So I, the ‘king of cash’ and vocal dissident of all things ‘credit’ have now too finally taken the plunge and taken possession of a shiny gold credit card from ABSA, those fellows always so overly eager to get you to part with you money and bend over for them at the same time.
The reason for my dirty foray into the world of credit cards is simple – after that disastrous car service that completely plundered my cash reserves, I came to the realization that should two things like this ever strike simultaneously then I could very well be well and truly screwed – hence the need for a backup plan and thus my impromptu visit to the bank.
Oh and the added bonus of a credit card is the whole ‘no transaction charge on purchases’ thing of course!
Surprisingly enough, applying and qualifying for a credit card was a pretty easy affair. The consultant that I dealt with at the Somerset Mall branch was pretty helpful (particularly when you consider just how patient she had to be thanks to the fact that she was now dealing with a complete newbie when it comes to credit cards) and after fairly lengthy set of questions (thanks to you Mr. National Credit Act – though you are a bloody good thing to have around and it’s about time to!) and forms to fill out, I got the feedback that I was good to go, and had been approved for a decent enough amount of credit.
(A slight hiccup did however mean that I needed to return to the bank a day or two later to sign a form she had forgotten to give me, but other than that the process was still pretty painless.)
After waiting the prescribed number of days, a quick call to the branch revealed that my card was indeed ready for pickup, and so I trotted off to the bank and proceeded to wait an exceedingly lengthy period of time as yet another batch of forms were filled out and adjustments made on the system, giving me plenty of time to mess with the ornate flower arrangement/zen garden bowl thingie standing on the desk.
It now looks nice.
Naturally my first act of taking my brand new, shiny gold card into possession was to phone up Chantelle, have her re-explain how to use this ‘newfangled technology’ (I still can’t believe that they don’t enforce a pin usage on each transactional swipe though!!) and then promptly stepped into Pick ‘n Pay to make a huge purchase on… groceries.
*Sigh*, I kind of miss the good old bachelor’s days where you could splurge on miscellaneous things like a brand new CD just because you needed a new table coaster – these days it is just cat food and milk on which my money gets spent! :P
(Oh, and I received a friendly phone call from ABSA yesterday morning, enquiring about how I’m finding my new credit card and if there is anything that they can assist me with in using this new service of mine. Naturally this little act of customer relationship management has left me more than suitably impressed! People sometimes forget just how important this is – and yes Francois, I’m talking about you! My broker if you’re feeling a little lost.)