Teenagers push boundaries, but she wasn’t expecting to find out that hers had been quietly racking up credit card debt behind her back. Now she’s trying to figure out how to handle it without losing her mind in the process.
This mom recently figured out that her 15-year-old daughter has been ordering loads of packages of clothing delivered to their house.
Her job requires her to travel a lot while working long hours, so it’s not like she can keep an eye on what packages are showing up at her house all the time.
Her daughter did get money for Christmas, so initially she thought her daughter was using that to fund her new wardrobe, but nope, she’s been using her credit card without getting her permission.
Earlier today, she noticed a charge on her card for Brandy Melville, and she questioned her daughter about it, who claimed it was just an accident.
Her daughter said she had successfully canceled the order, but she had a nagging feeling to search through her credit card history anyway.
“In the last month and a half, she’s spent $900 in total without asking me. The funny thing is, I went through a similar phase in college, so I do have some grace for her,” she explained.
“The difference is my dad is very comfortable financially. I think when he noticed, he calmly asked me to stop buying clothes, and that was the end of it. He was dealing with bigger problems because my mom was dying at the time.”
“In our case, money is unbelievably tight. She doesn’t know how tight, and I don’t want her to know. But I’m so upset I genuinely cried, and I don’t know what a fair and measured response is. Grounding for a few weeks? Maybe no phone?”
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She knows she at least has to revoke her daughter’s credit card access for a while, but on top of that, she’s trying to piece together the punishment to fit the crime.
She is considering making her daughter sell some of the clothes or return what she can to recoup some of the cash. Her daughter does not have a job, but she could have her get one over the summer to reimburse her.
She’s going to sleep on it and try to come up with a solution tomorrow.
I do think she has to require her daughter to pay her back, through selling/returning what she bought, and by getting a job on top of that, since I highly doubt that she can make all of the money back through trying to unload what she did buy.
I also believe her daughter is old enough to hear about how they aren’t rolling in cash, and so she can’t be so frivolous. Money doesn’t grow on trees, after all.
What advice do you have for her?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
