• @EatATaco@lemm.ee
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    398 months ago

    For 25 years I’ve only carried a debt on my credit card one time, and that was for a few months under special circumstances. I have a top credit score.

    It’s a stupid game, but it’s easy to play.

    • Polar
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      288 months ago

      Why do Americans think you need to carry a debt to build credit? That is the opposite.

      I put EVERYTHING on credit card, and pay everything off on time. Never missed a payment. My credit score was the highest it can be by the time I turned 21. I’ve never paid a penny in fees or interest.

    • @criticon@lemmy.ca
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      98 months ago

      I arrived to the US less than 5 years ago and I have top credit score. I never carry a balance, open credit cards that offer a lot of credit, benefits and bonus to increase my available credit (I have about 6 or 7 cards at the moment) and just wait. In less than a year I already had 740 which was enough to get a car loan with 1.9% apr (lowest offered was 1.85%)

      • edric
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        8 months ago

        I’m the same as you, and I think we kinda had an advantage because we started with a blank slate. No student loans (if you arrived as a working adult), no prior debts, and hitting the ground running (if you arrived with a job waiting for you).

      • @EatATaco@lemm.ee
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        18 months ago

        I understand what survivorship bias is, I just don’t see how it applies here. Could you explain?

        • That just because you managed to do that doesn’t make it the norm.

          You could argue that that simply isn’t an option for many people. If you can live life without using a credit card implies you have not struggled for that extra cash, whereas some people simply don’t make enough to not use it.

          • @EatATaco@lemm.ee
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            48 months ago

            I still don’t see how this makes it survivorship bias.

            But that being said, if you’re not going to be able to pay off something in a few months, then you can’t afford it with or without a card, because buying it with the card just makes it more expensive. Sometimes you need to tide yourself over, I did that when my wife was switching jobs and we were moving so there were extra expenses. But I quickly paid it all off when we returned to normal income.

            • I believe it’s SB just for the fact that having a line of credit available and not using it simply isn’t an option for some people.

              Imagine you have a line of credit and you lose your job, but you still need to feed your family. Then that person is going to do what they need to provide food.

              The bias come from you commenting in the vain of I did this, ergo everybody else should be the same, when in fact we are not all the same.

              Similar to how someone from a council estate can make it as a politician, which neglects to consider that 99% of people from council estates with that dream didn’t make it.

              I hope that makes more sense. I suck at explaining things.