It's only been 50 years since women had the right to their own credit ...

[cliffside]

https://fortune.com/2024/10/31/50-years-since-women-got-the-right-to-their-own-credit/

We're not going back, some of us remember ... my first CC was Macy's which was a big deal back then.

"– Credit report. Less than a week before voters head to the polls and have the chance to elect Kamala Harris as the United States’ first female president, there’s a milestone that shows how radical that achievement would truly be.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the legislation that for the first time made it illegal for banks to require women to have a male cosigner to receive a credit card, loan, or mortgage. Before this legislation was signed into law five decades ago this week, not only couldn’t women access credit—but the credit history went to the male cosigner, meaning that if a woman divorced, she would be starting from scratch with no credit history. This inequality persisted for more than a decade after the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

... Tory Burch, the fashion designer, wrote an op-ed for Time recalling her own experience. She remembers when her mom proudly came home with her first credit card in her own name in 1974. “I often think about the effects of constantly seeing someone else’s name where yours should be—the small, daily reminder that your life, your decisions, your destiny are being dictated by someone else,” Burch writes. That’s an experience Harris would be of the right generation to remember, too; she would have been about 10 years old when this legislation was signed into law.

With tensions rising ahead of an uncertain election, it’s easy to get wrapped up in predictions and worries. This fortuitously timed anniversary gives us the opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come—even if, in 1974 and 2024, these milestones were both long overdue..."

[cliffside]

1. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Wake Up Everybody (Official Soul Train Video)

[Deuxcents]

2. I'm 77 and I clearly remember what I went thru to establish credit in my name.

Young women would not believe some of our struggles..I’ve tried to tell my niece n granddaughters and they think I’m kidding. I assured them it was no joke but it’s like when my mother and grandmother used to tell me about their younger life experiences and it was hard to believe.

[cliffside]

4. A bit behind you and those a bit older paved the way for many of us ...

so thank you!!!

Now it is hard to think that we could not get a credit card back then, but it was a big deal!

It is hard to appreciate what others lived through, I cannot imagine living through the depression era as my Mom and her sibling did.
We were sold on the false promise of plastic recycling in the early 80's and supposedly all would be well, it is all about profit, hard to understand unless one can reflect on their life experiences.

Years ago, I joined DU around 2002, someone posted a link to The Century of Self, four part series, a bit stale, even back then, but the concept holds true in my my opinion. I've looked at things differently, we have and have been instructed to be a consumer society.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

"The words of Paul Mazur, a leading Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in 1927, are cited: "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs."[7]

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Yep, remember the 'before' very well. I had to have my dad

cosign my mortgage on my first house.

[cliffside]

6. Had to have my Dad sign a car loan, mortgage was later at 14 3/4 % in the early 80's ...

interest rate was 12 1/2% when we applied but there was no lock in rate and a penalty of to pay off the loan before 5 years. Going from 12 1/2 to 14 3/4 meant that we could not afford garbage collection, this all happened within a 30 day period, rates were skyrocketing. Refinancing after 5 years of paying a high rate and had still had to bring $50. to the closing table.

But it It all worked out, rates were high, but housing prices had dropped significantly making it affordable with a little help from parents, sold a few years later for double the purchase price. There is just not enough homes being built in the starter range, first home was 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath around 1000 square feet built in the 60's. Land is more expensive in many areas and people are used to having more room, so builders build larger homes or build condos.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. I honestly never, ever, ever had a problem getting

a credit card on my own at a fairly young age. I got a couple of store cards when I was 18, and my first VISA several years after that, and even an American Express Card when I was 25. THAT was 51 years ago.

I wonder what I was doing differently from all those women who are complaining they needed a husband or father to get a card? Maybe they really weren't quite qualified, as in perhaps didn't make enough money?

[cliffside]

7. I did not have a problem getting a CC, but we were right on the cusp at that point, I was fresh out of high school

and laws had just been changed. I got my first CC at Macy's when I was 17 or 18 years old, a few years make a difference. Not complaining, just a reminder of when laws were passed and when banks and companies were legally bound to not deny women the same rights. Same as Roe vs Wade, I was right on the edge of that law being passed as well.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Again, I got credit cards before the law changed,

when others here claim they couldn't get them. I suspect that most of those turn-downs were because they didn't earn enough money to qualify.

[cliffside]

9. Again I'm not saying you are wrong, but the law was not passed until the early 1970's making it illegal ...

for women to be denied. There is a difference between a bank or CC company giving you access and a law that states an entity MUST do so.

As I have stated, I was fresh out of high school at the time and only had a part time job, it became the law during that time frame. Not sure why you keep mentioning that others did not earn enough to qualify for a loan, happy for you.

The law changed affording Everyone the right to access credit. What you were able to personally get and a law making it illegal to discriminate are two different things.

Your experience might differ but harping on the fact that a women did not earn enough is ignoring the fact the institutions were allowed to decline a loan for some reason and not be challenged. Discrimination happens until it becomes illegal and there is a law to challenge.

https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2023/03/22/on-the-basis-of-sex-equal-credit-opportunities/

On the Basis of Sex: Equal Credit Opportunities
March 22, 2023 By Jessie Kratz, Posted In The 1970s, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, Women's History Month

"March is Women’s History Month. Visit the National Archives website for resources and virtual events related to women’s history. Today’s post comes from Callie Belback from the National Archives History Office.

Today in the United States, anyone above the age of 18 can apply for a credit card or a loan and be considered solely on the basis of their credit history. However, this was not always the case.

Before 1974, credit market obstacles prevented women from fully entering the consumer economy that arose in the U.S. after World War II. Women applying for a credit card or a loan could expect to be asked a host of personal questions. These questions often pertained to their marital status and asked whether women had available and willing male co-signers such as husbands, brothers, fathers, uncles, or friends.

Even if the woman had full potential to repay the loan or credit card, banks would often discriminate based on reasons that had no bearing on financial abilities. Without a male co-signer, banks were unwilling to lend a woman money, severely inhibiting a woman’s financial freedom and economic opportunities..."

[sinkingfeeling]

10. I had a department store credit card and one for gasoline at 17 in 1965, but

aa soon as I married a college student in 1967, my credit went away! I was the sole working provider, but the credit agencies put everything under his name. Divorced in 1973. I was working for IBM and making a good salary, but suddenly had no credit nor credit history.

[Deuxcents]

11. In the early 70's, I had a non traditional job..equal pay for equal work thanks to being in a Union

I qualified financially but being a woman without a husband or father to co sign anything. On my third try for a mortgage, some kind person told me why it had been so hard to get a home loan but that they would take a chance even tho I was a risk..getting pregnant was one concern. This was 1974. I had to take out a $100 loan at a finance company n make payments to establish credit and finally got my mortgage. People can make all the assumptions they want but this was discrimination any way you look at it.