LETTER: We need ‘grant cards’ instead of credit cards

I am constantly getting pre-selected opportunities to get free credit cards. Who do these people think I am? I can tell you who I’m not, I’m not one of those rich old people with unlimited funding. I’m just a typical retired guy who needs a little extra funding to keep up with my monthly bills. So, I got a part-time job working at the compost site.

The other day, I got another one of those opportunities through the mail: “Earn 80,000 bonus points on dining and travel.” the catch was, as long as I spend $4,000 on their card in the next three months.

In the first place, most of the “nice eating places” with the exception of fast food eateries (drive thru only) are closed. As for flying anywhere to a nice vacation spot, probably half or more of those are also or should also, be closed too. My next step? I could probably charge $4,000 but I have no clue how I’d pay it back.

What we really need are “grant cards.” This is a new type of card totally different from credit cards. Credit cards are no fun because you have to pay them back. With so many $100,000 grants being passed out for business remodels and new business start-ups, the rest of us common people, like myself, could also use a grant for those expenses that seem to pop up without warning. Now, I have no clue where that grant money would have to come from, probably from the same source that the 100K grants come from. It’s only fair that people should have grant cards for some smaller amount.

Although lately I’ve been thinking about restarting a frame shop, I’ve already gotten the experience. With a mere $100,000 grant, I could rent a space in the downtown, do a little remodel and use the rest of the grant money to build my business for three years, which is classically how long it takes to establish a new business. At the end of that period, I could re-evaluate the feasibility of continuing to just close up, whichever.