I have excellent credit. It is something I worked on all my adult life. I paid my bills when I had trouble paying to gas up my car or food to eat. I still paid my bills. As a result, I have a credit rating that only 2% of the USA can claim to possess. Not bragging, just stating a fact to make a point about the title of this entry.

If there is a downside to having a great credit score, it is the tremendous number of credit card applications you get in the mail. On an average day, I get about three in the mail. There were some days, last year, I got as many as six in one day. I have written to the respective credit card companies, whether it is Master Card, Visa, Discovery or American Express, to take my name off their lists. I always get a sincere apology and excuse it is not their fault, but the issuing bank, etc. I have written to the banks and asked them not to send any more credit card applications. Invariably, I get a sales pitch and I hang up. Basically, I have given up trying to stop the flow of applications and just toss them in the shredder.

Two years ago, my next door neighbor’s dog, Sunshine, got an application from Visa with a $500.00 spending cap. I have no idea of Sunshine took her card to “Pets ‘R Us” and splurged or not. My Uncle Mike got an application from Master Card around Thanksgiving 2007. The only problem there, my Uncle Mike has been deceased for six years. I’m sure this is a common problem in both cases (well, maybe not with Sunshine, but still…).

But, in January of this year,, I think the application for a Master Card that arrived at my sister’s house had to be a first. You see, her red Nissan truck received a Master Card credit application. She has no idea how that happened. But, her affectionate name for her truck is “Old Paint”. “Old Paint Hxxxxx, Congratulations! You are pre-approved for a Master Card Gold credit card!” It is one that everyone in her immediate family has heard her give to her truck to start up one more time, seemingly, forever. Most of her close friends are aware of this nickname for her truck. None are claiming to have anything to do with it and all laughed about it. I certainly had nothing to do with it. I’m not that original.

Incidentally, Sis said she showed the application to Old Paint and he/she/it was singularly unimpressed.