Trouble with Credit Cards

Audio

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Making it easier

Read all the exercises before you listen to the audio.
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Read the transcript after you have listened to the audio.

Making it harder

Listen to the audio before you read the exercises.
Only play the audio once before answering the questions.
Play the whole audio without a break.
Don't read the transcript.
Now, listen to the audio and do the exercises on the following tabs.
If you do not complete all the question, you can play the audio again. After that, read the dialog to make sure that you understand all word in the audio.
According to the speaker, why did she get credit cards?
She thought she could trust herself.
She did not have enough cash.
They just came in the mail.
A college student needs credit cards.
Why could the speaker be considered a generous person?
She treated her family members.
She managed her own finances.
She spent all her money.
She gave a lot of money away.
Why did the speaker say she kept the AT&T card?
It had a low interest rate.
It was useful as a telephone card.
The company allowed her to spend more money.
It was the only card that could still be used.
Who offered the speaker advice about money?
One of her teachers
Her counselor
One of her doctors
Her friend
What does the speaker plan to do about her credit card debt?
Pay off the cards once she has graduated
Get a loan to pay off the cards
Ask someone to help her pay off the cards
Get a job and pay off the cards
What is the purpose of this talk?
To offer advice to students
To explain about money
To tell about a trip
To describe a problem
Simply I'll tell_ this is a story about, the summer, this past summer, and my shopping experience.
I love shopping. And I love clothes.
And I love to get dressed in all different types of clothing.
I went through a stage of vintage clothing where, I just wore vintage clothing, from fifties, no, yeah, fifties on up.
Um, this summer I, I got_ I acquired four credit cards.
Now being a freshman in college, um, you shouldn't really get credit cards, because they are so tempting.
But I got them, and huhu yeah, I, I thought I could trust myself, but I, you know, I sort of ran them all up.
And one had a thousand dollar limit, and one had a seven hundred and ninety_ seven hundred_ eight hundred dollar limit, another one had a five hundred dollar limit, and the other one had a three hundred dollar limit.
And I think I have all together out of all of them, about sixty dollars.
So, um, i_ in the beginning, I just bought little things like little tickets for, you know, a play here and there, for a party here and there, you know, then one day I just decided to go out and go shopping for summer clothes, because I only had three pairs of shorts.
So... I took my sister and my mother to New York.
And, we had a wonderful day in New York.
And I think I spent about three hundred, four hundred dollars, like two hundred and fifty on clothes and, the rest on food and, you know, little knickknacks.
And now I'm thinking, okay Ebony you're gonna stop now, you have summer clothes, you're okay.
So here's July and I'm buying little gifts for my mother, her_ she's going to be forty-seven this year.
And, um, all these little things.
You know I made a down payment on my first car, off of the credit cards.
So I didn't realize how that_ all that added up.
Um, now here comes August and, I'm thinking okay I'm getting bills.
They're saying eight hundred dollars, and, six hundred dollars and I'm like "whoa oh my goodness."
so, uh, you know, I haven't stopped yet, though, because I have them_ I have_ I keep one_ I stopped_ I put, I put two away_ I acquired another one mid- summer, used about three hundred dollars on that one.
And... Um, I had one more that I was still using because it was my A-T and T card, it was also a phone card, so it was very helpful.
Um... But anyway, um.
I finally started using the_ I I_ continue to use to that A-T and T card.
And I saw little sales that I just, you know, I couldn't resist.
They were perfect sales and_ they were really good sales, but I didn't have money.
I was use- I was use- I was using the credit cards, so I finally you know I called one day, I tried to use the A-T and T card and it said "no."
and I called them and they said, "it's been shut off because, you are thirteen dollars over your limit."
I said "whoa." so I said "okay Ebony, what you must do is to fix this problem now. You have put yourself in a bind_ you will fix it. How will you do that."
um... I talked to one of my doctors actually.
My doctor told me that he did it this he was younger.
He got a loan paid it off in about a year and a half, or a year while he was still in school.
And it was done with.
So that's what I am going to do.
I'm going to get a loan in October, pay them all off, learn from my lesson, and get one later on in life where I can really use it.