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The ugly truth behind your fancy rewards credit card

• karaterobot 5y ago
  > They found that in the US, high-income consumers pay an average of $13 less per month through retail prices, and low-income people pay 60 cents more, because of swipe fees on merchants. Rich consumers spend more overall on fees, but it’s because they spend more in general. When it comes to a percentage of transaction values, it’s poorer people who lose out. If we're talking about $.60/mo, this seems like a tempest in a teapot. There are bigger issues in the world. There are such bigger issues, and so many of them, that I question why Vox would frame the article this way. If you want to talk about how credit cards are inherently regressive, this can't be your smoking gun. The harder conversation to have would be our relationship with consumerism and the credit system that pays for it, but that would involve a level of nuance that Vox has never been ready to provide.
  • ggm 5y ago
    The real sting for poor people and credit is the APR on cash advances and carried over debt from prior months which is akin (to me: in truth it is far less, but for dramatic effect) to illegal loan shark rates. Rich people avoid this by clearing the debt rigorously inside the time limits, and never use the card to advance cash. This can represent a 22% tax or worse.