Dear Costco,

Let me preface this post with telling you I am an official credit card holder. That is right. In my wallet right now, and in Adam's wallet, there is contained a brand new, sparkly credit card with a nice limit. Don't worry. We aren't going to get out of hand now that we have fake money to spend... and by fake I mean borrowed money that is real that we will have an incredibly high interest to pay back if we miss a bill. So once again, I say don't worry. Adam and I have made a simple three step plan to build credit and not build debt.

Step 1

Only use it on things we would have to use cash on anyway

(i.e. groceries, gas, bills... you get the picture, right?)

Step 2

Never spend over a certain dollar amount before paying off the card

Step 3

ALWAYS pay the bill on time to avoid incredibly high interest payments

Alright. So... I need to give you a little more detail. Our credit card is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa. And if we spend a certain amount of dollars in the first 3 months of opening our card.... we get 50,000 BONUS flight points. Which will be great for flying to California to visit Adam's family or for flying to watch Adam play baseball once his season starts. So obviously we are trying to use our credit card as much as possible to buy everything right now. Because, let me repeat, not only are we getting the regular reward points... we would get 50,000 bonus reward points. And I would prefer to fly for free.

So now onto why I am writing to Costco. Adam and I decided to go grocery shopping to stock our very very bare and empty of food apartment. And obviously the easiest way to stock up on the basics is to go to Costco. We filled our cart. We went to check out. We swiped the card.... the man stops and said "Is that credit or debit?"... to which I say... "Credit." ... to which he says... "Oh, we don't accept Visa." In my head I was thinking "Whhhhhat?! YOU DONT ACCEPT VISA!? Everyone accepts VISA. Get on the boat Costco..." and while I was thinking that he said... "We only accept debit or American Express." Now I was thinking... "You guys are nutso! No one only accepts AMEX! In fact American Express is the least accepted credit card in the world. Who doesn't accept Visa?!"

So I swiped my debit, paid for my groceries, and was very sad for I just missed out on a GREAT opportunity to get free award points. And then I had to think about it and realized Costco has an agreement with AMEX, which is why they have Costco AMEX cards... But I am still disappointed.

JUST REMEMBER...

That way you wont have the same problems as me thinking you are going to put an awesome amount of points on your new Southwest Rapid Rewards card.... and then get to the cashier and be a very sad person. I am looking forward to the muffins though. COSTCO MUFFINS ARE THE BEST!

Love,

Deidre