My Husband Wanted To Get This Credit Card. Here’s Why I Told Him No

by SharonKurheg

If you’ve read this blog for an amount of time and pay attention to who writes which articles, you may have realized that Joe is the one who writes about 99.99% of the ones having to do with our household credit cards.

The reason for this is simple – I have no interest whatsoever.

We started Your Mileage May Vary because of Joe’s hobby of collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points. That was never a hobby I was ever into, although I indulge him here and there, like the time when I filled out 188 index cards so he could get bonus points from IHG.

Don’t get me wrong – I certainly don’t mind when he earns a bajillion points or miles because of whatever credit card he’s gotten (especially when he managed to get me a perfect credit score in the process). And I don’t complain when we get to stay in REALLY cool places, like a junior suite at the St. Pancras Renaissance in London, the Towers at the Waldorf=Astoria in NYC (just before they closed for what’s now been 4 years), or what’s become my most favorite hotel in the world, the Hotel Goldener Hirsch (it opened in the year 1407, y’all!), which is where we stayed in Salzburg, Austria when we visited all the places where they filmed The Sound of Music.

But big, ol’ opulent hotels, although fun to stay in here and there, are really not what I’m accustomed to. I very much have a “middle-class mentality” and am just as happy in a Holiday Inn Express or a Hampton Inn (much like, [believe it or not] Barack Obama), as I am any of those fancy-schmancy places (well, except the Goldener Hirsch. I’d stay there again in a heartbeat!).

That being said, as much as the whole “points and miles” thing isn’t “my thing,” I’ve learned, I guess through osmosis, a thing or two about credit cards thanks to Joe. That’s probably why I had this reply to the guy hawking the Delta AMEX card at the airport a few years ago.

So anyway, Joe was trying to figure out a way, once again, to get this particular credit card (the post explains why he’s not eligible to get it). I told him 3 years ago that I thought it was a dumb idea but you don’t know my husband…once he gets a thought in his head…LOL! Anyway, he left me a note the other day that said he thought of a way to be eligible to get it (spoiler: it involved making a donation to a particular house of worship in Texas, which would then signify that we were members of said house of worship).

Yeah, dear. Whatever. #rolleyes. So I ignored it and hoped it would go away.

Of course, it didn’t (again, once he gets a thought in his head…). So a few hours later he texted me:

Joe: Did you get the note I left on your desk?
Me: I did. It gave me an idea for my own post LOL! (Psst! It’s the one you’re reading right now!)
Joe: What do you think? If I join that house of worship, can I say I worship in Texas?
Me: No.
Joe: Why not?
Me: Because basic membership to join is $31 and the only perk of having that credit card is 10 cents off a gallon of gas. So figure what, $2 off per fill up? Tops? And how often are we going to get gas there? They’re in Texas. We’re in Florida. Even when they open in Florida, it’s 65 minutes from our house and we’re not going to go there THAT often. So it would take literally YEARS to make up that $31. Total waste of money and you can get a much better cashback on several other cards. And as soon as you’re filled up for 5/24, Chase will come out with a card that gives 10% cashback with a 500K hotel point bonus and you won’t be able to get it because you will have gotten this stupid card that you have no need or use for whatsoever.

He didn’t reply.

But based on the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of this post, it appears that he’s also not getting the card. So for once, I apparently had some influence on his credit card choices.

It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing. 😉

Feature Photo: Pixabay

Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.

Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and get emailed notifications of when we post. Or maybe you’d like to join our Facebook group – we have 17,000+ members and we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel articles you may not see otherwise, etc. Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!

This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary

Leave a Comment