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No wonder we're in a financial crisis. I was just accepted for a platinum credit card based on a 20 minute phonecall
Friday, 04-Nov-11 19:01:31 UTC from web- RDN's Lucifer likes this.
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@ceruleanspark scam. I can get a card for 5% less from a bank, and much lower from credit union.
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@cabal It's largely irrelevant, as I don't intend to actually use it for anything other than instantly paying it off to boost my credit rating.
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@ceruleanspark Yes, it sort of like asking for a loan from the mob: they're more than happy to loan you the money, and have everything rigged in their favor as they hope you will fail to pay it back.
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@cabal Or online purchases where the protections afforded by credit law would benefit me
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@ceruleanspark best thing to use it for is buying a toothbrush with it every 3 months, that way when they do reviews, they see that you pay off your balance every time, not a inactive card holder, and actually boost your rating and actual credit.
RDN's Lucifer likes this. -
@cabal I was gonna use it to pay for petrol twice a month. It's a (more or less) fixed cost, and it plays into one of their reward schemes.
RDN's Lucifer likes this. -
@astra I wasn't planning to borrow money. Just exploit my year's interest free credit to cheaply boost my credit rating and net whatever rewards I can accrue through their system. I wasn't planning to immediately go out and buy a £12K Mac Pro or whatever.
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@ceruleanspark £12K. With that money i could buy two Opteron x12, a motherboard to put them in, a radeon 6990, 32GB of ram, and 2TB.
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@ceruleanspark Oh, I didn't figure that you were. Just that a dependence upon using those things can grow on even the most disciplined and well-intentioned people, and even small purchases can add up quickly on those things. As long as you stick to that plan, though, you should be fine. Sorry, I just have a huge aversion to those things now.
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@nerthos I picked the Mac Pro because it's a retarded way to spend £12K, rather than a good computer. You could build a hellaciously powerful machine for that money.
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@astra I have a huge aversion to credit in general, which ought to keep me in line. Plus I am also very lazy. Paying with someone elses money is more work than paying with my own.
RDN's Lucifer likes this. -
@ceruleanspark Normal users. The modern equivalent to the medieval religious zealots who payed gold for blessings. I could buy a hellaciously powerful one for half that price.
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@astra @ceruleanspark Always better to pay with the money you have. Fastest, easier, safer. And you can't get into debts and things like that in that way.
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@nerthos Absolutely. However: I cannot conceivably save up enough to buy a house outright. For this, I need to borrow. To borrow in a way that doesn't involve sodomy, I need a good credit rating. To achieve this, I need to borrow and pay off small amounts in a timely fashion. I intend to exploit my natural laziness and routine to do this in a way that doesn't lead me into horrible, horrible debt.
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@nerthos Problem is, the availability of cheap & easy credit has skewed prices to the point where it can be hard to afford things without charging them, as businesses have no motivation to keep prices within actual pay rates.
RDN's Lucifer likes this. -
@ceruleanspark Yes, it's true that in the "first world" acquiring a house is almost impossible without credit. I for one am grateful of my luck, for my grandma had only one son, who bought two houses. I have ony a brother, so i'm heir to one house and my brother to other, while my parents keep the larger one. So at least, i will have a place to live with ease.
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@scribus Credit is what causes all the first world crisis.
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@nerthos Eeyup. And we've built ourselves up to be completely reliant upon it.
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@ceruleanspark Sorry, just doing what I do best: LECTURE YOU! ;) But, yes, as long as you maintain a healthy paranoia, it should be fine. :)
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@astra It's OK. You can never be too careful.
