• bier@feddit.nl
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    9 months ago

    Why do you use credit cards in the first place? As a non American I never really understood that. Why doesn’t America just have the “normal” (from my perspective) bank cards that just let you use money from your bank account. Why do you need to borrow and pay back? It seems like such a weird system, not just weird also dangerous, where you can end up in debt.

    • duffman@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      American here. We have normal cards, they are called debit cards and are what most people use. Generizing a lot here, but credit cards are for people who were never financially educated, desperate poor people, or people who only use them to get plane miles or cash back.

      It’s absurd to me to put myself in debt for all but the most desperate of cases.

      • bier@feddit.nl
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        9 months ago

        Thanks, I didn’t know that, you always hear about credit card (debt) but never about debit cards. Can you still use the for a good credit score?

        • duffman@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          I don’t think debit cards or their associated bank accounts affect your credit in any way since those transactions don’t go through any of the credit agencies.

          When I was just starting out in life, I had a credit card but only used it maybe once a year. Just with that I somehow had a credit score in the upper 700s.