[63] Bank Aid

I feel sorry for the banks, I really do. Especially the ones who send out millions of credit cards to customers. It must cost a fair bit of money to process credit card applications and to produce and mail the cards to the successful applicants. Then there is the cost of sending out monthly statements and maintaining the accounts. The banks do not make any money from credit cards, which is why I feel sorry for them.

How do I know the banks don’t make money from credit cards? I’ll tell you. In all my years of working life and socialising – I believe they call it social networking in this microchip age – in offices, factories, pubs and clubs, occasionally the subject of credit cards is the topic of conversation. I have listened to and taken part in many discussions on credit cards and, to my amazement, I have yet to meet one solitary credit card holder who pays a penny in interest on purchases.

I use my credit card to pay for all manner of purchases, from flights to theatre tickets. I pay interest each month for the right to spread my payments conveniently, all of which is the undoubted purpose and benefit of credit cards. However, listening to the discussions over the decades, it appears that I am the only credit card holder in the universe who does pay interest, because everyone else settles the entire outstanding balance on receipt of their monthly statement, thereby invalidating the need to pay interest.

“I always pay my full balance every month so I don’t need to pay interest,” is the oft-heard comment during these discussions.

If it wasn’t for me, the banks would go out of business pretty damn quickly.

Kerrianne tells me all these people are lying, but she is such a cynic, while I believe everything everyone tells me. Honest.