• Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      5 months ago

      These schemes are usually interest free.

      They make their money similar to credit card fees, a small percentage from the merchant.

      They shaft you if you don’t pay though, and I’m not sure if this is still the case but they never used to show up on your actual credit history. Which seems nice on paper, but is actually hugely irresponsible. All these credit trackers seem like an unfair scam to keep the poor in their place, but they are there to stop you getting into more debt than you can pay off. If left to their own devices, the lenders would cheerfully give you way more than you could ever hope to pay, and then come round and break your kneecaps when you inevitably fall behind.

    • Gigan@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      You don’t have to use credit, taxes are taken from you by force. Not comparable imo.

        • Gigan@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Are you saying you need credit to live? Because that’s not true. Lot’s of people live that way, but it’s not necessary.

          • 520@kbin.social
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            5 months ago

            It can be. Depending on the circumstances in life you are in, credit may be the only way you’re able to pay for food.

            • Gigan@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              You can’t do that forever though. Eventually you’ll run out of credit and have to pay for it yourself. And by that point you’re probably getting crushed by the debt from a maxed out card, that you’d have been better off not using in the first place.

              • IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                You’re right, they should have just starved instead! So enlightened, thanks for setting us all straight!

              • 520@kbin.social
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                5 months ago

                Correct. But it’s either this or literally starve. That’s why you’ve got people here saying it isn’t really a choice.

              • papalonian@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                You are saying this like they are not aware… like telling a drowning person that if they don’t stop breathing water they’re gonna die. The point is that using credit in the first place isn’t always a choice. Just because it is for a lot, maybe even most people, doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of other people for whom it isn’t.

          • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Have you ever been poor? Yes, sometimes you need credit to live. I’m still paying off debt from 2020 that I only acquired due to desperation and the threat of homelessness

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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        5 months ago

        They aren’t taken by force, you choose to live in a society that provides you with all sorts of services, which need to be paid for.

        You are free to live in a society that doesn’t provide any road networks, fire departments, education, … but that is not where you live now. So I suggest you move instead of complaining about something necessary.

        I heard Somalia doesn’t ask for any taxes.

      • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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        5 months ago

        Not technically correct. If you want to be able to rent apartments or dream of owning a house, you will have to use credit in the U.S., or you’ll at least need someone with a high credit score willing to be your co-signer.

        obv nobody is forcing you to get a credit card and rack up a lot of debt, but you will face a lot of struggles in life that someone who makes regular payments on a credit card will not.

        • uranibaba@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          That seems crazy to me. I understand that what you are saying is reality, but is it really that difficult to get by in US without ever owning a credit card?

          • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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            5 months ago

            You’ll be rejected from a lot of things on the basis of having no credit, because in the U.S., it is considered worse if you have always paid everything up front and on time than if you consistently borrow and make continual payments. Now, that doesn’t have to be a credit card per say, it can be car lease payments, student loan payments, medical debt payments, my landlord reports my rent payments, but credit cards are one of the easiest ways to build up your credit score before you say, have to spend an extra $1500 upfront for an apartment on a co-signor service because my credit score wasn’t considered high enough for an apartment I pay $500 a month for.

            • IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Also, your credit cards are a different kind of “loan” - revolving - vs those other debts, which are installment. Having a mix of the two will improve your credit. They literally want it to be impossible to have good credit without the cards.

            • Baŝto@discuss.tchncs.de
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              5 months ago

              Do you have no rental bonds? It’s quite common here to have a rental bond up to three times the monthly rent, but you get that back at the end if there are no disputes about damages or payment default.

              • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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                5 months ago

                There doesn’t seem to be anything offered by the rental company I’m currently with, and I’ve never heard of concept before. There are security deposits, which you do typically receive at the end of the lease, but most of the ones here are non-refundable, and I did have to pay one of those as well.

          • elrik@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Yes. Effectively you will not have any credit history, so you simply won’t qualify for lower interest credit products or will be rejected on applications that have a credit score threshold.