We have one credit card. Actually, I have a second credit card that the GG’s name is not on. Why not? Because it is my Childhood Credit Card. It’s not a secret. I got it when I was in college, well before I knew the GG. Did I have enough income then to get a credit card? No I did not. Did I have a credit history? No I did not. What I did have was a father in the banking business and a mother with very similar handwriting to mine. I called Sault Ste. Siberia and asked my bank CEO dad how hard it would be for me to get a credit card. Not very hard, it turned out. He guaranteed that it would be paid (if I defaulted) and The Commander signed my name on the application. It was approved and I got a MasterCard. I still have it although it turned into a VISA somewhere along the line (not that you care).

When we were young and newly married, I applied for a different VISA card for both of us. I could’ve probably added his name to my MasterCard but for who knows what reason, I never did. The “feminist” in me, maybe? (We’ll unpack “feminist” some other time, maybe when I’m 90.) I never did default on that old MasterCard. I don’t think I have even *activated* my most recent VISA card attached to that account. I never use it. But maybe I should activate it, because the GG’s debit card has stopped working this weekend and short of carrying a ton of cash, the only way he could pay for dinner at Mode’s Bum Steer in Traverse City or grokkeries at our fave Best Choice at Houghton Lake, was to use his VISA card. (His debit card is not working because the strip is worn out, not because there isn’t any money in the account.)

So here’s where the fun begins. I do not get paper statements for any accounts any more, except from a few holdout Luddite organizations. That would *not* be the banking biz. I also like to try to pay credit card expenses in real-time and not wait until the statement comes. So I have email alerts set up that let me know when someone (the GG) uses that card to pay for anything over $50.

So, last night, the GG and Mouse had dinner over at Mode’s Bum Steer in Traverse City after a day of skiing. I randomly checked my email, not having a clue about where they were, and there was an alert about a transaction at the Bum Steer. I texted the GG something like “Glad you got to eat at the Bum Steer for $59.85”. (And I *was* glad! I was just harassing him.) But what was weird (but funny) was that he received that text message from me *before* the waitress returned the bill and credit card to the table. I do hope he gave her a good tip.

I do not care what the heck the GG spends on that credit card. He earns a decent salary (and so do I, thank you very much!) and we have not been in debt for many many many years. I *never* had to ask my parents to bail me out of debt and neither did the GG. It is *fun* to harass the GG about his credit card expenditures when I receive notifications but, as far as I’m concerned, he can buy whatever he damn well wants to. Well, maybe not a Maserati, but I don’t think he wants one of those.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2015 at 7:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.