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> web of opaque "agencies" While I've got no love for credit-reporting agencies, and they have managed to mangle my file, they do act as a non-partisan 3rd par

> web of opaque "agencies" While I've got no love for credit-reporting agencies, and they have managed to mangle my file, they do act as a non-partisan 3rd party that can (when their records are accurate) verify that a person is credit-worthy -- Which is a highly valuable service. Banks can offer low rates and other economic incentives to credit-worthy people, and make decisions for hundreds of thousands of dollars (i.e. a mortgage) in minutes, due to the existence of TransUnion, etc. If it was possible for you to opt-out (or refuse to opt-in), you'd pay much more for a mortgage or any loan, decisions would take weeks, you'd be burdened with having to self-report your credit history (i.e. collect every statement on every account for the past 5-10 years) and since you are self-reporting, banks would still add a premium on because they would assume you've "forgotten" to include the credit card which you skipped payments on for 3 months back a few years ago. As an analogy, auto insurers can easily check your accident and claims history -- imagine what your premiums would be if insurers had no way to check. They would have to assume the worst about almost everyone, and charge accordingly. Do credit agencies need to be more accurate, and more secure? Absolutely. But wishing to opt-out entirely would likely be detrimental to you personally.

esotericn 8y ago
I pretty much have opted out entirely. I'm sure these agencies collect information on me regardless, there's not much I can do about that. I have no need for loans other than possibly a mortgage - I find it difficult to conceive of why one would even want a loan, outside of the first few years of adulthood. The mortgage is a stickler, but given that I have no desire to lock myself in to the traditional 25 years of working to buy a house in a high CoL area, it really just means saving before buying. It would be nice to have those things, but not with the additional stress involved of satisfying arbitrary requirements all the time. I prefer to live life without thinking about how other entities wish to 'rank' me all the time. I'd find it stifling to do otherwise. > As an analogy, auto insurers can easily check your accident and claims history -- imagine what your premiums would be if insurers had no way to check. They would have to assume the worst about almost everyone, and charge accordingly. More realistically, you'd be asked to provide your claim history, and if you fraudulently provided a fake history, you'd be hit with severe penalties.
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  In many cities, you can't even rent an apartment without a credit history.
  - esotericn 8y ago
    Can't say I've experienced that. I hear that credit agencies in the US are pretty entrenched though so it doesn't surprise me! The main difficulty I have here in the UK is with agencies that are extremely bureaucratic and can't deal with minor deviations from protocol. I tend to rent directly from individuals for that reason. I prefer speaking to actual humans rather than drones in layers of a bureaucracy.

esotericn 8y ago

I pretty much have opted out entirely. I'm sure these agencies collect information on me regardless, there's not much I can do about that. I have no need for loans other than possibly a mortgage - I find it difficult to conceive of why one would even want a loan, outside of the first few years of adulthood. The mortgage is a stickler, but given that I have no desire to lock myself in to the traditional 25 years of working to buy a house in a high CoL area, it really just means saving before buying. It would be nice to have those things, but not with the additional stress involved of satisfying arbitrary requirements all the time. I prefer to live life without thinking about how other entities wish to 'rank' me all the time. I'd find it stifling to do otherwise. > As an analogy, auto insurers can easily check your accident and claims history -- imagine what your premiums would be if insurers had no way to check. They would have to assume the worst about almost everyone, and charge accordingly. More realistically, you'd be asked to provide your claim history, and if you fraudulently provided a fake history, you'd be hit with severe penalties.

Wowfunhappy 8y ago
In many cities, you can't even rent an apartment without a credit history.
- esotericn 8y ago
  Can't say I've experienced that. I hear that credit agencies in the US are pretty entrenched though so it doesn't surprise me! The main difficulty I have here in the UK is with agencies that are extremely bureaucratic and can't deal with minor deviations from protocol. I tend to rent directly from individuals for that reason. I prefer speaking to actual humans rather than drones in layers of a bureaucracy.