get a credit card

I was tired of waiting for Markus to make an appointment to do this, so when he got home today I logged onto the internet banking, went through the selector, filled out the forms, talked him through the remainder of the application, and sent it off. We should hear back in about a week.

In addition, I spoke with a financially savvy friend and gather you build more good credit juju by not paying the whole thing off and making minimum payments instead, so hopefully we’ll be approved and can do just that. Fingers crossed.

As previously mentioned in other financial goals, neither of us has ever had a credit card, preferring to save & buy the things we need outright. While this has been great for avoiding debt, it’s done diddlysquat for our credit rating, and we need to build that up if we’re ever to get a mortgage loan (plus it would be good to have a fallback option in an emergency).

I’ve done what I can with store-specific cards, paying them off right away, but we need a real credit card, and since Markus is the main winner of the bread and bringer of the bacon, this needs to be something he takes up with his bank. I’ve been suggesting it for a year or two, and it’s time to step up my nudging to a kind but firm push.

Hopefully he can drop by his branch and apply (with an add-on card for me) sometime before the end of the month, although I’m guessing that approval won’t be as easy as it once was. At least we have money coming in, aren’t in debt, and pay the bills on time – that’s got to count for something.