My grandiloquent claims that āIād be fine!ā did not soothe my motherās concern. Her words were cautious and careful, and she maintained a steady, warning tone.
āItās all good, Ma!ā Iād claim. āIām 24 years oldāIām an adult and Iām pretty sure I can handle traveling with a credit card. The minimum payments are small. Iāll just make sure I budget appropriately.ā
āWhatās your budget anyway?ā sheād ask.
I wasnāt really sure. I told her Iād figure it out when I got there.
I was leaving home with a one-way ticket to Australia and a shiny new credit card. Obviously, this was a suitable time to get one. With no steady income or particular life plans, this was clearly the perfect occasion to try to manage a good credit score.
Having never owned a credit card before, I felt grown-up, responsible and incredibly proud. I had all this free money that some bank decided I was mature enough to handle! And, after reading through countless contracts (my brain hurt from all the percentages), I managed to find, seemingly, the only card in existence that didnāt charge foreign transaction fees.
Itās okay, guys. Donāt worry. I had everything under control.
I got on my plane and (skipping a lot of hours here) arrived in Australia. When I checked into my hostel, I paid the remaining balance on my spanking new card. āNice one! I havenāt even technically paid for this! I think I do that later or something. These MasterCard people are a bunch of suckers!ā
I felt unencumbered! The world was mine. Scarface repeated in my memory: āMe? I want whatās coming to me. The world, chico, and everything in it!ā
Well, I spent a lot of money on that trip, and to be honest with you, I did get the world and everything in it. These have been the most remarkable two and a half years of my life. I could not have asked for anything better.
But Iām still recovering from it. Having essentially been on holiday for two and a half years, the āspend it while you canā mindset leaves my dollars asunder. To make matters more difficult, my bank told me there was no way to make payments on this card from an Australian bank account. What could I do?
Sure, I could wire money to my mother every month and ask her to pay my card off for me, but a) that becomes very expensive, b) itās a major hassle, and c) it proves her right. I couldnāt let that happen.
With no other feasible option, I just sort ofā¦forgot about it.
Fast forward two years to the day I arrived home.
I stepped into my room and found two large shopping bags sitting on my bed, each stuffed with mailā¦a lot of mail. Actually, it was mostly just collection notices.
Oops.
I swear she had been plotting this. Okay, she did actually tell me when some important notices had arrived, and even scanned them and emailed them to me (I just couldnāt believe she figured out how to use the scanner!). My inbox has a habit of filling up quickly, and those notices ended up getting lost in the shuffle.
So, in no way did she prove herself right (itās not really her style), but she actually, without saying a word, proved me very, very wrong (totally her style).
Iād just like to take this opportunity to say thanks, Mom.
Now, looking back, I realize there would have been a much easier way. Had I managed my finances a bit better, and if my bank account back home were still open, I could have been transferring funds back and forth and managing all my payments online. Instead I let my finances fall to the wayside. Big mistake.
So I went from having no credit to having bad credit, in what seemed like an instant. Although, itās no big surprise. Especially for me.
Iāve learned a lot about the world in the past couple of years. Iāve learned of people, destinations, love, and the general idiosyncrasies of life. The biggest lesson Iāve had to learn, though, is not to screw your credit rating.
It kind of sucks.
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10 Responses
Not too bad? That seems expensive, Dani!
yeah luckily the credit card lady told me not to create a pin for cash advancement because the charges are so high when your abroad. times have gotten better though i couldnt believe it – 30 bucks for about 50 text messages on at and t not to bad !
oh no you poor thing. luckily i have only used my card on one bottle of water when i was dying of thurst.
I wish! I’m working on digging my way out of this hole, but it’s not easy! Having a credit card that you rarely use can be very useful when in emergency situations. It’s always nice to have a backup plan!
BTW, I’ve got a few more notices to scan (though I’m not sure I can remember how) and send to you.
Hahaha stick with it–I’m sure you’ll figure it out š
good thing i dont have a credit card… and I dont plan to have one too
Haha you’re probably right. I would have been better off if I never got one in the first place!
Uh oh. At least your mom now knows how to use the scanner. Hehe š
So true! At least something positive came of this whole experience!