Do you know the size of your DH's credit card bill?

[itsnowtimeforanamechange]

And if you do, does it bother you?

My DH does work as a freelancer/self employed, but never seems to fully pay off a credit card bills. The present one stands at around £3.5k

It's in his name and on a zero interest card. But yes, it bothers me. Although I wish it didn't as there aint a lot I can do about it.

All other bills are paid for, and we have no other debts apart from small mortgage.

I have a credit card and a different approach to money that is paid off every month and which I get cashback on.

[NotCitrus]

We have a joint credit card account which I pay off almost every month. MrNC pays the mortgage and most other bills. Many months I get the bill and go "Wtf is Xxxx in wherever for this much?" and he explains and it's almost always something we've agreed.

[WayHarshTai]

Yes, we update our spreadsheet every month to reflect current balances and changing direct debits etc. We have a scary big credit card balance (mostly down to my last bipolar episode when I decided we were rich) but we pay a whack off it every month. Some are in my name, some are joint and some are in his, and we tart the balances around to get the 0% deals.

[motherinferior]

I have no idea. We have very different attitudes to money. I have a business account, savings, a personal account and a joint account. He has a rather more profligate approach.

He earns more than I do, is more generous and contributes a lot more to our joint account.

[itsnowtimeforanamechange]

takesnoprisoners not sure how I am being 'very unfair' here. He has an outstanding debt of £3.5k. He's open about it, and yes, I guess I should just let him 'live his life'.

The trouble with that is we have 3 dependent children at home still and I'm working full time hours to cover bills and mortgage payments too. If I decided to 'live my life' too, we'd be a lot worse off.

So yes, I do want it to be under control.

where'sthe wine yes wouldn't it be grand to live within one's means. It's not always possible though.

[wheresthewine36]

SillySongswithLarry, I'd love to be debt free but if I lived within my means, my children wouldn't have winter coats and swimming lessons and we wouldn't have a washing machine and cooker. Debt isn't always a result of irresponsible spending.

[DrWhy]

We have 2 cards on one account, we use it for all possible spending to accumulate reward points and pay it in full at the end of every month.

[Notreallyhappy]

My dh doesn't know the balance- I sort the finances out. 2 cards, cleared every month. One is a fee free holiday card so it's not used every month.
I have a second card on both accounts.

[takesnoprisoners]

You are being very unfair here. He is not blowing through all the money. To me it seems you just want control of the payments. Let him be OP.

Mine is paid off by DH. I know he racks up about 600 pounds and I may do about 200. That is the most we have on a regular basis.

[greenfolder]

If you only have a small mortgage and no other debt let him live his life as he chooses.

[Mindtrope]

sillysongs, I too have suffered debt in the past and come out the other side.

Now totally changed ways. However credit cards can help restore a poor credit rating. I now have a score of 100%, and that is thanks to my sensible use of credit cards over the past few years.
And credit cards can be a useful and safer way to pay, especially for online purchases, or booking holidays.

[Rosa]

Srecently yes as he has a higher credit limit than me and I have been paying for our holiday. I can have access to all his online banking , if I need it and as we have a joint business often I have to go to his accounts to check payments etc so I would say we are pretty trasnparent...

[SillySongsWithLarry]

Neither of us have a credit card or any debt. That would be a huge deal breaker my eyes having been in debt in the past and come out the other side. I don't see not being in debt as lucky, just living within your means.

[Mindtrope]

OP are you sure he is on 0% interest? Usually that only applies to balance transfers, any new purchases on the card will be charged interest at at high rate, and any payment will be used by the company to preferentially pay off the 0% part, while new purchases incur debt.

[perditalost]

He needs 2 cards. 1 just for business and 1 for personal Sounds like he is using the business as an excuse when the debt is in fact personal (like the car)

[Mindtrope]

I open all my OHs mail, so know exactly how much he owes or doesn't on credit cards. We have 3 credit cards between us and the whole amount is paid in full every month if they have been used.

[itsnowtimeforanamechange]

You're all so sensible etc

iggity the reason he doesn't pay it off in full, is because quite often payment for work he's done is late coming through, by which time he's had to use the credit card for further expenses as he travels a lot.

I wouldn't care how much it is if he paid it off in full every month.

microsnake - thanks - that is what I wanted to hear! As yes it is a debt, and yes it has been higher at other times ie up to £7k at one point. Every time it gets near to zero, something else seems to happen. ie car problem.

He has his own bank account as self employed, and contributes to joint account (variable amounts) but is never 'tight' with money, if anything, he's over generous. I have to admit I would feel less anxious about it if I had full control over all of his incomings/outgoings as I'm not sure that he spends within his means.

[chatnanny]

We have separate cards from same credit card so are both aware of the balance which we almost always clear in full every month. When we were younger we did get in a mess from time to time with credit cards and found getting a bank loan or agreed overdraft to cover them was more economic. Now we are all grown up and sensible!

[HellsBellsnBucketsofBlood]

Nope. But I don't ask and know he doesn't spend much on it and always pays it off every month. He knows I do likewise.

[Thattimeofyearagain]

Yes, we both tell each other about personal finances and have joint current and savings accounts as well as personal current accounts. Dh has a credit card, I don't. I find it mind boggling that people who share a house & life keep financial information from each other.

[GlowWine]

Yes. We only have a joint one and I tend to do the spending and paying off in full every month.

[ChocChocPorridge]

Like Arfarf - I take care of all of that and issue DP with a card (we actually had to get him a credit card and bank account of his own a couple of years ago so he could start accumulating a credit record as we went for a mortgage and realised that nothing was only in his name!)

DP has full access to anything that he wants to see, he just can't be bothered (as long as it works when he puts the card in the machine he doesn't care), and we don't have credit card debt (just use it for convenience) because we pay it each month.

[Iggity]

I've no idea but I don't think it's used much and would be paid off at end of month. I think 3.5k is a significant amount. What's his reason for not paying it off?

[Trills]

Do you mean bill or debt?

If my DH/DP had debt I would know about it, because that'd be factored into our joint planning.

If they had a credit card that they always paid off, I would not care how much they spent on it (and expect them to not care how much I spent on mine).

[BestIsWest]

No it doesn't bother me, it's a second card on my account which we pay off in full from our joint account every month.