Welcome to the 21st Century America!

deaddog said:
I agree with you that credit cards are a great way to manage your payments. Use the perks, enjoy the convenience and safety, and pay the balance each month.

So Americans are not addicted to easy credit, they just don't have the discipline to responsibly manage the credit that is made available to them. Do you think that the credit card companies are taking advantage of an undisciplined population by making credit so easy to obtain?

In my lifetime I have seen credit get easier and easier to obtain. At one time there was quite a process to go through to be approved for an American Express card. (Pre Visa and Mastercard)
Now I get weekly mailings addressed occupant to telling me I'm pre-approved for this or that credit card. Way too easy for someone who lacks discipline.
More...

Yeah I don't buy this "The Devil made me do it" argument. Imo, you are your own devil. There are temptations everywhere. It's up to you to manage your life and choose to do what's best for yourself. Businesses can propose, advertise, solicit, entice, seduce all they want, it's up to me to decide whether to take up their offer or throw them into the trash or recycle bin depending on whether they are recyclable or not and if I do get the credit card, how much to spend and when I pay for them and how much to pay. As long as they are not putting a gun to my head or to my loved ones' head, All is fair game. It's getting harder and harder to make it in business nowadays so it's understandable that businesses want to do more to try to be more profitable. To blame them for people's inability to control themselves is a bit unfair.

And I don't think they are taking advantage of people's undisciplined nature by offering easy credit because they are offering the same easy credit to EVERYBODY including the disciplined people who are able to pay the full balance at every due date upon which they would earn zero interest. It's not like they did some kind of psychological profiling and have differentiated between the disciplined and undisciplined consumers and are only targeting the undisciplined consumers for the easy credit with the ridiculously high credit limit and easy pre-approval and are offering credit cards with more "prudent" credit limit to the disciplined consumers then yeah I would say they are taking advantage of people's undisciplined nature for their own profitability.
 
Last edited:
TheDawn said:
Yeah I don't buy this "The Devil made me do it" argument. Imo, you are your own devil. There are temptations everywhere. It's up to you to manage your life and choose to do what's best for yourself. Businesses can propose, advertise, solicit, entice, seduce all they want, it's up to me to decide whether to take up their offer or throw them into the trash or recycle bin depending on whether they are recyclable or not and if I do get the credit card, how much to spend and when I pay for them and how much to pay. As long as they are not putting a gun to my head or to my loved ones' head, All is fair game. It's getting harder and harder to make it in business nowadays so it's understandable that businesses want to do more to try to be more profitable. To blame them for people's inability to control themselves is a bit unfair.
More...
So the problem with 21st century America is lack of self control.
 
deaddog said:
So the problem with 21st century America is lack of self control.
More...

As in all centuries since the beginning of time. LOL If you look at everything, every single problem everywhere throughout history, they are all caused by lack of discipline, the root of all evil, imo.
 
ph1l said:
Here's a small correction to the Bloomberg article:
View attachment 319444
So, 66% of those polled claim they would pay a $400 emergency expense without incurring further charges; the rest would have to pay more than $400 or woudn't pay the expense. That's still pretty pitiful.

The good news is if you can't afford an extra $400, you probably can't afford to declare bankruptcy.:)
https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/how-much-cost-filing-bankruptcy
More...
Nope, you apparently cannot read.

This it the eaxct first line of the article:
Most Americans don’t have the financial resources to cover a surprise expense of $400 without taking on debt, according to a new survey.

So you cannot add those who will use a credit card to pay it for next month. The text clearly says: "to cover a surprise expense of $400 without taking on debt". Paying with credit card means taking on debt.
 
deaddog said:
I agree with you that credit cards are a great way to manage your payments.
More...

If you need all the time credit cards to pay for everyday expenses, then you clearly are living above your financial standard. Especially if it can cost you 20% of intrest.
I lived for decades without credit cards. I got one at the moment that I had to frequently book plane tickets or reservations for cars or hotels. If not I would still not have a credit card. In Europe we don't (ab)use credit cards for impulsive buying things we wish to have but in fact cannot afford at that moment.
 
virtusa said:
If you need all the time credit cards to pay for everyday expenses, then you clearly are living above your financial standard. Especially if it can cost you 20% of intrest.
More...
I pay for everything with a credit card. I pay the balance every month. I haven't paid interest in years. My card has no annual fees, 2% cash back, doubles the warrantee (up to a year) on purchases, protection against fraud and theft, additional car rental and health insurance and I get a record of my spending. I'd be foolish not to take advantage of these perks.
I lived for decades without credit cards. I got one at the moment that I had to frequently book plane tickets or reservations for cars or hotels. If not I would still not have a credit card. In Europe we don't (ab)use credit cards for impulsive buying things we wish to have but in fact cannot afford at that moment.
More...
The last time I tried to check into a hotel with cash they wanted a thousand bucks deposit in lieu of a credit card. You're almost forced to carry one.

And if I lose my wallet full of cash it's gone. Full of credit cards and it's a hassle to replace them but I'm not our any money.
 
virtusa said:
Nope, you apparently cannot read.

This it the eaxct first line of the article:
Most Americans don’t have the financial resources to cover a surprise expense of $400 without taking on debt, according to a new survey.

So you cannot add those who will use a credit card to pay it for next month. The text clearly says: "to cover a surprise expense of $400 without taking on debt". Paying with credit card means taking on debt.
More...
I understand English is not your native language, but "don’t have the financial resources" means you were forced to take on debt. Are those who use credit cards and pay them completely when the bill is received forced to take on debt, or are they taking advantage of the better protection and rewards credit cards offer than cash (at least in the U.S.)?
 
ph1l said:
I understand English is not your native language, but "don’t have the financial resources" means you were forced to take on debt. Are those who use credit cards and pay them completely when the bill is received forced to take on debt, or are they taking advantage of the better protection and rewards credit cards offer than cash (at least in the U.S.)?
More...

Here is the caveat, say I replaced 4 disc breaks of my Mercedes around 3.5k and put it on my credit card, do i use my existing funds or do i project next month's income to pay this off? Latter is account payable management, a rolling debt financing. What happens if your rent/mortgage/insurance come due at once? How can you manage?

My understanding is that in most of the world, salary is just once a month in arrear, not bi-weekly. So if one is stating Americans are heavily in debt and live beyong their means, I tend to agree.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top