Do you think credit is a scam? cuz I sure as hell do?

[Finchie40]

Most people in this world live off of credit , to buy a car, house etc. Your credit score determines pretty much what you can afford but me personally feels it’s a crock of bullshit , considering there was a time my credit score wasn’t the greatest and I paid higher interest rates , higher car payments etc , so for a long time I focused on attacking it to raise it up , I paid my bills on time , paid shit off and got myself in good standings with my credit score but I realized after all I did it really means shit , it’s like the credit companies want you to open more lines of credit just to keep your score in good standing , but if you choose not to they drop your score down , it’s like they want you to put yourself back in debt by opening more credit cards , so the second you do and you choose not to use it all the time they Will drop your score back down , even if you pay it off fast and on time it means shit. Me personally feels they need to eliminate credit and go back to everyone paying cash and buying what they can afford , credit is a big ass scam. Our lives shouldn’t determine off some made up credit score. Anyone else agree?

Updates:

[jakerson181]

I think that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. First of all, you don't seem to understand the basic difference between credit as a tool for making purchases and your credit score which is determined by 2 or 3 major companies. Your issue is with why those companies do or don't move your credit score up or down and the formulas they use, not the entire institution of credit or the credit card companies themselves..

Also, what do you think mortgages and car loans are... credit. Who the hell has $300,000 or $400,000 sitting in their pocket to buy a house for cash or $40,000 to buy a car? Only the very rich could afford to pay cash and then I'm sure you'd bitch about how unfair it is that only the rich can afford to own a house or buy a car..

I have six different credit cards. I use maybe 3 of them regularly and pay them off every single month in full and my credit score is fine. I pay my bills on time too. I get hotel points or airline miles on every purchase I make which has over the years gotten me thousands of dollars worth of free travel. Credit works if you know how to use it. Get a copy of your credit report and see what it says but just because you don't like something doesn't mean no one else should be able to have it. That's ridiculous.

[BeMuse]

Everything you do stays on your credit record for 7 years. It doesn’t drop instantly. It drops when you make late payments or over extend yourself. I never had a problem with credit scores. I applied for a student card with a $500 limit when I was in high school at 18. I charged small purchases every month for 6 months and paid everything at the end of the month never paying interest. After 6 months I applied for a card that had a $1000 limit and was approved. I did the same thing with that one and then after the first year was up applied again and get a card with a $10,000 limit. I then closed the first $500 account after a year. I’ve always paid my total bill at the end of the month and just use it for a 30 float. I had subsidized federal student loans that I paid off within 6 months of graduating school that were down around 1%. I got 0% interest rates on car loans due to maintaining good credit and paid off vehicles that way fulfilling larger loans. That qualified me along with my earnings for loans with low interest rates on real estate. If you are consistently responsible, it’s easy to build and maintain great credit. When you fuck up though, it sticks with you for seven years. Credit is useful if you know how to use it.

[Anonymous]

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/credit_score.asp
Here is a link to explain how your credit score works. You have some misinformation in your post, so this is just to correct that.
Credit isn’t always a bad thing. Without it, many would never have the means to purchase their own home. Expecting people to save hundreds of thousands of dollars before they purchase a home is unreasonable.
Teaching people money management skills and personal finances in high school is what should be happening.

[MzAsh]

It can be a slippery slope for those who aren’t responsible (which is a lot of people.)
I think they’re best for emergencies. I’ve only been a few thousand in credit card debt before. I started working extra and climbed out of it. However, too many people let it get out of control to the point where they need a consolidation or to file bankruptcy.

[goaded]

My mother shared Dicken's (via Wilkins Micawber) good advice on this with me:
"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."
In other words, don't spend more than you can afford to pay back.

Banks, generally, are a scam. They're allowed to lend out 30-odd times as much money as is "saved" in the bank; they lend it at a rate much, much higher than the rate they pay to their creditors. If, at least, the rates were the same, it might be fair (but they'd still make a boatload of money off your savings).

[NamerOfStars]

Almost. I just disagree with the "they". Don't spend money you don't have, and none of what they say will matter.

[FictionalCharacter]

I just owe $500-$800 for subscription magazines and free books 📚😅

[douride2]

I owe no one any thing. The credit companies want you to borrow to the max & make the minimum payment. That it how they make money.

[OddBeMe]

Only when you’re stupid. Which is why the Consumer Protection Bureau was a great idea by Obama.