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Fun fact, in France we call debit cards "Carte de Crédit" (or carte bleue) Debit cards there come with the same amount of fraud protection as the credit cards,

by vmarsy 10y ago

Fun fact, in France we call debit cards "Carte de Crédit" (or carte bleue) Debit cards there come with the same amount of fraud protection as the credit cards, there's not really a reason to use Credit cards there. In reply to your ADD: Because in the US, you get a "Credit score"[1] based on your credit history. And when taking a home mortgage, instead of simply asking for your past few years of income proof and other papers bankers in Europe would ask before deciding to give you a mortgage, in the US they rely on that Credit score. And the best way to "build" that credit score is to have a credit history, and the simplest way to have a credit history: use a credit card for a long time and pay on time. Because obviously paying on time a $100 credit card bill every month is a good indicator on how you'll handle paying a couple hundred thousands loan for your house (/s) [1]http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

op00to 10y ago
> Because obviously paying on time a $100 credit card bill every month is a good indicator on how you'll handle paying a couple hundred thousands loan for your house (/s) I think this type of behavioral scoring is actually a great benchmark for determining responsibility. If you can't handle paying off a few hundred bucks here and there, it seems pretty reasonable that you're more likely to default on a far more expensive mortgage.
pc86 10y ago
If all you do is pay a $100 CC bill on time, you will have terrible credit. Credit scores themselves are proprietary but they are largely comprised of the following factors (in no order): - Having a lot of available credit (usually based on credit score and/or income) - Not using too much of that available credit (credit utilization, a low non-0% is ideal) - Different types of credit (revolving credit or CCs, installment loans, etc) - How long you have had credit (longer is better) - How many times you have tried to get more credit recently (too many recent inquiries means higher risk) Credit scores are a measure of how well you can hold multiple types of debt over time and still pay everything. It is not "will so-and-so pay their mortgage?"

by vmarsy 10y ago

op00to 10y ago

> Because obviously paying on time a $100 credit card bill every month is a good indicator on how you'll handle paying a couple hundred thousands loan for your house (/s) I think this type of behavioral scoring is actually a great benchmark for determining responsibility. If you can't handle paying off a few hundred bucks here and there, it seems pretty reasonable that you're more likely to default on a far more expensive mortgage.

pc86 10y ago

If all you do is pay a $100 CC bill on time, you will have terrible credit. Credit scores themselves are proprietary but they are largely comprised of the following factors (in no order): - Having a lot of available credit (usually based on credit score and/or income) - Not using too much of that available credit (credit utilization, a low non-0% is ideal) - Different types of credit (revolving credit or CCs, installment loans, etc) - How long you have had credit (longer is better) - How many times you have tried to get more credit recently (too many recent inquiries means higher risk) Credit scores are a measure of how well you can hold multiple types of debt over time and still pay everything. It is not "will so-and-so pay their mortgage?"