Nicole

So if you recall, back in February, I closed all my store cards, and by March my FICO score was up 10 points. That post has gotten a lot of comments, most of which I have filtered out because they contain questionable assertions, which I don’t want to be responsible for passing along to people who got to my blog from a search engine query (and obviously need good advice).

I’m happy to report that in April it went up another 10 points, and stayed the same in May. For those of you who thought that something negative came off my credit report at the same time coincidentally and that I was foolish to close all the store cards, I will point out that I’m a very responsible 24-year-old, who has never had a derogatory item. Since I was 16, I’ve had a handful of store cards, and a few bankcards.

Last fall, I was enthralled with the personal finance blogosphere. I read voraciously, looking for tips and tricks from people savvier than I. But now that I’m satiated, I see that online PF sites are no better than their brick & mortar counterparts in the financial sector–everybody wants to sell you something, and/or profit from your dependency on them. Often they retell you the same myths that have been told for years.

All I can offer is my experience: I closed my store cards, continued making on-time payments of slightly-above-minimum, and in two months, my score rose 20 points.

So I heard via FatWallet that SBUX had a free iced coffee card. The roomie and I headed out last night, and talked the barista into giving us the cards a day early. I tried to use it today, but was told to return next week. So hie thee hither to a Starbucks near you, and see if you can get your hands on one of these cards!

This place is full of depressed, worn out, and bitter people. It will wear you out and, before you know it, you will be depressed and bitter too. Take a walk around and you will see what I mean. People are untidy and wearing wrinkled clothes, smelly winter coats full of cat hair, long untidy hair and with that charateristic sour face. People have facial hair, nasty moles, crooked teeth, worse so than in one of the slums of London. They also like butter on everything. It is simply unbelievable. It is so expensive that no one has any cash in their pockets which only adds to their misery. Doctors and lawyers live in small old buildings without elevators, central air or parking. It seems like the women don’t have money for make-up, manicures, or perfume.

More golden humor like this here: http://www.bestplaces.net/city/Boston-Massachusetts.aspx