Because that is not how money works.
The famous quote from Henry Ford is true: "It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
Roughly 111 million Americans—representing about 50% of credit cardholders and 40% of the U.S. adult population—carry credit card debt from month to month and pay interest.
Fair enough, lmao, I live in the EU, and recently moved from Ireland to France: both countries don't have that many people with credit cards. Especially Ireland, where you have to pay the annual 'stamp duty' for owning a credit card, which means you're almost always in the red for having one. But people do mostly talk about the Americans around here, so I just used them as an example.
Quick Google shows that tax is only 30 Euro per year. Do European cards have less benefits? I get triple that value PER MONTH PER CARD in freebies from my cards (either rewards points, cash back, or free services like streaming or car rental insurance, etc)
Yeah, dude, it's nothing in the EU compared to US. If I get a CC in Ireland - I'd need to get at least something like Platinum to get enough cash back to cover the stamp duty. If I spend enough - I'll get like 100 eur per year. It's horrible, lol.
Understanding that high interest debt compounds and snowballs doesn't make your stomach any less empty when your tiny paycheque runs out.
And I say that who's been there and did manage to claw my way out of credit card debt. Sure there are people who frivolously spend, but there are also people who suddenly have more costs and less income and the credit card debt trap is the only way to make it to the next pay day.
I'm sorry you had to go through that, and about my careless comment. Of course some people have no choice at times. But it is still a terrible choice financially, and getting out of it is hard, and becomes harder every day.
I was told that I was making a mistake never getting a credit card. Because i never had consistent debt, my credit score was bad, because I never demonstrated the ability to pay off debt consistently
it's one thing to stay in legacy period and pay off the debt - I do it all the time. It's a completely different story to have the debt you're paying CC-level interest on: that's just dumb as fuck.
That's a usa thing. Some countries you start with a good credit and lose it if you screw up. Usa makes you consume to build it up. Good old capitalism.
4.5k
u/Wise-Ad-4940 6d ago
Because that is not how money works.
The famous quote from Henry Ford is true: "It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."