I hadn’t carried a balance on the cards for probably over a year now, but didn’t want to cancel them in case the reduction in available credit would impact my overall credit score and therefore my rates on existing balances.

But with the new credit card rules coming into effect and the current state of lending – I feel that now is as good a time as ever to cancel my zero balances. I’m making good progress in paying down debt and if there are any repercussions to canceling cards – I’m betting that it will help in the long run if I just start making adjustments now.

One thing I do know so far is that I’m thrilled to no longer have any ties to Bank of America.

Also, below is the actual video from Jackie Ramos, in case you want to hear her whole story:

From time to time, you need motivation to keep going and keep sacrificing quick hits of happiness to really pay down debt. This movie motivates in two ways:

1. It scares the hell out of you. (i.e. 57 year old woman talking about how she’s considered suicide because she’s in so much emotional pain as a cause of her debt burden)
2. It shines a light on what you, as a consumer, are really up against.

As you can imagine, the credit card industry is a well-oiled machine and they know where to pull and push in order to get the maximum from each and every card holder. It’s really amazing to think of how calculating the system they have created has become.

As I watched, I couldn’t help but think about how the banking and credit card industry advertise their products – both in commercials and disgustingly blatant in-show placements. The goal of advertising and branding is to give a brand a personality – something that makes you feel a certain way and help you develop an emotional connection to them or their product(s).

Credit cards and banks do this very well. Their ads and slogans (Bank of America = Bank of Opportunity) make you believe that they’re friendly companies that just want to help you enjoy your life on your terms. They make dreams come true and are in your corner through good times and bad.

After watching Maxed Out, it’s clear that nothing could be further from the truth.

It’s an ad for a Bank of America Visa Card.  Again, in the Debt Management section of bankrate.com.  I found this to be ironic and a little disingenuous really.  I mean I know that bankrate needs to sell ads to make money, but you would hope they’d align the ads with their content and keep credit cards ads out of that one section.  That’s like M&Ms advertising on the dieting page of a fitness website or something, no?

(I try to keep my blog G-rated – even though in person, I may not be – so please view these links with caution as, depending on your personal sensibilities, one or two of them may be offensive either in text or graphics)

Anyway, I’m not when it comes to my feelings for Bank of America.

In fact, they even have T-shirts for the feeling…