year of college, I made it a goal of mine to pay my credit card balance every month. I was successful in achieving my goal. In a matter of three year I was able to qualify for three more credit cards and three credit increases. My total available credit was $9,500.
At no time in that three year period did I carry a balance on to the next month. That all changed in a matter of 15 minutes…
… Digging My Hole to come next.
