A personal finance mea culpa: During the recent holiday season I forgot to pay the balance on my Amazon credit card. It was a store card, good only for purchases on Amazon. I had paid the balance in full every month for over 3 years. This one time I was about 10 days late, and wham — a $35 fee! I called Amazon and cancelled the card, thinking they might wonder why I was cancelling and perhaps offer to refund the fee, but that didn’t happen. So, just as an exercise in self-discipline, I’ll have no Amazon store card for at least a long while. I’ve already purchased a couple things and charged them to my current I’m-only-in-in-for-the-bonus credit card. Maybe Amazon will notice and they’ll make me an offer. The $35 fee, the only fee I ever paid on this account, isn’t too bad. I bought a couple computers when I first got the card, and Amazon allowed me 6 months to pay with no interest charges. That might have been worth around $35. Still, my mistake means $35 is gone forever.
Update: A couple months ago, Amazon offered me a free trial Prime membership. First one month free, and then when I started to cancel, another month free. During this free trail, they offered me an Amazon Prime credit card with a $50 bonus. Bingo. I took the card, used it once, then put it away. I’ll cancel the Prime membership before I have to pay for it.
