Women and credit cards!

faceman

myself and my beloved are saving hard for another property. However our spending habits have been quite high lately, so she has given me her credit card for minding.

It got me thinking, is this very common for women to do? Ive never heard of a bloke having to give his missus his credit card or anything. i know women like shopping but why is it a ridiculous obsession for majority of women? Its probably the only generalisation we can get away with when talking about women!

po0k

It's a false generalisation.

I know several people who have a large remaining balance on their credit cards.
Welcome to modern materialistic disposable culture.

This thread has no merit.

Close it now.

faceman

SyxPak wrote:

It's a false generalisation.

I know several people who have a large remaining balance on their credit cards.
Welcome to modern materialistic disposable culture.

This thread has no merit.

Close it now.

Thank you dear leader. :rolleyes:

Saruman

I have come to the conclusion that women shop more because they are always trying to get the perfect figure and their clothes no long fit! Im serious!!! If a guy looses lots of weight he still wears clothes that are too big! They are comfy

Most Women though could never wear baggy clothes unless they are skangers.

Kinetic^

SyxPak wrote:

It's a false generalisation.

I know several people who have a large remaining balance on their credit cards.
Welcome to modern materialistic disposable culture.

QFT!! It's not specific to gender at all.

connundrum

Saruman wrote:

Most Women though could never wear baggy clothes unless they are skangers.

Be prepared to be berated in 3..2..1...

I certainly wouldn't say its a woman thing. I would happily give my g/f my credit card but she wouldn't take it off me.

biko

connundrum wrote:

I would happily give my g/f my credit card but she wouldn't take it off me.

Try it and get back to us

free2fly

I hate generalizations such as this! I have one credit card and I pay off the entire balance every month. I am very responsible with my finances. I do occassionally buy something frivilous, but only when I know that I can afford to pay it off within the next 30 days. Then again, I don't like to shop really so maybe I'm the exception rather than the rule

connundrum

biko wrote:

Try it and get back to us

Done and done! She wouldn't take it, and rightly said that I'm old enough and butt-ugly enough to know when and when not to spend money I don't have!

Attol

I spend what I can afford. I buy a lot of clothes, coffees, lunches, accessories, games and DVDs but can budget if I need to. It's just common sense. If we're getting sexist here I know more guys who are absolute idiots with money, in debt and who don't seem ready to grow up and take responsibility than girls. It's down to the individual.

I don't see the big problem with her giving you her credit card. She'll have to physically hand over money so she'll see just how much money she has. With a card it's easy to go overboard because you're not adding up all the little things in your head. It's just her preventing herself from those little impulse buys like lunches, a fancy coffee every morning etc. She's taking responsibility. You said both of your spending habits are high. What are YOU changing?

kizzyr

I'm a girl and love to shop. I don't use my credit card that much though. I got stung a few years back with a balance that I just couldn't deal with. I took out a loan from my credit union to pay it off as the interest on that was a lot less than the credit card charges. Once it was paid off I called the bank and told them that I wanted the credit limit slashed. I think it was something crazy like €10k at the time and so cut it down to €1k. I could have cut it up but find the card is handy for booking flights etc but once you keep yourself aware of what you are spending on it you'll be ok.
My boyfriend is as bad at shopping as me but for things other than clothes. He loves to buy cds, dvds etc and spends a fair bit that way.
OP if you are both trying to save and cut back on spending why don't you make changes together and make a joint savings plan.

Flukey

You can even have your credit card balance in credit some of the time and use it as a debit card. I often use mine in that way, a sort of pay now, buy later policy. Over Christmas I spent over €450 on my credit card. My January statement had a credit balance on it, because prior to Christmas I had put money into it. If you can't afford to buy something, buying on credit is not a good idea, and if you pay interest on it, it will cost even more. I use mine for convenience, for doing things like buying online, or when I have a lot of spending to do, like at Christmas, but do not want to carry a whole load of cash around with me. So what I do is put some cash into the credit card account and then use it to do some of my purchasing, while still doing some with cash. Or I will use it when I don't have enough cash at that time, but know that I will have it soon, and can cover the expense. So I use it for convenience rather than for borrowing as such. I am too sensible.:) It works though.

So instead of paying for those Christmas presents and landing yorself with a massive credit card bill in January, start sticking a few quid into it in the months before Christmas. Start sticking a few quid in now and you can take some of the pressure off when it comes to paying for your summer holidays or whatever other expense you know might be coming your way. That's the sensible way to use a credit card.

JustCoz

It's so true, I'm pretty good managing my money in general, as in I try my best to live within my means (hard when you're a poor student but I do my best ) but when it comes to my credit card I'm ridiculous, and stupid Bank of Ireland keeps increasing my limit which is bad but good at the same time.
Now I owe €800 and have no idea how to pay it off. Someone cut it up for me!

simu

Silly thread tbh. Why do so many male boards users think that if one woman does sth, it must be the same for the other 3 billion? We are not borg!

Generalisations may give an illusion of knowing the truth but it is just an illusion.

vorbis

ah come on, its definetly fair to say that the average girl shops a good deal more than the average guy!

Attol

Not necessarily. That's just a stereotype vorbis. Also this thread is about women being unable to control themselves and buying stuff because of some inability to rationalise when shopping. Did you read the thread before posting?

ferdi

god i hate shopping....maybe thats why i'm wearing the same pants since i was 16...

