see i just can't understand why banks provide credit cards without checking.. they gime them to dogs, to kids and all this cards to this guy, and this is how folks get into debt, cause its so easy.

on the other hand, i wanna rob this guy and go to vegas

I remember some doof on That's Incredible!(?) eons ago that had over 1,000 cards. Custom plastic card holders too. I thought to myself, "What a doof!"

So the guy's got $1.7 million in credit. Average limit is $1,135. And how many of those actually have yearly fees? I hope the idiot gets screwed on fees alone. And I thought to myself, "What a doof!"

Now that I think about it, this might be the same damn guy on that show 20+ years ago.

If I'm unmarried and have no children to pass my debt onto, is there any good reason not to use every cent of credit extended to me? Can the bill be passed on to other relatives?

...with a whopping credit rating of negative three.

/didn't rtfa

Yeah, but does he have the Star Wars Credit Card



This isn't the low APR financing you're looking for.

Repeat

As counterintuitive as it may seem, having lots of credit cards typically does not negatively affect your credit score. In fact, the opposite is true. If you have old credit card accounts with no annual fee, there's really no reason to close them because your credit score is based largely on the ratio of outstanding debt to available credit. If you have one card with a $5000 limit and a $4000 balance it's much, much worse than having several cards with a combine limit of $50,000 and only a $4000 balance total. Don't ask me why, but it's true. Of course, this guy is taking the idea a bit overboard, but obviously the banks think his credit is just fine or they wouldn't keep issuing cards to him.

good headline

Good headline, but what's really cool is that he has a great credit score and only uses one of nearly 1500.

Most people these days have 4 or 5 completely maxed out cards and 10K in debt.

It takes some balls to have that many credit cards and keep them that organized.

www.daveramsey.com

I dare you all to go there and read up.

Only one company J.J. Newberry Co. has ever denied Cavanagh a card, and that was back in the early 1970s. Cavanagh had collected about 100 credit cards by that time. "They said I had too much credit," he says, "And to this day I don't have a Newberry's card in my collection."

Is the JJNewberry company still in business?
I think it is actually this dude getting the last laugh at them.

my total credit card dept:

(-9 cents)

la la la

MBNA is the devil. I sat on a jury about seven years ago when they sued a bank in South Dakota - MBNA presented as a pack of greedy scumballs. We not only found against MBNA, we awarded the defendant $1,000,000.00 for their trouble - even though they didn't ask for it (had to clear that with the judge before we did it, too).

This guy has been making news for a long time. IIRC Fark has mentioned him at least once before... The guy should take one of those credit cards and buy himself a life!

I sounds more like the credit cards own him.

If anyone is interested, the government just recently allowed everyone to get a copy of their credit report once a year for free.

www.annualcreditreport.com

This is NOT a pay-for site and you are not on the hook for anything. I just used it to help my girlfriend understand how she is farking up her credit with.... you guessed it! - credit cards!

"Bill? What credit card bill?"

Someone has too much time on their hands!

Some people collect stamps. Others porn or the panties of Japanese school girls. This guy collects credit cards. If you can get cool looking ones (like the Star Wars ones earlier on this thread) thats pretty cool.

I'd go on a Hooker and Gambling Spree in Vegas, max them all out and then claim bankruptsy.

Banks aren't idiots...they hand out credit cards like Gideons give out bibles or Planned Parenthood hands out birth control because most people do not default no matter how far in debt they get.

People may fall behind and miss payments, but that doesn't bother the banks, that is the debtors problem and the banks gain in the long run (and banks only think in the long term). So long as the default rate stays under 5-7% or so they banks will continue to hand out cradit cards to anyone who has a pulse. And the more people who have cards the less likely the default rate will hit that magic number...

In other news, ABC's most sent story is:

"Man Accused of Having Relations With Cows"

I didn't know they had credit cards in 1497. How old is this guy anyway?

Wife and I payed off our LAST credit card last month (thanks to my winning my Fantasy Football League). It is such a good feeling not to owe those bastards anything. Student Loan is next.

2005-03-01 12:36:13 PM yotta
I sounds more like the credit cards own him.


