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Why do people in US care about your credit score? What difference does it really make? Genuine question. Here in Australia it seems the banks want to shovel cr
by jay_kyburz 11y ago
Why do people in US care about your credit score? What difference does it really make? Genuine question.
Here in Australia it seems the banks want to shovel credit cards down our throats no matter how much debt we are in or how bad we are at paying.
- yolesaber 11y agoThe credit score is used for all sorts of things in the US, from the interest rate on your mortgage to qualifying for renting to even some employment checks. It's fucked up, especially since the formula for calculating the 'score' differs from one agency to another and is deliberately kept obscured.
- nitrogen 11y agoIt also seems kind of like voodoo; scores change up and down over time with zero change in behavior.
- yolesaber 11y agoYeah that's why I really don't pay attention to it. Plus the fact that it is so easily gamed: if a party wanted to (such as a realtor or someone else with access), they could just run hard credit checks on you all day and tank your score. To illustrate how fucked it is, I use a credit tracking app from my bank and it consistently reports scores of 700 and above yet I've had realtors tell me they weren't sure if I could get an apartment because of my credit score - showing up with enough cash for the first six months of payments quickly resolved that issue.
- kalleboo 11y agoSome employers will even decide who to hire based on their credit score. Bad credit = can't get a job. John Oliver did a bit on the whole credit scoring system scam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRrDsbUdY_k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRrDsbUdY_k