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Credit cards are a scam only if you don't pay your bill every month. Otherwise, they are awesome. I pay almost everything with my credit card.
I don't have to carry wads of smelly cash around with me (I can't stand the smell of money).
I don't have to go to a bank/ATM repeatedly.
I don't have to fumble with cash & coins when I pay for something.
My money can be earning interest (albeit a trifling amount currently) for a month.
It allows me to use products and services a month before I pay for it.
And it costs me nothing!
Bingo on the bolded section. Credit allows people/businesses to make capitial improvement that cost alot of money up front, yet will provide benefit/profit of the long term.
To say that all credit is bad or a scam shows that you have a fundamental lack of knowledge about finance/economy/banking. I'd be surprised if there was even one successful business out there that didn't rely on credit at some point in their past.
To say that all credit is bad or a scam shows that you have a fundamental lack of knowledge about finance/economy/banking. I'd be surprised if there was even one successful business out there that didn't rely on credit at some point in their past.
The OP said:
Quote:
Let me makes this clear. ALL consumer based credit is a scam.
What you said is completely unrelated to the topic.
The reason they are scams is because the interest adds up BIG TIME over time. If you have any personal finance based debt you are an IDIOT. Yup, that sounds harsh but it is true. You are selfish, impatient and don't understand long term creation of wealth.
The ONLY personal finance debt that can be justified is at 0% interest for the life of the loan (ie. rarely exists) OR consumer debt that you take but ultimately bankrupt the debts away (ie. pay no interest). Then again, doing that would be somewhat unethical/borderline fraud.
Oh and don't give me that talk about how its an, "investment" thats just propaganda the banks spew out to make you justify going into horrendously large amounts of debt that will take you decades to pay back (ie. student loan).
Debt in the first place was designed ONLY for business ventures. If you had a great idea then you could go to the bank, get a loan and potentially bring a great invention/business to market that would have normally have occurred had you not got the loan. If the idea flopped then you just bankrupt the company and get a fresh start.
With personal finance debt, its not like that. Its all about locking people down into monthly payments in order to generate ample streams of interest. I find that people have less than adequate knowledge to understand the long term destruction of interest.
Car loan? Never really had one.
Mortgage? Ah, yeah...how is the renting your whole life thing working out for you? I prefer to build my own equity and will own my home in less than 3 more years.
Student Loans? Helped me get through school in 4 years without having to stop and go work minimum wage etc. I graduated, lived cheaply and paid them off within 1 year of graduating.
Credit Cards? Love them. My monthly bill is probably >2k on average and I just pay it in full. Gives me some nice perks, protection in case of disputes and I never pay a fee or interest.
So basically, credit is a tool. If you have a pet chimp named curious george then don't let them play with credit, firearms, liquor or power tools. Because some people are morons and can't handle things doesn't make it bad.
Credit is only a scam if you let yourself be scammed.
If your smart you use credit as a tool.
But the system (free market) is rigged in favor of the scammers. The clever have perfect freedom to exploit those less clever, virtually unrestricted and with impunity, and they always do. Is that really the principle upon which you want a perfect world to be predicated? The greediest few get to take whatever they want from the ones born every minute?
"If you're smart, you use credit as a tool" . . . to steal all you can from those who are not smart. Are you proud of yourself for that?
But the system (free market) is rigged in favor of the scammers. The clever have perfect freedom to exploit those less clever, virtually unrestricted and with impunity, and they always do. Is that really the principle upon which you want a perfect world to be predicated? The greediest few get to take whatever they want from the ones born every minute?
You make it sound like people who aren't financially damaged by credit card use are criminals and people who pay interest on credit card use are victims.
You make it sound like people who aren't financially damaged by credit card use are criminals and people who pay interest on credit card use are victims.
Criminality is defined only by the law, which is imposed by the men who have the most to gain from it. Law is not necessarily in conformity with moral or ethical or even civilized behavior. I have a natural right to not just object to a law, but to violate it if it stands in the way of principles of human decency.
I feel guilty because I know that I live off the backs of the people who can least afford to subsidize me, in more ways than just credit cards. and the law stands aside while I do so. I try to give back what I can, but the little I can do by bucking the system is as futile as trying to use my vote to turn my congressman (Ron Paul) out of office when there isn't even a second name on the ballot.
Credit is only a scam if you let yourself be scammed.
Agreed!
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I prefer to build my own equity and will own my home in less than 3 more years.
Because some people are morons and can't handle things doesn't make it bad.
