My wife has a credit card...

stevet1970

I've just discovered today after a blazing row that my wife has a credit card. I am the only source of income in our household but apparently Nationwide felt it was OK to offer my wife an upgrade to her account which included a credit card.

A bit more background: we've spent years sorting out her credit record after she was given every credit card and store card under the sun in the previous decade and thinking she control astronomical interest rates. I thought she'd learned from this. What appears to have happened is that as soon as her credit score reached a certain level, Nationwide offered her an account upgrade which she said OK to and got the credit card sent to her. This is regardless of the fact that they would be able to see that she has no income of her own going in to her account.

Anyway, she's racked up £2,500 of debt in a couple of months which I've now got to pay off. I have accepted this fate but I am absolutely certain after looking in to it further that my wife did not apply for this card fraudulently by lying about her income or status or anything like that - the bank just sent it to her when she clicked the "upgrade account" link. My questions is surely that's irresponsible behaviour on the part of the bank? They can see the only money that regularly credits her account is child benefit. Why would they send her a card with a £2,500 limit based on an income of less than that?

Johnnytwostep

Its called personal responsibility, she needs some.

pinkshoes

It is irresponsible behaviour on behalf of your wife.

She has an income as she is married to you...

I think this seems to be a trust issue here, as clearly your wife has betrayed your trust, or is incredibly stupid. Either way, you need to consider whether your wife can be trusted with a bank account, or perhaps it would be better if you just give her cash on a weekly basis to buy things she NEEDS.

meer53

Even though she only gets child benefit into her account, the bank will have no idea of what other money she may have access to. Why should people who only get child benefit into an account be refused a credit card ?

I had my own account when i was married, no income going into it, i still had credit cards. They must think she's responsible enough to offer her a card. If she isn't, then thats not the banks fault, it's hers.

Johnnytwostep

Yes, give her some pocket money each week for the household shopping and a little bit to buy herself something nice. Take away all lines of credit, bank account etc if she cant be trusted.

jetplane

What has she spent the money on? If she is limited to Child Benefit she may have had a wild splurge, or needed the extra income, do you control her spending? I wonder why she hid it from you?

john1002

I don't believe nationwide issue a credit card automatically, they do as part of a full application as a new customer but they would not as a account upgrade. I recently upgraded mine and to get a credit card I had to apply and sign a number of boxes so I think in my experience that your wife applied rather than nationwide saying here you go. Although if she did press apply rather than upgrade then it's posdible but she would have a new account number.

John

[Deleted User]

stevet1970 wrote: »

Anyway, she's racked up £2,500 of debt in a couple of months which I've now got to pay off.

Why do you have to pay it off :huh:

It's not your debt.

I suggest a DMP, based around a few quid a month from the CB.

Contact one of the free debt charities.

grumbler

stevet1970 wrote: »

... we've spent years sorting out her credit record

Unless you have joint financial produlcts (bank account, mortgage), there are only your and her sole credit records, not your joint record.

Don't pay for her, let her default and she won't be able to get a CC anymore.

And, as was correctly said above, it's very unlikely that NW just "sent" the card to her.

That said, there can be various reasons for your wife not working. Depending on the circumstances, maybe she has to have a bigger allowance for her personal spending?

onetwothreefourfive

When I opened a new current account with Nationwide I got a message saying I had been approved for a credit card with a certain balance, but I still had to fill in some forms to say I wanted it, and they sent me a letter through the post I had to sign and post back to them.

What did she spend the money on?

thebritishbloke

I have to agree with other posters, you shouldn't pay it off. How will she learn if you just bail her out?

Get her to set up a DMP, this will likely prevent her from being able to obtain any credit again for a few years. She's clearly irresponsible with borrowing, so it'd probably be for the best.