I received my first credit card many years ago, when I was a college student. I did not apply for it nor did I have a credit check to see if I was eligible.
It just came to my college post office box. As I reflect now, how did they get my name, much less my mailing address?
It was a gasoline credit card. That was strange because I did not own an automobile and had no plans to acquire one. I was a sophomore student at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.
So, I was a big man on campus, at least in my mind, because I had a gasoline credit card and no car. What I found out later was several of my college buddies also had received the same gasoline credit card.
I ended up using it a few times to put gas in some of my friends’ cars. I guess I was just showing off.
One of the interesting things that I learned about my gas credit card was it had an interest rate. Further, I learned that if you paid the balance after the due date there was a late fee added to the original balance. I realized early on that paying off your balance on or before the due date was a good thing.
When I graduated from college and went to graduate school, I started to receive more credit cards and credit card offers. I thought to myself that these companies are following me. Again, I soon found out they were “following” a lot of my friends, too.
