3 ms·

I'm glad you are playing the devil's advocate, everyone saying "boo" is not really constructive. The high level argument I'm making is that there are few benef

by im3w1l 6y ago

I'm glad you are playing the devil's advocate, everyone saying "boo" is not really constructive. The high level argument I'm making is that there are few benefits and more drawbacks to this. What's the happiest possible success story we can tell here? Someone without a phone, uses loans they can only get with this invention. They use the phone to access social networks and build friendships, access government services, apply for jobs, turn their life around. How likely is this story? Not likely. Getting a shitty phone is cheap, and this loan wont be needed. So what is a likelier way this will be used? Someone is unhappy with their current phone and wants an upgrade. Having a history of financial irresponsibility, it would be hard for them to get a loan, but now with this tech they can. They get their new phone and show it off to their friends a few months earlier than they otherwise could, and reduce their consumption in other areas to afford their payments. In a significant minority of cases they fail to pay on time and their phone is looked, leading to significant distress. In addition, it makes other things possible down the line. I believe some states suspend drivers licenses if you fail to make alimony payments. With this technology such a policy could be extended to the phone. In less democratic countries it could be used to disable phones of activists. A rhetorical question: Is a country with legal indentured servitude freer than one without?

srtjstjsj 6y ago
So instead of borrowing $1000 for a remote-disableable phone, you borrow $1500 for a phone that comes with less efficient on-site repo service. Is that better?
- im3w1l 6y ago
  I think ideally people should not borrow with the phone as collateral at all, since it is a necessity for modern life, rather only use their future income as security. Making repo more inefficient will disincentivize it. Are there any current phone-loans doing repo?
- ClumsyPilot 6y ago
  That pricegap is absolutely fictional, the extra I'd have to pay to finance a phone varies from 15% to 0%, probably because the operator is getting bulk/discounted pricing.
- imtringued 6y ago
  Customers who pay off their phone receive no benefit from this policy. The business model is purely built around customers who can't pay the phone off and that you must lock the phone to get it back. The end result is that a lot people who shouldn't have gotten a financed phone in the first place will get their phones locked instead of simply getting a cheaper phone. Making financing more accessible to risky customers means more repossession. The repossession rate is simply a matter of company policy and not a matter of personal responsibility. The economic downsides of people having their phones locked will far exceed the benefits of being able to buy a slightly better phone.

by im3w1l 6y ago

srtjstjsj 6y ago

So instead of borrowing $1000 for a remote-disableable phone, you borrow $1500 for a phone that comes with less efficient on-site repo service. Is that better?

im3w1l 6y ago
I think ideally people should not borrow with the phone as collateral at all, since it is a necessity for modern life, rather only use their future income as security. Making repo more inefficient will disincentivize it. Are there any current phone-loans doing repo?
ClumsyPilot 6y ago
That pricegap is absolutely fictional, the extra I'd have to pay to finance a phone varies from 15% to 0%, probably because the operator is getting bulk/discounted pricing.
imtringued 6y ago
Customers who pay off their phone receive no benefit from this policy. The business model is purely built around customers who can't pay the phone off and that you must lock the phone to get it back. The end result is that a lot people who shouldn't have gotten a financed phone in the first place will get their phones locked instead of simply getting a cheaper phone. Making financing more accessible to risky customers means more repossession. The repossession rate is simply a matter of company policy and not a matter of personal responsibility. The economic downsides of people having their phones locked will far exceed the benefits of being able to buy a slightly better phone.