TR Forums

clone wrote:

So I'm a little late in getting started on building my credit. I'm 22, yet I've never had a credit card

I've always hated to pay more for things I already bought and have been even more risk averse with credit cards as a general rule.

I got my first when I was 27 not because I wanted but because a bank offered me a lower rate on my mortgage by moving me to a line of credit which came with a direct access credit card... bought a car with it once which was kinda neat playing big shooter and throwing it on the table and all, the crash of 2008 and identity theft killed that party though as daily limits were introduced that made the cards near useless.

high school is where society indoctrinates it's future consumers into believing and embracing the mythical "value of a credit score"

my class was given the example of a family that had always paid cash that finally decided to buy a car but couldn't because they'd never had a credit card nor established a rating..... this stupid superficial story was meant to teach future consumers that we need to establish a credit score, we can't exist without it..... literally you as a future consumer need to pay interest or else the bank won't love you and won't give you money for a reasonably interest rate unless you pay them first for years.

use the credit card for the insurance it offers and always pay it off not down..... if you can't pay it off then you shouldn't be spending it.

I'm surprised that just 4 years after the credit crash this type of discussion is even being had.

mph_Ragnarok wrote:

But what if you're buying a house? How long would it take to live a much-lowered quality of life to save up hundreds of thousands of dollars if you couldn't get a reasonable loan because you have no credit score? Of course you would still be paying considerable interest on the loan if you did get one and did have a credit score, but that's the price of your years spent NOT living poorly to save up money.

grantmeaname wrote:

A lower credit utilization increase your credit score, not a higher utilization.

Captain Ned wrote:

All depends on whose black box we're talking about and no one gives enough detail about their black box to make such blanket statements.

clone wrote:

my class was given the example of a family that had always paid cash that finally decided to buy a car but couldn't because they'd never had a credit card nor established a rating..... this stupid superficial story was meant to teach future consumers that we need to establish a credit score, we can't exist without it..... literally you as a future consumer need to pay interest or else the bank won't love you and won't give you money for a reasonably interest rate unless you pay them first for years.