At one time I held a lot of credit cards. I had cards for all the major retail shops, all the major petrol stations, as well as American Express, MasterCard, and Visa and some minor players as well. Most of the cards had over $5,000 limits and on three of the cards I had credit limits of $18,500, $23,000, and $25,000 respectively; my credit rating was quite healthy. Those days are long passed and I currently do not hold a credit card. I do carry a debit/credit card that is a prepaid card; in order to use it I have to add money to the account and can only spend up to that amount. I am quite happy with the prepaid card and I doubt if I will bother owning a credit card again.

While I was out and about today, I stopped in at a local Kmart. As I entered the shop and got a trolley, I was approached by a Kmart employee. His name tag proclaimed him to be Donald, and I guess he was in his seventies; although I have a difficult time guessing ages. Donald asked me if I was interested in applying for a Sears' charge card. I decline the offer, telling him that my credit rating was not all that great. Donald persisted and told me that obtaining a credit card would be a good way to build up my credit rating. I decline the offer again and mentioned that I had owned a Sears' card and they had taken it away from me. Donald laughed with me and once again persisted in trying to get me to fill out the credit application. At this point I decided that Donald was working awfully hard to get me to fill out the application. Therefore, I asked Donald if he would gain anything by me filling out the application. Donald replied, "Yes, I get two dollars." With that new bit of information, I told Donald, "Oh, in that case I will be happy to fill out an application."

I probably gave up around ten or fifteen minutes of my time to help Donald earn his two dollars. However, that is what it is all about, helping others in any way you can, even if it is only two dollars.