Thanks for the warm welcome! I look forward to reading your blogs and forum posts!

So I'm in a debt support group. It's not Debtors Anonymous -- we're open about what we owe, we know each other's names and e-mail addresses. I've been in it for six years -- I started with about $12K in consumer non-mortgage debt (net worth wasn't so high then), and was from February 2002 to September 2005, debtfree.

We meet at a restaurant or cafe the first Saturday of the month, usually. There are only four of us.

I spent some time this morning mulling over home improvements and how to finance them. I expect my credit score will take a hit when MBNA requires my letter ordering my account to be closed. You see, they sent out this draconian Terms and Conditions agreement, and maybe they're testing the reading comprehension of their credit cardholders, or wanting to slough away the freeloaders/deadbeats. Maybe we're at a point at the economy where the credit card companies DON'T want people to borrow money. Certainly MBNA, who can look at my credit report, doesn't seem to care that I'm using credit sources other than them. They don't want my business, it seems.

I had great credit with them, but they're trying to screw everybody around with the removal of transaction caps, introduction of tiered fees and universal default pricing, and reduction of grace period. It's as if they want me to either leave, or risk heavier handcuffs. I didn't know, seven years ago when I applied for their affinity card, that they would screw up so bad that their profits would dive by 94% and they'd be acquired by Bank of America.

I have a line of credit and a credit card with a local credit union, and another credit card with BoA. I'd like to stop doing business with BoA too, because they too have introduced tiered fees, but my credit score would hit the skids. Not coincidentally, My BoA and MBNA cards have the highest APRs of all my credit sources.

So this is how a big bank's mind works: lobby for a bankruptcy law, watch everyone and her half-sister file bankruptcy right before the deadline, attempt to recoup losses by penalizing people who haven't filed bankruptcy.

Do I have an outstanding balance with BoA? Yes, but I don't carry it from payment period to payment period -- I pay it in full. I use it mostly for online purchases and gasoline. I suppose it's all about principle as well as principal. If I don't need to borrow money then who cares about transaction fees, grace periods or universal pricing? Who cares about credit scores? If your car/home/life insurer or prospective employer determines your premium by looking at your credit report, maybe you should care about credit scores.
Or switch to another insurer.

A fellow immigrant asked me how I knew all this stuff about saving and investing -- I told her that as immigrants we have shorter credit histories and are more vulnerable to being yanked around by big banks and credit card companies. Also, if we're used to a lower cost of living and a higher tax rate, one can't help but save money unless one gets sucked into the oh so seductive consumption racket. Which I did, eventually. I still succumb time and again but only with ample rationalizations ("oh I need this for work. I need to have my freedom. I will realize a decades-long dream if I do this.").

Oh yes, and I spent NO MONEY on Friday! Other than paying a $170.00 bill for my child's outpatient care from April.