Credit card

So last weekend I revealed that I was FINALLY applying for a credit card. Yes I have managed to survive 42 years without one! Crazy, I know! Let me just give you the detail – I was simply asking for a credit card with a $3,000 limit…I didn’t need much…just “contingency…in case of emergency” money. And why would I need this after 42 years? Well I am going to my first work conference….my first interstate trip on my LONESOME! So I figured a woman in her mid-life should have some security when travelling ALONE…even though flights, accommodation for 7 nights, breakfasts and 3 dinners will be pre-paid. Besides I have heard countless stories of people arriving at their accommodation, which is supposedly been paid for by their employer, only to find that IT HASN’T been and they have had to pay for the accommodation themselves, with their personal CREDIT CARD until they can get it sorted. NO WAY was I going to go all the way to Tasmania without a contingency plan….that’s a long way…it’s over-seas! Anyway, imagine my SURPRISE when I get an email response back from my bank…the same institution I have banked with for at least the past 10 years and have had 2 mortgages with, without any default or late payments on those mortgages….DECLINING my application! YES you read correctly – DECLINE. With a friendly suggestion that if I wanted to re-submit the application under JOINT names (whoever that may be), my application would be reconsidered. I was INSULTED! Well unfortunately I don’t want a JOINT credit card. I’m 42 YEARS OLD. I receive a $85k+ annual salary from my continuing position – not contract…not fixed term…CONTINUING! I have no dependants (other than my fur-kids). I have no car loan (that they know of). They can see the transactions in my account so I know they know I am paying bills from that account…there is money coming in and money going out….But oh yes I have MORTGAGE! Admittedly it is with another bank. but it is sooo unfortunate that the application form doesn’t ask for YOUR CONTRIBUTION towards any such debt. Obviously my contribution is 50%. Instead the application is processed as if you are 100% responsible for the mortgage – which I know in real terms I am…but I’M NOT! So why should that matter anyway? We have a $600k MORTGAGE to a house valued at over $800K for which we are 2 payments ahead of schedule! Once again, evidence on our part of good financial management. So I decided to call the bank. ok I’m going to name and shame. HERITAGE BUIDLING SOCIETY. I’m sure it is not just me who thinks it is ludicrous that a 42 year old woman (I know I am labouring the age point) on a $85k annual salary, with an impeccable credit history, effectively cannot get a loan for $3,000! They TRIED to help…and I TRIED to be civil. But you know they are constrained by policy and automated computer programs that work this stuff out for them. So because it LOOKS LIKE the mortgage is more than 85% of my salary, I don’t fit within their credit card POLICY. I did feel for the young woman taking my call. You know she probably earns half of what I earn and she probably has a credit card or two…so she probably can’t relate. But when I gave her the scenario that I could walk into any bank today, open a savings account with a deposit of $500 (which I have just withdrawn from my HERITAGE BUILDING SOCIETY ACCOUNT) and would be offered a credit card with a $5k limit…and in 6 months’ time probably be inundated with letters asking me if I wanted to UP that limit to $10k or $15k or even $25k…well she said, yes I could probably do that. So when I gave her the scenario of what if I was in an abusive relationship? What if I was trying to escape that relationship and my only hope to get away and on my own feet was with a $3,000 credit limit. Obviously I can’t ask my physically abusive partner to jointly sign with me because then my plan to escape under the cloak of darkness would be foiled. And didn’t she know that the number one obstacle for women leaving abusive relationships is economic dependence??!! Well she then decided perhaps her supervisor should get involved. Seriously do these people have absolutely NO REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE? Oh that’s right. They rely on computer programs to give them the answers to people problems! So I spoke with the supervisor…who again was pleasant and I tried my darndest to be pleasant in return. His suggestion was for me to email him a copy of my mortgage statement and get a LETTER from my partner effectively saying I was capable of paying off my credit card debt! This is my first trip interstate ON MY OWN. I don’t do much ON MY OWN. I just want a friggin credit card in MY OWN NAME so I can start doing things ON MY OWN. So I am NOT DEPENDENT on someone else! I admit. I did think about it....The whole supplying of extra evidence just so I could get my own credit card. But then I thought “fuck it!”. So I opened up the St George website, who we have our mortgage with. And then I realised they application would probably ask me for my member number. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what that is. So I opened up the ANZ website (I have NEVER banked with ANZ - but you know, a bank is bank these days), found their credit card application site and applied on-line. The question they asked, the point of difference with HERITAGE BUILDING SOCIETY, was “what is your CONTRIBUTION to your mortgage”…easy – 50% of the monthly repayment. WHAM BAM THANK YOU MAM credit card application APPROVED immediately. Unfortunately for $6,000 (the lowest limit available) rather than $3,000 which is all I needed. The final step in the process….email those idiots at HERITAGE BUILDING SOCIETY and say THANKS but no thanks. I have been approved a credit card in less time I was on the phone to you and I will be making arrangements to close both of our HERITGE BUILDING SOCIETY accounts.