Life in plastic? Not fantastic

Last week, I called Amex twice – both times to cancel their cards. I wasn’t keen on paying the annual subscription, and they are not my card of choice.

So how on earth did I keep their cards for so long? (We’re talking decades). Most shopkeepers ask if you have something else when you take it out, and, honestly, I mainly use as a bargaining chip when I’m buying a big-ticket item. The guy who sold me my laptop asked if I had a Visa or Mastercard, and I agreed to use it if he would throw in a thumb drive – it would cost less than the 5 percent Amex would charge them for the transaction, and I get a thumb drive – win-win.

Of late, I haven’t been making any big buys. I like to keep my electronics for as long as possible, on account of not wanting to spend money unnecessarily on new stuff when old things still work, and having two usable things means more things to store, since no one seems to want old electric goods these days.

Then, there’s the wolframite question. Wolframite is something that goes into a lot of our gadgets, apparently. It is also a conflict mineral, meaning all sorts of evil men do bad things to other people in order to get their hands on the minerals. I can’t see myself without a cell phone or a computer, but I can use them for as long as possible, and so limit my need for wolframite.

Anyway, the Amex people were very friendly, as you would expect when they are trying to persuade you to keep their card. They even offered me a discount on the annual fee. I admit to a moment of temptation, but finally said, “Na-ah, I think I can do without the card.”

I felt incredibly light after that. One less card bill to have to go through every month, and to have to pay on time – they charge hefty admin fees if you’re late – I hadn’t realised it would feel so good. After all, I still have a Mastercard, so it’s not as if I’m doomed to embarrassment if I don't happen to carry enough cash when I’m abroad.

So back to that important question – why did I keep them for so long?

Well, one was a corporate card, which had a very low annual fee, and it made me glad to think that, if I ran out of cash abroad, they would accept one of my personal cheques and give me the cash in local currency at bank rates. How often have I used it? Just once.

As for the other, everytime I called to cancel the card, they found a way to get me to keep it another year - they waived the fee or some such. But that would be followed by large service charges if the cheque didn’t reach them on time, or if it reached them on time but didn’t get cleared on time.

In the end, all the aggro added up - keeping up with various payment due dates and paying, calling the companies up to persuade them to waive renewal fees... it finally got me to overcome the inertia to clean out the unnecessary cards.

My heart feels lighter, and my wallet is less crowded with cards. The relief is great, but one part of me feels silly - I should have done it earlier.
Still, better late than never. Now, to get rid of other supposedly convenient things that really clutter uo my life...