Department store credit card sign ups always have ridiculous tag lines that make you think “Wowee what a steal?! Where do I sign”. Especially this time of year, as you stand by the register and the cashier rings up all the expensive gifts that aren’t for you, it might be tempting to take that one time discount, but the devil is in the small print. Before you sign up for your next department store credit card, read on to find out why this is a terrible idea.

Imagine going into your favorite retailer and when you're checking out, the clerk asks if you want to apply for their in-store credit card to save 10% on your purchase. Why not, you think, and you quickly submit the application. It comes back declined. That's not possible, you explain, I have perfect credit. Sorry sir, the clerk apologizes, that's why you were declined.

This very thing happened to customers of outdoors retailer Gander Mountain, spurring a recent lawsuit. Gander Mountain's credit card partner, World Financial Network, claimed that customers who manage their credit responsibly aren't profitable, and the company therefore wasn't interested in their business.

Andy note: "Best of Eddie" - while Eddie is on vacation we're throwing up some of his classic posts from the past. This one from June 2010 is part of the very popular "Sell Your Options" 5-part series. More to come later this week & next. If there's an old post from Eddie you'd like to see up again shoot me a message.

Unsecured consumer debt is a relatively new phenomenon in our country's history. Believe it or not, I can remember a time before Visa. When I was a little kid, credit cards were so rare that most businesses didn't accept them (debit cards didn't exist either because, well, ATM machines hadn't been invented yet). The mere suggestion of paying for a restaurant meal on credit would have precipitated a sound thrashing from a member of my parents' generation.

But the popularity of consumer credit grew quickly in the 1970's. Before, there was only American Express (a "charge" card that had to be zeroed out each month), Diner's Club (for the wealthy), and MasterCharge. MasterCharge was the first company to really market revolving credit to the masses. When Visa came on the scene in the mid-70's, MasterCharge became MasterCard and the ensuing competition between the two buried America in a mountain of revolving debt over the subsequent three decades.

The majority of Wall Street Oasis readers fall into the "Millenial" generation, made up of those people born between 1980-2000. This generation is also perjoritavely known as "Gen Y", and the people who refer to it thusly usually do so to point out what a shiftless bunch of fuckwits you guys are. Nothing could be further from the truth. You were, however, raised by a generation (in some cases mine) where bad fiscal behavior was more or less institutionalized and a buy-it-now-pay-for-it-later mentality prevailed.

In a new report bound to disturb those hoping for a comeback in the real estate market this year, TransUnion reveals that Americans across the board are opting to keep their credit card payments up to date while allowing their mortgages to go into foreclosure. I can't for the life of me understand the thinking behind this strategy, though I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that 25% of American mortgages are under water and this trend is merely a precursor to another wave of homeowners leaving their keys in the mailbox and walking away.

So it got me thinking. When I was younger and in school, there was no such thing as a personal finance class. Responsible financial management was completely ignored by academia (of course, back then if a college kid applied for a credit card the application would've received the same reception as Aleksey Vayner's resume). It was a seriously big deal for me to get approved for an AT&T calling card with a $200 limit when I was 19. (Try to imagine a world where there were pay phones everywhere and everyone used them.)

Do the schools today do a better job preparing students for real-life finance? I've heard of high school kids with credit cards now, and I think it goes a long way to explaining this depressing chart. To put it into perspective, 4% of the world's population holds 40% of the world's personal debt. How did we get here?