Front row at the credit card circus
So what do I know about credit cards? Well I know when I first signed up for one many moons ago I took one look at the one they offered me without a single concern about payments, interest rates or practically anything, which was about as clever as attempting brain surgery with a set of rusty golf clubs.
And of course over the last ten years the occasional holiday, large bill, council rates, car registration, emergency repairs and just about everything else that has popped up that I didn’t have cash for at the time ended up on it. Which on top of a recent emergency trip up north for a family funeral, means I have a sizeable debt the same size of the price of a decent second hand car.
Could buy this with it..
I also know that trying to switch to a newer card with a better rate and conditions seems to involve jumping through more hoops than a circus performer overdosed on caffeine.
The plan was to move most of that debt to a card with an introductory rate of just 1.99% for a year and endeavour to pay as much off it as humanly possible in the year (I crunched some numbers and worked out I’d pay a lot more off in the long time at 1.99% for a year than I would at 0% for only 6 months) without adding a single cent to the debt hole. Well that was the plan…in December. For those playing at home, it’s mid-January currently.
First I had to get approval. So I applied, pulled out pay slips, signed my life away on the bottom line and faxed it through to the bank. A week later I received an email saying… that I’d applied and they were still deciding. That was handy to know in case I’d been hit with a car recently and completely forgotten what I’d applied for.
Two weeks later I was approved but had to send in a couple of things to prove that it was still me applying and yes, I was still keen on the new card thank you.
Eventually (long after December had ended) I received a letter in the mail explaining that my card was on the way! (Hooray!) But before anything could happen, I needed to actually prove that I was still me (and not someone pretending to be me from Communist China who might use all my funds to buy Ski-Do’s or something I guess). All I had to do was sign the enclosed form and provide a couple of pieces of I.D that definitely belonged to me…
…which would have been easy if they’d actually enclosed the forms in the letter in the first place.
So I waited for the form (why not? What’s more weeks in waiting?) that never actually arrived (I was hoping someone had realized but no…) so I actually called the bank and explained my situation.
‘Not a problem’ the lady on the phone explained ‘You can just download the forms off the internet and get your ID’s witnessed by your local Justice of the Peace.’ Wonderful. So once I prove that I am truly Almigo (and not a communist spy planning the downfall of the West) I know have to prove that the passport I own is really mine (I had a lot more hair back then) and that it’s truly me grinning back stupidly on my own license.
Not mine obviously...
The kicker is though that when I finally track down a JP willing to look at my ID to prove I’m really me AND once I send it to the bank, it’ll still take 5-7 days for the card to arrive.
And I still have to activate it once I receive it. Weee, that should be fun. Wish me luck…