Breach of Trust

Oh my God. My carefully laid plans of gathering airmiles in order to pay for going to the US is ruined for the next 2 years.

My sister, in a manic moment, added me as an authorized user to a new credit card WITHOUT MY CONSENT.

This counts towards Chase's 5/24 rule, which states that you cannot apply for more than 5 cards in a 2 year period.

If you look here, you'll see how carefully I track and plan out every single credit card application in careful detail in order to have enough airmile bonuses to go home to the US from New Zealand to see my family every year. With my dad sick from leukemia, I am in need of these airmiles more now than ever.

Now my plans are really thrown off kilter. I honestly cannot believe she has done this. She is getting much much worse, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about this problem. It's done--she's added me, and it is on all of my credit reports now. I have sent a dispute but all the research I've done says that it will always be on my record now.

I can't believe people can just add you as an authorized user to a credit card account without your consent. There should be a form, a signature, something...

And worse, I feel like I cannot be mad at my sister. She did it when her meds weren't working, she had a voice in her head telling her to add me or our dad would die. I would like to separate myself from her problems as much as possible, but that would mean really cutting her off completely, which means she will suffer in life even more than she already has because then she would have lost me. But if I stick around, she causes me a lot of pain, however unintentionally. What on Earth is there to do about this?

Quick! Best Flatmate-Getting Tips Please!

I'm back in NZ because my flatmates are moving out. Lord knows I cannot afford to pay the nearly $600 per week rent by myself, so I've got to get someone in there or break my lease/move out before I go back to the US to take care of my family.

However, I put up an ad last week and...almost nothing. I know the ad works, because one person has contacted me (they were only looking to stay for a month...um. NO. READ THE AD, DUMMY. I swear...).

Anyway, I usually get the most hits/bites in the first few days after I post. This time? Nada. I don't understand it--I actually REDUCED the rent compared to last time, just 6 months ago, because I really need to find someone this time. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I literally posted the same pictures and the same ad wording but the response is totally different. It's weird because I thought the last ad I posted 6 months ago got a terrible response and I chalked it up to it being the onset of winter (no one is moving to Auckland for winter). I thought that the rental market would be much, much better as summer started and all the 1-2 year tourist visa people started moving to NZ for summer. I think I was wrong.

I have pulled out $1,200 from savings--just two weeks' worth of rent!--to get me through paying for the flat on my own. When that is gone, I will need to look into increasing my own share of rent even further and significantly, thereby lowering the other room rent, in order to get the room filled before I go home for Christmas.


If I can't? Part of me wonders if this is a sign. Maybe I should just leave NZ for good. Pack up, quit my dead-end (but enjoyable!) job and go-nowhere PhD, and go home. That does come with its own share of headaches though--selling things, moving, packing, shipping things...finding a new job, a new flat, new friends, etc wherever I end up...in a country that I've come to fear. There is no good answer and it all feels like a dead end. I just know that I can't keep commuting 25+ hours on the plane between the US and NZ twice a month! Something has to give.

GO VOTE!

My dad is a veteran whose illnesses and terminal diagnosis are directly linked to his time serving our country (USA). He asks, from his deathbed, that you all go out and vote and make his life and sacrifice not in vain.

So I am taking a small moment out of a very sad and tragic time in my personal life to implore you--please go vote. I went down to my county registrar and voted early when we had a small amount of time that didn't need to focus on my dad and his medical emergencies. Surely you can find the time and energy to vote too!