Liar Loan
Well-known member
I'm starting this thread as an offshoot of the "Frustrated with lack of retail" thread:http://www.talkirvine.com/index.php/topic,16323.msg332014.html#msg332014
We discussed how people will pay ludicrous sums of money for handbags covered in certain logos that, apparently, they think raises their status with others.
Today, I'm reading that many people also derive their status from which credit cards they can be seen paying with:
Is anybody actually fooled by this?
I mean, hey, I can afford to pay $450 for a credit card fee too, but that's not very impressive. It's actually kind of stupid if you aren't getting anything in return. Some people are getting something in return, but many are not, and just pay the fee to maintain their status as a 'Platinum' card holder.
In my experience, nobody that matters has ever been impressed, or was even curious about, which card I payed with. The handful of times I've gotten comments, it has been from cashiers commenting on the one metal card that I have. Is that who I'm supposed to be trying to impress here? Cashiers?
And the biggest reaction I've ever gotten was from a cashier while using a Chase Disney card that has a very eye appealing design, but is not in any way a prestige card.
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Disclosure: I only use credit cards to acquire travel points/rewards. People that pay interest on credit cards are suckers.
We discussed how people will pay ludicrous sums of money for handbags covered in certain logos that, apparently, they think raises their status with others.
Today, I'm reading that many people also derive their status from which credit cards they can be seen paying with:
https://www.realclearinvestigations...erybody_pays_for_credit_card_high-flyers.htmlThere are plenty of other more affordable premium credit cards, too, and issuers aren't shy about making overt appeals to aspirational snobbery, dubbing their cards with such regal titles as...[fill in the blank]
The cards illustrate the evolution of status-seeking in an era when consumer goods have become so cheap and plentiful that they have lost their cachet.
?Tastes have changed to become more experiential and less focused on physical goods," said Gary Leff, a travel blogger and frequent flyer expert from Austin. "A friend of mine used points from Starwood Hotels to have his wife take tennis lessons from Andre Agassi," Leff added. "He couldn't just call up Andre Agassi and arrange that."
The National Bureau of Economic Research issued a report last year concluding that the powerful social cachet of premier credit cards has a particular pull on insecure people. Such people, the report said, are prone to using metal cards in public even if they have better benefits from less-prestigious cards made from humble plastic.
"You definitely see a good portion of people who do not have that lifestyle and are trying to get it," said Robert Harrow, a New York-based product manager at ValuePenguin, an online credit card evaluation resource.
Is anybody actually fooled by this?
I mean, hey, I can afford to pay $450 for a credit card fee too, but that's not very impressive. It's actually kind of stupid if you aren't getting anything in return. Some people are getting something in return, but many are not, and just pay the fee to maintain their status as a 'Platinum' card holder.
In my experience, nobody that matters has ever been impressed, or was even curious about, which card I payed with. The handful of times I've gotten comments, it has been from cashiers commenting on the one metal card that I have. Is that who I'm supposed to be trying to impress here? Cashiers?
And the biggest reaction I've ever gotten was from a cashier while using a Chase Disney card that has a very eye appealing design, but is not in any way a prestige card.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclosure: I only use credit cards to acquire travel points/rewards. People that pay interest on credit cards are suckers.