I love to shop especially here in the USA where items are easily bought, exchanged, returned ,and refunded. Online shopping is easy too. Most of American retail stores have websites which make it very accessible and convenient to shop. No wasted gas money when you know which store carries the item you are looking for. Tandem with shopping is the use of credit cards.  Consumers ready their cards to be swiped at the signal of the sales associate.  Only a few here pay in cash.When they do, the sales associate becomes flustered because they don’t carry change.

However you can’t easily get credit cards. The card company actually needs the consumer to have a good credit history before they can issue the person a credit card. This has been my dilemma for the past 4 years. I really don’t like to apply for a credit card. I don’t like putting myself in debt. So I always use my parents’ credit card and pay them afterwards. When my bank introduces a debit card mastercard, I am impressed because now I can purchase online items with the mastercard feature in my debit card. However I get envious sometimes on those credit card users. They get free stuffs, discounted stuffs just because they have credit card especially when they have a retail store credit card. Whenever I shop, the cashier will ask me if I want to apply for the store’s credit card to avail of the extra 15-20% discount on all the items I have bought. Of course I’d like that! So I go through the process of applying for one right there in front of the cash registry only to find out that my application has not been approved because of lack of credit history. This goes on for 3 to 4 more times in different stores until I stopped trying and just forewarned the cashier that I don’t have credit history to be accepted.

My dad suddenly opens a joint credit card account with me. I have my first credit card finally! My dad says that I will be the only one to use and pay for that account. I am able to enjoy the reward points of using the credit card. Because of the reward points I find myself often using the card then later to discover that my billing statement is so high! After 2 months of being like this, I have become prudent on which cards to use. I switch from credit card to debit card or to cash. Then my dad terminates his other credit cards and decide to use this card he has with me. This presents a little problem of who’s going to pay what items.

When I return from the Philippines recently, I of course am in a shopping mode. I need to buy some essential skincare items. Having no cash in hand, I have taken liberty in using my credit card again! I have been looking for Clinique moisturizer and knowing that some stores give free items when purchasing a beauty product, I am drawn to Bloomingdale’s promo. Purchasing a Clinique item worth 21.50USD or more will entitle me to a beauty bag  with 8 Clinique items in it. The sales associate starts ringing my item and she routinely asks if I have their credit card. I answer no and I immediately tell her that I cannot be approved for any credit card because of lack of credit history. She tells me that she’ll just try anyway, which I agreed.

It’s like winning a lottery or getting a surprise gift or getting to travel to an exotic beach. The sales associate inform me that I’ve been approved for a Bloomingdale’s credit card. Woot! But I immediately sober up and ask if there are any extra fees I should pay and she negatively answers. Coolness! With opening an account, I get to have 20% discount off my items and a special gift from Bloomingdale’s. So it has been a fantastic shopping day for me! I have bought 2 items and come out with 3 gifts, 20%off, and a new credit card! What more can a girl ask? :)

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