Lowe(s) Point in My Day

Well, it's happened again.  I've realized that having spent the first years of our marriage overseas has hurt us.  Why, might you ask?  Because we chose to pay cash, to not go into debt, and to not use credit.  If we knew that when we got home it was going to make life hell, because we have suddenly been told we need to take out cards to establish credit (although we were able to purchase a car and get approved for a mortgage with the credit we have), we would have taken out a card to use for everything. 


Here's how my night went.  We went for coffee to get stir crazy Kalee out of the hotel room and afterwards went to look at appliances at Lowe's.  We knew that they were more expensive than their competitors, but will beat their competitor's price by 10%.  That, and free delivery 7 days a week made them appealing.  We have enough to buy the washer and dryer in cash, but thought, we should take out a Lowe's card and make payments to start establishing credit now.  So we went to apply, and were denied.  I called their customer service and were told it's because our credit is too low, we don't have enough recent credit.  


I understand that the economy is crap.  I understand that getting a loan can be difficult because too many people have had to go into bankruptcy and so creditors are careful about who they give a card.  I get that.  


But I feel like we're being penalized because G was sent overseas for his first base.  If we had been stationed here in the US, we would have credit from paying for phone, cable, and internet.  We would have most likely also had credit for renting some place and paying utilities.  Instead, all of the bills we had were UK companies, which don't show up on our credit.  Great.  


In a few months our credit should look nice, in a year we'll look really nice.  We'll have been paying for a cell phone, car payment, car insurance, a mortgage, gas, electric, water, security, cable, etc.  My hope is that we won't need to establish credit after this with a card.  But we're being told that we need to now, and tonight a company that claims to be partiotic, that has a military discount and hangs a huge flag in their stores does not have anyone we can talk to and have this overridden.  And the most frustrating thing is we don't need the damn card to pay for the appliances, they could give us a $100 credit limit, just something to start establishing something.


So, that's my vent.  I know the numbers are against us, but I'm shocked by a country where everything is so impersonal, where there isn't someone to discuss the circumstances with. I don't feel like America is so Home Sweet Home anymore.