When I was a child (before the popularity of the Internet), I can remember going to the bank with my mother a couple times each month.  Both of my parents worked at home, so we were able to go on the outing to the bank with them.  From these trips we learned that financial matters were between people.

It was also a time and a relationship where trust was developed.  What I noticed is that my parents dealt with the same person each time we went to the bank.  They trusted this lady’s advice when it came to their financial decisions.  It was from this model that I learned what bank I should be banking with…

Or so I thought.  Once I turned 19 and my bank started charging me fees for my bank account, I decided to start to look around at my options.  For me it didn’t seem fair that they would charge me to use my money to make them money.  Looking back, I realize that I was paying for the service, and hence the cost.

It was around this time that I was introduced to the big world of consumer credit.  I was at the right age to have a credit card so again, following my parent’s footsteps, I went to their banker to talk about what they offered.  They had many different cards, but most of them had fees.  That was really not what I was looking for but the banker had already decided that is what I was going to get.

I went home unimpressed and a little disappointed.  I decided to go online and compare credit cards to see what I could find.  I lucked out and found a few sites that had the credit cards that were available from the banks in my town.  What I found was amazing:  it ended up that the cards that my bank offered were inferior to the bank across the street.

I ended up going to get a cashback credit card across the street at my banks competitor.  If I hadn’t used the internet, I would never have known that there were other options.  I am thankful that I did.