• Liz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    7 months ago

    Credit cards come with fraud protection and help you build a credit score, which will get you a lower interest rate on a loan, if you need one. So long as you only spend money you have on hand, and pay off your card every month in full, there’s no down side.

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      is this a universal thing or are you just assuming that the entire world works like the US? Here in sweden i have never heard of anyone actually using a credit card.

      • Liz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        7 months ago

        Yeah great point, the US has a very high emphasis on debt, for horrible reasons.

        • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          The debt industry makes so much god damned money for the companies involved in it, it’s not even funny.

          Between student loans and credit cards, US citizens have a collective $1.73 trillion in debt. And let’s just assume 15% interest on average (probably a low-ball to be honest): that’s $173 billion going to these companies in interest payments per year.

          Shit won’t change here because too many people with too much power are making too much money.

      • Iceblade@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        Hi!

        I’m the Swede with a CC, right here :)

        Now you’ve heard of someone using one (mwahahaha)

        In all fairness, it’s not exactly something people talk about - and for the record, I’ve never ended up paying any interest on the card. It’s just convenient, offering a layer of protection for charges, makes it easier for me to track spendings, and allows me to be earning interest on my paycheck by keeping it in a savings account until I need to balance the CC.