There are few times I can remember when I got any good gifts from my dad. He didn’t celebrate birthdays, he didn’t give Christmas gives, and well he didn’t do much of anything that required money. There’s one thing that I’ve gotten from him, and no it sure the hell wasn’t love.

Yes, I have about $30,000 in debt (100% student loans), and no other debt thanks to my father’s early warnings about credit cards. Though my family rarely ever talked about issues related to money (other than no having any), I remember quite clearly my father telling me “Never get a credit card unless you need it”, which of course I never got a credit card because I never understood why I would need one.

His “Never buy anything on credit that you can’t pay for in cash”, in addition to my having learned about interest rates prompted me to transfer money from my Money Market account which was earning not even 4% to pay off a laptop I bought for my mom for Christmas on my new American Express card that had an 11% interest rate.

It wasn’t until I learned what a credit report was that I actually wanted to get a credit card though. Despite the fact that I was in one of the higher tax brackets, no matter what I did, I simply could not get a credit card. Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Bank of America, I dunno how many I tried, CapitalOne? Not One. –None of which I presently recommend by the way.