Credit Card Makeover

Dear Credit Card,

Last week was a big week for us.

My Credit Card Filtered Glasses were broken, and I started to see who you and I are Credit Card, and it sadden me to realise that we didn’t have as a good a relationship as I thought.

I thought we were sweet because I always used my friend Mr Savings to pay you off, what I hadn’t realised was that I have become so dependent on you. I hide away Mr Savings so I don’t overspend but then I have you Credit Card in my back pocket making me feel invincible so I go and spend and buy things I don’t actually need, so I end up spending more than what I would if I had my friend Cash with me.

As you know Credit Card, I love a list and a process, so I have started to categorise what we have been buying together into ‘Regular Payments’ and ‘Ad Hoc Payments’, to see if there is a pattern with our buying relationship. A Regular Payments is a payment you cover for me each month (which at the time I thought was a great idea because I could rack up those beautiful frequent flyer points, so we can fly away together on holiday and rack up more frequent flyer points – looks like there is sneaky cyclical co-dependent relationship for me to address!). An Ad Hoc Payment is where I either don’t have my friend Cash with me, or I can’t access Mr Savings as he is time locked, so you take on the payment for me.

Having spent some time looking over everything you do for me Credit Card, I am shocked to realise how much you do for me. It turns out I have been dumping a lot on to your shoulders and expecting you to cope with it. By dumping it on your shoulders it meant that I didn’t have to deal with it right there and then and could pay it off later. However, this just meant that quietly (because you never complain) your burden was just getting heavier and heavier.

I hadn’t realised that I have been adding more and more Regular Payments on you mainly because of convenience and also a little bit of laziness on my part. Thank you, Credit Card, for covering these for me, but now I need to find a way to cover these by myself.

Big Breath!

That is scary Credit Card as that means that I need to have a lot more of my friend Cash around or otherwise Mr Savings starts to get depleted.

So the first thing I am going to do, is to see if I need all of those Regular Payments you have been covering for me. If I don’t need them, then I am going to get rid of them Credit Card and release both you and I from them. If I do need them, then I am going to transfer them to my friend Ms Debt Card. So I don’t stress out Ms Debt Card, I am also going to try and renegotiate the amounts where I can, to see if I can get a better deal. Seeing as I am going to the effort to transfer you I might as well see if we can improve the situation, right?!?

At the same time, I am also going to make some extra cash to help support Ms Debt Card out, so it looks like it’s time to declutter the house again, call in those outstanding debts I am owed, and bring in some more of my friend Cash to help me out in this situation.

So, my goals for this week are to:

1.    Review each regular payment to see if it is needed or not

2.    If not needed: cancel transaction

3.    If needed: Negotiate on terms and transfer to Debit Card

4.    Generate some extra cash to support transition from Credit Card to Debit Card

Let’s start your makeover Credit Card!

Tina Stewart

Professional Life Coach

If Tina’s co-dependent relationship with her Credit Card is resonating with you, feel free to work through the same exercises as Tina.

If you would like some additional support, Tina and Paul are here to support you – contact us on support@compassioncoaching.com.au