782
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] hulemy@ani.social 17 points 1 year ago

Americans getting credit cards so young is so foreign to me. Here you only get a credit card either for business reasons or if you travel internationally where the European standards for debit cards don't apply

[-] GloveNinja@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I was advised by my family, and the bank when I was 16 to get a Credit Card so I could build my credit score. I didn't really have any good financial awareness and they set me at a $2000 limit. Needless to say that was maxed almost immediately and took years of developing discipline to get under control. I still struggle with CCs now and then... They're too easy to come by and too hard to break free of

[-] hulemy@ani.social 9 points 1 year ago

Where I'm from almost no one under 25 gets a credit card, because most non-online/prepaid/crypto credit cards have an age or income limit.

Everyone over the age of 12 has a debit card here. I think it promotes healthy spending knowing you have a set limit and immediately see the amount of money change. Overdrafts are also not enabled by default and require an extra package.

Venmo/Cashapp etc are also uncommon here.

[-] hulemy@ani.social 1 points 1 year ago

Oh yeah, you do need a credit card for some hotels here. So that's a reason I guess?

[-] basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

There are enough that accept upfront payments in cash when you check in.

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

Credit cards have much better fraud protection then debit

[-] Aux@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago

That's kind of irrelevant when you have modern tech like mobile payments to safeguard you. But yeah, if you're still using magnetic stripes, you're kinda fucked.

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's not how fraud protection works lol, and it doesn't have to do with the physical card

[-] Aux@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, tell me more about it, lol.

[-] dingus@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I got a credit card as a teen and have always just treated it like cash. Zero issues doing that and it helped build up my credit score by giving me such a long credit history with good payments.

[-] hulemy@ani.social 7 points 1 year ago

As an European credit scores sound so weird to me 😮

[-] skyspydude1@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

They're basically a black box and can do some really weird shit (I had mine drop by 80 points, which is a lot, all because I paid off my student loans), but their purpose and basic workings are pretty straightforward. You show that you can be trusted when you're given a loan and can pay it back? Score go up. Do things that make the bank question if you can pay them back? Score go down.

Now, there's a shitton of complexity to it I won't go into, but it's not always as bad as people make it out to be and really only matters when you're trying to get a loan and sometimes when you're renting somewhere.

[-] hulemy@ani.social 3 points 1 year ago

That I understand, but adding your kids on your credit card so their score goes up and things like having debt just to pay it back is weird to me

[-] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

So co-signing (the having your kids on your card you mentioned) is just sharing the responsibility. Basically everyone signed on the line of credit (loan, credit card, etc) is considered equally responsible and expected to contribute financially to pay for the line of credit. Most commonly it's a husband and wife buying a house, you both contribute financially towards the loan and you both reap the benefits of the loan, and you're both in trouble if the loan isn't paid, and it affects both of your scores depending on how well you manage that line of credit.

There's different kinds of lines of credit you can get, from really bad ones like personal loans and credit cards (both are very high interest and not recommended) to moderately decent ones like car loans (interest rate is okay, but the item you're buying loses value) to good ones like a mortgage for a house or a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELoCs are weird, but it's using the equity on your house for what spends like a credit card but is paid back like a mortgage)

[-] dingus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Fair enough. I have a question though so apologies for my ignorance.

But how do lenders in your area determine if someone is a good borrower or an unreliable borrower without something like a credit score. I'm not saying the way the US does it is the best answer or anything. I just legitimately don't know how it works elsewhere.

[-] Aux@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

In most European countries you're innocent unless proven guilty. That means that instead of a credit score, which is 0 by default and you have to prove to everyone that you're a good boy, we can take any loans straight away. But if a person defaults, then they get a mark in their financial profile and other lenders will be wary.

