A few days ago I got a call from a persistent, almost desperate loan officer at one of our banks with an “exciting offer”. Then, later that night in the course of my hobby job as an Uber driver, I drove a loan officer and the conversation was very similar both times. This nice woman I was driving went well out of her way to tell me how I could save a ton of money if I rolled all my credit card balances into one single personal loan. I told her I haven’t carried a credit card balance in over 20 years. She said “Well, then did you know you could refinance your auto loan for free to get a better rate?” She asked what my current rate is on the car we’re driving. I said I haven’t had any type of vehicle loan in over 20 years either. She said, well, if you own a home you could possibly refinance because rates have dropped. I said I didn’t think they had dropped below 2.75%, and doubt she’d be interested in a mortgage as small as ours anyway. When she heard the balance, she concurred. Undeterred, she said, well, why don’t you open a HELOC then? Just in case you ever needed money. Again, no dice. I’ve got to hand it to her though. She showed real persistence, but in the end, she couldn’t sell ice to this Eskimo.
When I was young, I paid the banks dearly but for many, many years now, the banks and credit card companies have paid ME…. quite a bit actually. I’ve heard some people say that staying in constant debt keeps them motivated. I guess putting themselves constantly in a sink-or-swim cycle in which they acquire stuff and then MUST work ever harder to pay for it all makes them feel like they’re “getting ahead”. It’s true that I’m not motivated be the external fear of repossession, foreclosure or looming insolvency and in fact, may not have as much stuff as people that live that way. I’m not going to tell anyone else how to live their life, but I can tell you that I’ve been a lot happier getting paid a lot by the banks in the form of interest and bonuses rather than paying them massive interest and I’d recommend it to anyone.
