Dr. Sabrina Segal

Oh how I love my Visa; let me count the ways. MasterCard is “Priceless” and American Express makes me blue. Paris, Britney and Lindsay Lohan you got nothin’ on me! “Oh the feeling I get sitting next to rest, plastic on hand, charging on command.”

Those Capital One ads are hypnotic. Fending off barbarians with a magical charge card that has no fees and a low interest rate sounded good to me. The holiday buying season was ahead and this piece of innocuous plastic was my entrée into the annals of Holiday Big Shot 2007.

The presents I could buy for family and co-workers; the tabs I could pick up. I would certainly be the life of the party the whole season through. Whipping out that credit card to the applause of my cheering fans… I could be like Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres -- “Don’t Leave Home Without it.”

One month later…

The bill comes in. My glamorous, short-lived holiday lifestyle was over. My tax refund money gone and only a 2 percent pay raise inadequate to compensate for inflation. It was a good 15 minutes of fame, spending more in one month than I make half the year, being remembered until your guests wake up the next morning foggy about the night before. Now it’s off to the zoo, where I clean cages part time and make enough to pay my late fees. "What's in your wallet?''