[-] hulemy@ani.social 3 points 1 year ago

Pretty sure we have some sort of database or Registry for people who don't pay back their loans. And loans do show up when for example mortgage people do a background check on you

[-] creditCrazy@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Probably the best advice I've gotten was "it may be a loan and someone else's money but you best treat it as your own money because it will eventually be your money and you have to pay for everything"

[-] dangblingus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

What does "treated it like cash" mean?

[-] dingus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I treat it like a debit card. I don't put more on the credit card than I have in my bank account. And I don't keep a running balance each month. I pay off the card bill each month so I don't pay credit card fees.

Just because your credit card limit is $5000, doesn't mean you should load it to the max if you only have $1000 in your bank account. I recognize that people sometimes need to do something like this to pay bills, but as a general rule you should do everything in your power to just treat it like a debit card and you won't be in debt.

Also, I know you didn't ask this... But I also tend to use my credit card instead of my debit card because I get cash back rewards points for using it (unlike with a debit card). And I'm the US (not sure about other countries), it tends to be much easier to dispute a fraudulent charge to your credit card than your debit card. Because when something is debited from your bank account, it's almost immediately gone. But when you get a charge to your credit card, it's kind of like a mini loan, so money is not immediately deducted from your bank account.

[-] basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

Here in Germany you can get back money that somebody took via direct debit, but not if you transfer it yourself. And many supermarkets use direct debit at their own risk after some automated risk analysis, because it has lower fees than girocard/maestro/vpay. (They extract the bank code from the card and print a form for direct debit authorization with the receipt printer)

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Not letting the balance be higher then your checking. Auto pay off your statement in full every month.

[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Reasons to get a credit card in 2019 -

To hire a car

Reasons to get a credit card in 2023 -

?

Totally alien concept to me

[-] dangblingus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

You put normal monthly expenses on the credit card, then you immediately pay it off. Do this for a while and build your credit score. Use your higher credit score to get approved for loans/mortgages/bigger credit.

All credit is is a way to buy something expensive that you can't afford right now. Figure out what you want to buy, then build the necessary credit to be approved for the big purchase.

[-] pazzeda@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

Heh, no credit agencies in my country, no credit score.

[-] Fogle@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

I use mine for cash back. I've been watching this finance channel on YouTube and the amount of Americans with thousands and thousands of credit card debt at sometimes over 30% interest is fucking insane.

[-] iFarmGolems@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

When you pay with credit card it's bank's money. When paying with debit it's yours.

I pay everything on the internet with credit card. It's safer.

[-] mayonaise_met@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago

Maertro crowd isn't so lucky. And rental companies don't advertise this.

[-] Aux@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Juicy cashbacks with AmEx.

[-] Stumblinbear@pawb.social 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not having a credit card is giving up free money in cash back and rewards. Just be disciplined and it's a net positive in every way, including security

this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
782 points (98.2% liked)

Lemmy Shitpost

26773 readers
3570 users here now

Welcome to Lemmy Shitpost. Here you can shitpost to your hearts content.

Anything and everything goes. Memes, Jokes, Vents and Banter. Though we still have to comply with lemmy.world instance rules. So behave!


Rules:

1. Be Respectful


Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.

Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.

...


2. No Illegal Content


Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.

That means:

-No promoting violence/threats against any individuals

-No CSA content or Revenge Porn

-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)

...


3. No Spam


Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.

-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.

-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.

-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers

-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.

...


4. No Porn/ExplicitContent


-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.

-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.

...


5. No Enciting Harassment,Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts


-Do not Brigade other Communities

-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.

-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.

-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.

...


6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.


-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.

...

If you see content that is a breach of the rules, please flag and report the comment and a moderator will take action where they can.


Also check out:

Partnered Communities:

1.Memes

2.Lemmy Review

3.Mildly Infuriating

4.Lemmy Be Wholesome

5.No Stupid Questions

6.You Should Know

7.Comedy Heaven

8.Credible Defense

9.Ten Forward

10.LinuxMemes (Linux themed memes)


Reach out to

All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules. Striker

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS