She’s a Brick…house.
Posted by Arianne | Filed under Arianne
It was October 2010 when I decided I required new furniture. A sectional sofa and an adult bed were on the list and I wanted brand-new ones to call my own. I searched for these items online and found a lovely sofa option on The Brick’s website. I convinced myself to go into the store to have a live look at it so I could make a rational decision to purchase or not to purchase. It’s funny that this rational mind of mine didn’t factor in that I was completely and utterly broke. Nevertheless, I set out on my mission.
I arrived at the store without hope knowing that if I loved my chosen sofa, or anything else for that matter, I wouldn’t be able to make the purchase. I don’t know why I’m such a sadist! I saw my headboard & footboard of choice as soon as I entered store. Lucky me – they were having a sale! Eff my life. L With my head hung low I finally spotted it – not the microsuede reclining sectional I had seen online. No, no…this one screamed “Arianne” all over it! It was a chocolate brown faux leather sectional with a right-facing chaise attached. I sat on it once and I was putty in its hands. How do I justify calling the Bank of Mom to explain that my current living conditions were subpar and the only way to bring them up to code was with THIS. SOFA?!?!?! I couldn’t do it. Upon making this final, intelligent and adult decision to walk away, I was approached by a salesperson. They could see how much I liked the couch, they could see this particular couch selling for a lot more. He played on my insecurities letting me know there may not be many more in stock if, in fact, I came back later. I told him the simple truth: “Dear sir, thank you very much for your assistance AND persistence but I do not have any money.” I felt so proud of myself for sticking to my guns. Since I was a former retail manager, I should’ve known what was to come. The key to retail is to always have a solution to any and every problem a customer may have with the company, product or service; then they will have no excuse but to spend their money. Mr. Salesman didn’t even flinch and said it was not a problem and whipped out the application form for The Brick credit card. I had an entire year to pay it off – no monthly payments, no interest.
SIGH! I don’t need to go into what I did, I’m pretty sure we all know. A long story short, one year came and went and do you know what I did? Nothing. Do you know what I owed? EVERYTHING. Do you know about cray-cray interest rates on a store card? Well, I do now.
This was two years ago and I’m SO proud to say I am two paydays away from clearing my entire balance of that Brick store card. The reason why I’m so excited about this is I will only have one last debt (my TD Emerald Visa) to pay off. That’s it! I have already budgeted my fixed monthly expenses for the year. I’m not in the free and clear by any means but I’ve always had several things I had to pay off or catch-up on or try to ignore simultaneously. In a month’s time I will dedicate a post to the momentous occasion. I CANNOT WAIT.
Have a wonderful rest of the week, everyone!
A single gal who just turned thirty and a first-time home buyer, Arianne is trying to defeat the monstrous debt she accumulated in her twenties. “That debt is the result of my biggest and most dangerous vice: Shopping” says Arianne.
March 15, 2012 at 7:13 pm
That’s really heading in the right direction. And we know that won’t happen again. Unless the full amount is sitting in the account ready to go AND you have an emergency fund all fully funded right? Enjoy the options you’ll soon have of where to invest, and what little increases you may allow yourself.
March 15, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Saving my for my emergency fund now. Out of debt never felt so good!!
March 15, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Hi Arianne, that’s the danger of some of these quick purchase merchants. They know how to work a sale and they don’t care who gets hurt. I guess the “good” thing is that you must have had a good credit history for them to have given you the credit, the “bad ” thing is that in the same swift move they can destroy that credit rating. Great to hear that you are almost through with that card. You are definitely moving in the right direction, keep it up!
March 16, 2012 at 9:34 am
Bravo to Arianne!
)
The BRICK and others of their ilk really trap the unaware … not only do they give you a year to get comfortable with not paying, but if you can’t pay off the whole amount at the end of the year, the interest charges are applied right back to Day 1.
It’s an awful way to learn about compound interest, but a valuable “lesson learned” if you can come out the other side alright …
April 10, 2012 at 8:01 pm
Hi Arrianne,
I am a bit late with this comment but I just got to reading your post and it hit home with me. Guess why? Because I fell in the same trap with the same company.
Luckily I woke up from my dream just before this “amazing” Buy Now Pay Later no interest for 8 months nightmare hit its due date. I had to scrape all my savings and ask for a bit of loan from a friend that I paid back the week after, just to come clear off this plan before the retro-active interest hit my account.
But let me tell you another fact about these deals that I have learnt from this episode:
SO when you go in and don’t have the money to pay for your dream (insert item here) and they offer you their deal with no inetest for months on end, you go for it because it sounds so great. And they make sure to tell you, why don’t you just put that money in the bank to earn interest for you before it’s due! What a great idea! NOT!
And why not? Ok so you pick your item, they go and approve you for your credit, very likely just enough or a bit more than what your item costs you. So there you go with your shiney new BRICK Platinum card that you probably maxed out right away and won’t pay it off until your interest free time comes to an end or not even then.
So what you just did is get new credit, max out, not pay for a long time and it will affect your credit score really badly because they don’t want you to carry more than 30% of a given available balance, especially not for months or years!
I learnt this the hard way, this little deal, even though I didn’t end up paying interest, ruined my credit score quite a bit!
Ever since I am trying to spread the word to everyone : DO NOT FALL FOR THIS DEAL