Adele - she's an amazing singer and one of the world's most successful performers. Her list of awards and honors is long and very well deserved, and she has earned millions of dollars (more than $80 million from her last album alone). Not only that, she's earned a place in our hearts with her amazing songs.
With all that money that she earns from her albums and performances, she must surely have the healthiest credit of anyone, right? Most of us might think that earning all that money would erase your bad credit.
Just recently Adele admitted, with her usual good-humor, that her credit card had been declined recently!
Adele was in San Jose for her July 31st concert and, like any normal person, she was out enjoying a day of shopping. She went into a San Jose H&M store and tried to pay for her purchase... only to have her credit card declined! (You can read about her account of the situation here.)
People loved reporting about this because most people assume this kind of thing can't happen to people earning millions upon millions of dollars - but the reality is: it can happen to anyone!
Does Adele have bad credit? She might... or she might not. Here's what might have happened...
It's entirely possible that her credit card was declined for security purposes: Remember, Adele lives in the UK and she is in the US on tour. So her credit card company may have noticed that the cardholder (whose mailing address is in the UK) is trying to make a purchase in the US. Depending on the size of the purchase or other buying habits, her credit card company may have automatically declined the purchase as a protection against identity fraud and credit card theft.
But there is another possible scenario that most people would be surprised to learn: Adele's credit could be bad. Most of us think that someone who makes as much money as Adele couldn't possibly have bad credit but credit scores are derived from your history of paying back your debts, NOT from the amount of money you have. So even if Adele makes a lot of money, if she forgets to ensure that her bills are paid on time or if she moves around a lot or doesn't have a good mix of credit then even her credit score could end up low!
Of course I'm not saying this is what happened. Rather, I'm simply mentioning this to debunk a very common myth that your income is somehow reflected on your credit report or influences your credit score. The truth is: it's possible for ANYONE, no matter how much you earn, to have unhealthy credit and a low credit score... because credit scores are not based on how much you earn.
I don't think Adele has bad credit. I suspect her credit card company's automatic security features were triggered with her out-of-country purchase. Chances are, Adele's credit card issue could be easily solved if she just picked up the phone, called her credit card company, and said, "Hello... it's me."