Credit Card Rules: Michelle Obama and Stay At Home Moms Don't Qualify

First I've heard of this. They must have changed something over the years, I have credit cards and it amazes me when they raise the amounts on my cards.

Pissed off moms is one demographic you don't want to deal with. I'm betting this rule gets changed soon because of their influence. Having a card issued in their spouse's name isn't going to cut it. I was writing an article here on Gather and have updated it to include some of these ridiculous regulations that credit card companies have.

Well a person should be able to count their spouces income but other than that I totally agree with these regulations.

One easy way is to sign up for Mary Kay or Avon (or some other home based business) and say self employed. Then count as 2 incomes.

I know it is more of a hassle, but at least it might work until regulations change.

Umm if you don't have a job, you shouldn't have your own card. If your spouse works, he can add your name to his cards. This makes total sense from the credit card companies perspective. I don't remember the actual figure for the number of marriages that end in divorce, but if you divorce, how do you use your spouse's income to pay off the card. If both of your names are on the card, the company has someone they can sue when the bills don't get paid. At least, that is the way I'm looking at it. In this day and age, not working is a huge risk. If you chose to get married and stay at home, and your spouse dies, it is going to be very difficult for you.

I agree. The new regulations are really there to protect stay at home parents. What's the big deal of simply having joint cards if you are not generating income? That's how it should be and EVERYONE will be protected.

I absoultly hate being told I don't have a job too. I stay at home taking care of three kids, yes I could work full time and pay it all to daycare thankfully my husband makes enough that my "job" is to raise my children.

The big deal is my husband works I'm a stay at home mom. My husband has an excellent credit score with 14 years of military service. I can't count how many cards he's been denied. My credit is ok as I've been working hard to fix mistakes from years ago. I applied for a Discover and was approved. Hard to have him add my name when with a 780 they don't give him credit. And no he's not maxed out on his credit lines. We previously had no major credit cards, a military star card, (with no balance) our house, and one car loan. We hardly ever use credit but I wanted it in case of an emergency and to help rebuild my credit. Thankfully I applied when they counted "household" income.

So if your a student and cant get a credit card nor use your parents income, then uhmmm parents shouldn't be able to use their name and or credit to sign their kid up for college. yet this obama idiot wants kids on health insurance until age 26. This man is seriously brain damaged. This is only the beg. They send kids home with lap tops so the schools can spy on the parents.. schools also send home little trick writing essays' Real motive the kids write about what goes on at home, and basically tell on you parents.

Think i'll have to send this up to many places.. thank good find.

A generation ago women could not get a credit card in their own name. They had to use their husband's card. From a business point of view, this makes sense.

Yep, I agree. The person in the home with the income should be the one to qualify. The other peeson could get a card on the account if they needed one.

This is just one more way that liberals in D.C. are trying to come between the union of a husband and a wife, to make them not appear to be one. ...djms

Ms. Davis,
It has been this way for over 30 years, thanks to the liberals fair credit and collection actions, that decided a spouses bad credit can not count against you. When you eliminate their debt and poor payment history, you also eliminate that spousal income.

The Feminists fought log and hard for this.

No surprise the same "liberals” would now complain about what the un-intended consequence of their actions.

In fact, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, specifically states, that a lender cannot even ASK about spousal income. They also have to read a disclosure that states, that “spousal support” need not be included, as if it is disclosed, it is then subject to verification.

Once again, people must be careful what they ask for (demand)!

I don't know why people without an income should qualify for credit, regardless of marital status. Btw, I'm not such a big fan of credit in any case, except in large purchases (e.g., a house or a car). I'm old fashioned, I guess. I save money in order to buy things.

I like the way you think. Credit cards get good people in a lot of trouble.

MO doesn't need a credit card. She has taxpayers money to spend when taking over 16 vacations in 3 years.

True but she is one of the most influential women in the country. If she can't get a credit card, what does that say? On the other hand, stay at home DADS OR moms shouldn't qualify based on their spouses income.

At first, I was prepared to be upset. Then I thought about it and I really think this is finally something good and consumer oriented.

I have had quite a few credit cards over the years and managed to stay well ahead of them. I cut them up about 40 years ago because I could see all of the potential pitfalls involved in the scam.

I was really excited when they came out with debit cards. These are like cash except they don't take up so much room in your wallet. If the money is not in the bank, the card doesn't work. Also, a debit transaction transfers to the merchant instantly, not monthly, so it's best all around.

In Canada, the majority of merchants don 't accept credit cards for very good reasons. MBNA and other credit rip-off agencies charge a merchant around 14%/transaction to process a credit card. The banks only charge 4-cents/transaction...DUH! Everybody makes out on this and you can't get into personal trouble by over using them.

I do have one credit card with a VERY low limit that I pay off monthly. It's an emergency card only and I make certain that they don't increase my limit by stealth. I also have two debit cards - one Canadian and one American. The American debit card is, unfortunately, a dual purpose that has a VISA logo on it, so it can also be used as a "credit" card up to $100. Most merchants up here don't accept this but it works fine in an ATM (for a $1.50 fee/transaction). My retirement and disability are direct deposited in my American bank and I hit up the ATM to withdraw cash to put in my Canadian account. That way the IRS keeps their hands off my retirement and so does the CRA. The only difficulties have been with the exchange rate. For the past 6-months, the American dollar has been in the toilet and I was losing money taking it out of the
American account in Canadian dollars. Fortunately, the Canadian dollar is trading now slightly below the American, so I actually break even or get a bit more.

I'm going to do an article one of these days on international economics because it's not what most people think it is and the concept is actually counter-intuitive. Basically, having the Canadian dollar trading lower than the American dollar is a good thing for the Canadian economy. Keep in mind that Canada is a manufacturing country (the U.S. has sent all manufacturing jobs to Asia), America is a "service" country. If Americans can buy goods MADE in Canada at a lower price, guess which direction the money flows :)