Extra Credit
I need to post more. This time, a short rant:
I do have a credit card, because sometimes the need arises, but by and large credit card companies seem to be adept at providing examples of What’s Wrong With America.
There are far too many different organizations trying to get people–especially young college students–to get credit cards with stupidly high interest, often somehow in disguise (2% interest! and then in very small print it turns out that that’s for the first month, after which it jumps up into double digits). And that’s before we get into the credit card companies employing strange accounting practices in order to squeeze even more money out of clients. Other people have covered this better; the main thing I wanted to point out here is this:
Credit ratings can have a substantial impact on your ability to do some very basic things in life, notably buying a car or a house, or getting a cell phone. However, it’s possible for someone to steal your social security number and deliberately take out bad credit cards. The result is that your credit rating is seriously damaged, and it stays that way even if this other person who was responsible goes to jail. I can’t think of many other enterprises where simple numbers resulting from the actions of someone who both the U.S. government and the record keepers alike consider to be a criminal won’t be changed. This, to me, destroys a lot of the credibility of credit ratings.
