Invisible money

I was just listening to a podcast (Planet Money - They Know You) about how much a credit card company can learn, from what you use your card for, about how they might successfully persuade you to borrow money, and, more urgently these days, exactly how likely you are to pay it back. Apparently, one predictor of paying is the purchase of birdseed. People who feed birds, it seems, generally pay their debts.

Now, I haven't currently got a credit card. I did have one, but it was recently cancelled - unprompted - by the provider, because I hadn't used it for about five years. I earn more than I spend, and I don't need to borrow money.

But I do use a debit card, so my bank obviously knows, or could know, what I spend money on with that. It struck me, however, that my tango hobby is virtually invisible. It's almost entirely cash transactions. So my bank is almost unaware of it.

The obvious exception is the purchase of shoes. But even then, five of my nine pairs of dancing shoes were purchased for cash, three of them second hand. Only two of the pairs purchased with a debit card are, strictly speaking, tango shoes. And of those, one was purchased online and was probably billed not by the seller, but by some outfit that provides card processing services for a fee.

Another hobby - knitting - is visible; I spent sixty-four quid yesterday in a yarn shop.

But tango is almost private. I think I like that.