Personalized Credit Cards - Friend or foe?

You have seen the commercials. Get a credit card that is customized for you. Choose your picture, choose your options, choose your rewards. Great deal! Finally the credit card companies are doing things the way we want, right? Well think again.

Most credit card companies are making the beeline to create more custom features on their cards. Why? Because if you have a card the "fits" you and your lifestyle you are more likely to use it, less likely to cut it up and have a personal tie to the plastic that never existed before "Spaghetti Jimmy" showed up.

Those personal touches are the foundation of good customer service and creating a brand that you can relate to in such a personal way that you will never leave. This is a very dangerous thing for families who already are having a hard time creating boundaries in their spending decisions and need to get increased control. These cards may be working against your efforts to break your own personal cycle of broke by encouraging you to pull out the plastic and subsidize your spending plan with a thin layer of debt.

Here is what might work to break the tie...cancel the card and keep the Spaghetti Jimmy picture in your wallet. Get back to what is real and build Jimmy's education fund rather than spending his inheritance on credit card debt before he turns 10. For more great help to get started on saving, visit Virginia Saves and check out all the great events, calculators, webinars and free advice ready at your fingertips!

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