Terry

simu wrote:

Silly thread tbh. Why do so many male boards users think that if one woman does sth, it must be the same for the other 3 billion? We are not borg!

Generalisations may give an illusion of knowing the truth but it is just an illusion.

The Borg were created by a woman.

RoundyMooney

connundrum wrote:

Done and done! She wouldn't take it, and rightly said that I'm old enough and butt-ugly enough to know when and when not to spend money I don't have!

If only I thought like that while in my teens, the first two years of my twenties wouldn't have been quite as lean as they were.

Nevyn

I hate shopping and I don't have a credit card.

Some people are good with money others are not, it is not gender specific.

jellie

i love shopping, not neccessarily buying things, but going into the shops and looking at the pretty things. not too sure why. occassionally i would spend a little too much but not so much id get myself into debt. but i dont have a credit card, simply cause id probably be dangerous with one.

but it is women AND men (& im not saying all women are like me). my bf absolutely hates shopping, but hes just as able to spend stupid amounts of money on music & dvds as i am to spend it on clothes & shoes.

Rb

LadyLotts wrote:

If we're getting sexist here I know more guys who are absolute idiots with money, in debt and who don't seem ready to grow up and take responsibility than girls. It's down to the individual.

I'm probably one of them, but I've no need to save money at the moment. I spend it as it comes, have my credit card continually maxed out and will worry about the payments at the end of the month. The only time I'll save is if I want something, but don't want to use all my money in one month so will save a bit for a few months so I can still enjoy the rest of my money, without having to scab too much off the parents.
In general I'm pretty awful with money(though I did refuse an offer to increase my crredit limit:D), but I'm still young, have no expenses so when the time comes I'm sure I'll be able to sort it out.

Anyway, its certainly not gender specific. I know some people who are great with money, both guys and girls, and some who are awful. However, it seems the majority I know and meet are awful with it.

However, I have found that girls are slightly more impulsive buyers than guys. May not be true to all women, but I certainly know a lot who'd go into town with friends on the weekends, then find something they just "had to have" and go in and buy it the next opportunity they get. I know some guys are like that too, but not to the same extent imo.
That comments just from my own personal experience, I'm not trying to generalise but its just what I've found.

Black Swan

faceman wrote:

i know women like shopping but why is it a ridiculous obsession for majority of women? Its probably the only generalisation we can get away with when talking about women!

It this a troll?
**Blue checks to see if Ruu is online and watching**
**Runs to closet and starts throwing out clothes and things looking for flamethrower**

tuxy

You can't find it because of the stockpile of clothes you have wasted money on using your credit card over the years.

Black Swan

Naaaaaaa, when I fashion model they let me keep some of the clothes.

"credit card...?" That sounds singular? Cards! Cards! Cards! Pick a card from my deck. I have them for this and for that. Oh, I even have three of those miniture cards on my keyring. And only one of my cards requires an annual fee, while some others pay dividends and send me checks.

And believe it or not, I am not in debt (maybe 200 euros until I pay that off at month end...so no interest payments either). Part of that debt are business write-offs directly related to my profession, so cards can be good for tracking such things, too, along with receipts. Ha!

skywalker

Flukey wrote:

You can even have your credit card balance in credit some of the time and use it as a debit card. I often use mine in that way, a sort of pay now, buy later policy. Over Christmas I spent over €450 on my credit card. My January statement had a credit balance on it, because prior to Christmas I had put money into it. If you can't afford to buy something, buying on credit is not a good idea, and if you pay interest on it, it will cost even more. I use mine for convenience, for doing things like buying online, or when I have a lot of spending to do, like at Christmas, but do not want to carry a whole load of cash around with me. So what I do is put some cash into the credit card account and then use it to do some of my purchasing, while still doing some with cash. Or I will use it when I don't have enough cash at that time, but know that I will have it soon, and can cover the expense. So I use it for convenience rather than for borrowing as such. I am too sensible.:) It works though.

So instead of paying for those Christmas presents and landing yorself with a massive credit card bill in January, start sticking a few quid into it in the months before Christmas. Start sticking a few quid in now and you can take some of the pressure off when it comes to paying for your summer holidays or whatever other expense you know might be coming your way. That's the sensible way to use a credit card.

Theres one thing to be careful of when using a credit card in this way. If your card gets lost/stolen, and you notify the cc company any credit you have on it wont be refunded. Just something to be aware of.

wyndham

skywalker wrote:

Theres one thing to be careful of when using a credit card in this way. If your card gets lost/stolen, and you notify the cc company any credit you have on it wont be refunded. Just something to be aware of.

Only if it has been used surely?

Stephen

You should use a debit card (i.e. Laser) for that anyway.

Dutchology

Saruman wrote:

I have come to the conclusion that women shop more because they are always trying to get the perfect figure and their clothes no long fit! Im serious!!! If a guy looses lots of weight he still wears clothes that are too big! They are comfy

Most Women though could never wear baggy clothes unless they are skangers.

Skangers? AHEM! My baggy combats and comfy cons are my favourite items of clothing, this does not class me as a "skanger".

Credit cards? I do not have, nor do I want a credit card. Why pay tax to pay tax? Cash, cheques, I.O.U.s....