Go back to Russia, pinko!

He should get a cash advanced on all possible credit cards he has and then quietly slip into the night.

/early retirement, underground style.

LiberalZombie

What were the specifics of the case?

I remember a cartoon- I think it was Calvin & Hobbes- where one of the characters hatched a plan to get rich by getting a million credit cards, taking out a cash advance on all of them, abd then selling lottery tickets for the money.

absolutelychecken

"If I'm unmarried and have no children to pass my debt onto, is there any good reason not to use every cent of credit extended to me? Can the bill be passed on to other relatives?"

It technically is not passed on to anyone, wife or children. They will however go after your assets when you die so your family will likely not get that. Of course there is a good reason not to take every cent....you will go in to massive debt. Unless you are dying soon.

Wow, I didn't even know they had credit cards in the 15th century!

I'm always behind this guy at the checkout.

They will however go after your assets when you die so your family will likely not get that. Of course there is a good reason not to take every cent....you will go in to massive debt. Unless you are dying soon.

I guess then the question becomes, who can be legally responsible for my estate (read - debt) when I die?

Actually, the headline has it wrong. 1,497 credit cards own him. ;P

acrunchyfrog: www.daveramsey.com

I dare you all to go there and read up.

I tried, but that site looks like the "Battling Seizure Robots" from the Simpsons.

SUBSEQUENT HEADLINE:

Man with 1497 credit cards reports that he is victim of identity theft 1497 times. Equifaxilarity ensues.

I was at a casino the other night watching people piss away hundreds in the slot machines. I couldn't believe the people looking desperate at the teller machines getting cash advances. I looked at it, $8 for a $20-$50 advance for money that's just going to be lost (so sayeth the odds). No wonder people get into debt.

absolutelychecken

I just went through this with my Dad, who at his age has decided the credit card companies can go fark themselves and stopped paying. Most of them just write off the debt (which is what that 20% APR some people pay covers). One filed in court and what happens is they put a lein on his house. This means that if the house is ever sold they are first in line to get paid.

Fark them

Reading this thread, what kind of idiot doesn't pay off their CC at the end of the month?

In other news, ice cream stores in Texas hand out credit cards.

I work for a credit bureau.. All I can say is.. I'd hate to see this guy's credit report.. But I bet he can get a damn good deal on a mortgage.

absolutelychecken: You cannot inherit negative debt. Meaning assets of the estate are sold off to pay the dept, then remaining debt is eatten by the credit company, so long as you don't have join accounts you can't inherit dept. Many states also exlude your home if someone is currently living there.

2005-03-01 01:23:38 PM whyerhead
I work for a credit bureau.. All I can say is.. I'd hate to see this guy's credit report.. But I bet he can get a damn good deal on a mortgage.

As a loan officer, I can safely say no, he would be put in a higher risk catagory as his debt to income ratio would skyrocket in a heartbeat if he decided to use those cards.

FuturePastNow
It was from Dilbert,that was Dogberts plan to take over the world.

Obscure?: Santos L. Halper

I shudder to think about the junk mail that all those cards generate...ugh!I have a bunch from stores and one major card and, until I opted out, I got hammered with crap.

Bukharin

yotta
I sounds more like the credit cards own him.

Go back to Russia, pinko!

Bravo... bravo my friend.

/golf clap

Personally, Im impressed that he manages to keep all those cards valid. That must be some sort of job all on its own.

Sort of related question for the financially savy Farkers: If you're working to improve your Credit Rating, is it better to pay off your card bills monthly, or to let a small balance sit there and pay close to the minimum for a couple of months before paying it off? People have told me that it's better for your rating to let a small balance sit and pay the minimum. This seems sort of counterintuitive, but it wouldn't surprise me.

I'm sure his mailman loves him - just one communication from each per month would mean an average of 50 bills per day! That's not including those "special offer" letters. And, since he said he assumes they're open until he's told otherwise, then he apparently reads or opens each piece of mail!?

It would be funny if he maxed 'em all out just before dying...

...and I always thought that I would be the one making a trip to Debtor's Prison.

I feel better.