Credit Cards


Sorry folks...in that tight a household it's simply impossible to run up $58,000.00 in credit card debt without anyone noticing.

Love isn't what you say or how you feel, it's what you do. (The Last Kiss)

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You'd be surprised at what can be hidden if you try really hard!

And Nicki, in particular, has some special circumstances. It's clear from the beginning that she's got cards both in her own name and some accounts with Bill. It's also made clear her father creates other opportunities for her deviousness, while she works hard at finding other measures....



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....such as when her "original" husband shows up - it's not a stretch to see that as one more thing allowing for all kinds of hidden actions. A whole extra last name to use!
Also, Nicki is able to keep her workplace hidden from the other three , while she was spying for her father's trial and working under Margene's name (now, having just re-watched this show.....I wonder how Nicki used that name without catching on to the bombshell of Marge's age deception ....but that's a different topic)
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Main point Nick is smart enough, and devious enough, and, most importantly, she is *motivated* enough to make that happen. This kind of thing can happen with any kind of addiction.
Big Love is full of stuff that is far less believable than this.


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An employee wouldn't likely to have access to your age simply because of restrictions placed on discriminating against people in the workplace based on age.

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An employee wouldn't likely to have access to your age simply because of restrictions placed on discriminating against people in the workplace based on age.
What? I'm talking about tax records. Social security numbers. Somehow Nicki subverted all of these things with little to no trouble. She had this info about Margie but didn't know Margie's age? The social security number must match the birth date, no? That's called identifying a person, taxing them, filing tax returns...sheesh she was working in a government office! There is no explanation for Nicki being aware of Margene's SSN while not knowing her correct year of birth. What did Nicki write on the W-2 form?

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The set of two digits in the middle of a SSN match the year it was assigned. Once they started enumeration at birth it would match a birth year but that was only started in the late 80s and only included 3 states; by 1991 they still did have all 50 states agreeing to do it.

Prior to that people didn't get SSNs until they needed them because they got a job or unless their state required it for a driver's license. I got mine the summer after 9th grade because my boss said they needed one in order have the FICA being withheld credited to my account. Margene's character was born in the mid to late 80s so hers would just correlate to when she applied for one.

She didn't put anything on the w-4 because there's no space for your DOB, the only identifying information it asks for is name, address, SSN, married or single, and a signature. When you file your taxes there's also no space on the 1040 for your age other than checking the box that says you were born before January 2nd 1951 since you get to deduct extra money if you're over 65 and/or blind.

Electronic returns require a DOB to prevent fraud and they will be rejected if there's a SSN/DOB/Name mismatch, but that wouldn't happen until the following year if Nicki filed taxes for it. And we all know she won't. She'd check the box on the w-4 claiming to be exempt from withholding & just throw the w-2 away and let Margene deal with it if she got caught.


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W4, you say. Ok you obviously have more details on this than I do.

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The form they mail you at the end of the year so you can file your taxes is a W2, the form you fill out when you get a job so that they have all the information for proper withholding, SSN, and where to send the end of the year form is a W4. Neither has age anywhere on it.

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Neither has age anywhere on it.
gotcha. as a freelance-y type of person I'm not totally up on this stuff. I'm mostly drawing on vague memories gleaned from working at a walgreens in the olden days.

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Nicki was the only one who had a joint bank account with Bill.. he said it in the first season. She was probably claiming his income to get the credit after her father co-signed for the first $500 credit card that went up to $6000.

I'll tell you, I would have no problem running up that much in debt in a couple years, and I dont have kids or a nice house like that. They had separate houses and cars, all she need do is hide stuff in her trunk until the night came then sneak it into the house... but she was a moron and didn't even hide it.

www.rhodadettore.com

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Now that i think about this... Why did they even care? Nicky has no job, no assets, and no legal husband. All she needed to do was say "I'm judgement proof, take me to court." They wouldnt waste their time / money on her. Her home is in Bill's name -- they told the ppl in the street she was their tenant.

So who cares? The bill deal was the trust issue, not the money

www.rhodadettore.com

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This. They were all trying to be moral, Godly people (even if we may not agree with their definitions of moral and Godly) - lying to each other about financial issues and running up debt they couldn't afford to pay back are pretty big sins to them.

They were also trying to distance themselves from compound behaviors and stereotypes. Welfare fraud and credit card scams are big on the compounds, because they see it as "sticking it to the man" and taking assets away from a world of people bound for hell. Bill & family did not want any part of that image.

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