Mom's birthday is this weekend. Turns out my step dad totally forgot. So I said why don't we go to Blue Man Group on Saturday night?
He said if we get the tickets he'll pay us back.
Fine, but my car is in the shop and I may need some of the funds on my credit card to cover some of the repairs because DH's $1200 pre-Christmas car repair screwed our savings account. (I refuse to bring our savings down to a total zero, ever.)
DH still has his credit card, right? So I call and ask him to put the tickets on his card and my stepdad will pay us back.
DH tells me he has NO ACTIVE CREDIT CARDS. What?
He said the one card didn't renew him because it was inactive for so long. (I have never heard of this. I don't use mine much and the CC company is happy to have me.) The other card he canceled.
He feels credit cards are the devil, while I think it's only bad if you don't use it right. Big stuff can come up that you need credit as a buffer until you can pay it off in a timely manner.
DH wants to go "cash only" and tells ME I'm irrational when I tell him that was not a good move. Hi sweetie, I don't know if you're keeping score, but look around, WE'RE NOT RICH.
There is frugal, and there is dumb. I classify this as dumb.
Man I'm ticked
Re: DH is a Financial Whiz *sarcasam*
Sorry you are going through that. You need to at least have one card, just in case of emergencies, or cases like this.
We use our cc for mostly everything, and then just pay it off every month.
Can you explain to him that charging then paying off monthly can get you lots of great card rewards that cash can't?
I'd be pissed too, especially about the one he cancelled on his own. That may come back to hurt him on his credit score, since creditors sometimes look at the length of time you were a good customer to factor in part of your "creditworthiness".
He really thinks credit cards are from Satan himself and any use of them are bad. I don't get it.
He had the better cards to. I was dumb in my early credit history (student loans) so the two I have are very basic and not the best rates. So I don't use them unless I have to. Ugh.
I don't need this when I'm already freaking out about the car repairs and he's ordering cords of wood. Would the wood guy liked to be paid in magic beans? Because that's what we have. Just don't let him look too close at the can because I wrote "Magic Beans" in black magic marker over a can of baked beans from the pantry. Shhhh. Don't tell.
My DH also hates credit cards, but is not a good budgeter or saver either, it makes me crazy. He will only use his card if he knows he'll have the money to pay it off that month, even if it means he's left with 10 cents in his account. Makes me nuts.
My dad is 66 and has never had a credit card. About 5 years ago, when he went to buy a new truck, he was denied because he had ZERO credit lol! My brother had to co-sign, boy did that get him going! He stomped around the house for weeks.
I do agree you should have one CC for emergencies.
FWIW, I've had a card not renewed before because of a long period on inactivity.