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Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

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Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

#51

Post by brndnmtthws »

quuquuquu wrote: post #46
tertius wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, save, then buy if you still want to. You can buy a house with no credit history. Look it up.

According to credit suisse, only 33m people in this world have 1m+ USD of assets. So, out of 3.5 billion adults in this world, only 0.7% have the ability to buy a home in a large city in cash. What, then, should the other 99.3% of people do?

Improve your skills, increase income, invest and save, live with roommates, learn that consumerism is programmed into people through TV ads and thus is completely unnecessary.

Mr. Money Mustache[1] has been blogging about this for years, and it's a great place to start for people who don't understand personal finance. Also check out the personal finance[2] and financial independence[3] subreddits.

[1]: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/

[2]: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/

[3]: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

#52

Post by tertius »

quuquuquu wrote: post #46
tertius wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, save, then buy if you still want to. You can buy a house with no credit history. Look it up.

According to credit suisse, only 33m people in this world have 1m+ USD of assets. So, out of 3.5 billion adults in this world, only 0.7% have the ability to buy a home in a large city in cash. What, then, should the other 99.3% of people do?

I'm not suggesting buying a house in cash. This would take a long time.

There are lenders who do not require a credit history. Look it up.

The "save, wait" comment was more general than house buying.

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

#53

Post by code4tee »

All very good advice.

The bit about calmly but methodically collecting a paper trail and then reading it back to them is excellent advice for any out of control bureaucracy. Such entities can handle angry irate people all day long, but a calm and collected person that posses ample evidence of documented screw ups and potential illegalities is a bureaucracy's worst nightmare.

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

#55

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh »

tertius wrote: post #50
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you are probably spending 3K in 3 months anyway. If you absolutely aren't (or you can't hit the minimum spend in other ways [pay for your friends etc.]), sure, don't get the card.

More work: - cancel the card because yearly fee. - pay tax on churned $. - shorten cumulative account age (lowers credit score). I've done this... Not worth it. Focus on more important things.

One card with a yearly fee is probably worth it for the other benefits. Other than that, the traditional way is to downgrade it to a free card. Either way, it's fine if you think it doesn't make sense for you, but it's pretty much no-hidden-costs net positive, and that's why so many people actively churn.

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

#56

Post by weirdstuff »

g051051 wrote: post #48

Finally a breath of fresh air and reason amidst all of the fear mongering and anti-CRA FUD. The system isn't perfect, and consumers are definitely at risk...but it's far more important to really understand the relationship and interplay between CRAs and businesses in order to get a handle on the problems and work towards meaningful reform.

No, I think we need more FUD given what has just occurred. SSN and sensitive financial data of over half of U.S. adults obtained by criminals. Nice.

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

#57

Post by tertius »

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #55
tertius wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More work: - cancel the card because yearly fee. - pay tax on churned $. - shorten cumulative account age (lowers credit score). I've done this... Not worth it. Focus on more important things.

One card with a yearly fee is probably worth it for the other benefits. Other than that, the traditional way is to downgrade it to a free card. Either way, it's fine if you think it doesn't make sense for you, but it's pretty much no-hidden-costs net positive, and that's why so many people actively churn.

I understand why. Semi-free money.

Invest in increasing your income instead. That's my recommendation. Long term thinking.

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

#58

Post by astral303 »

"Angry people demand; professionals “require.” "

YES YES YES--it's not enough to merely be aware of the connotations of your words. You must also be aware of any unintended information conveyed through their use.

For example, despite being synonyms, the use of the word "demand" in this context exposes one as an amateur. It doesn't matter if you think this is unfair. It matters that you know all information conveyed, directly or indirectly.

(This is incredibly good writing! Great business writing exhibits the characteristics of great code: as simple as possible but no simpler, and unambiguous. Reading this post is worth your time just for the chance to see an example of a relentlessly relevant post.)

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

#59

Post by lotsofpulp »

tertius wrote: post #40
eli wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the scam is that all other shoppers are subsidizing your reward points in the form of slightly higher prices. There are some apartments around here that let you pay rent by credit card. You'd be foolish not to take advantage of that and save at least 1% on your rent.

I'd ask for a cash/direct debit discount instead. Cut out the middleman.

As an operator of multiple businesses, I much prefer customers who pay with cards than cash. There is a high cost to handling cash, making sure employees don't steal, counting it, getting change from bank, depositing it, etc. Therefore, it might not behoove the owner of the business to provide a cash discount.

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

#60

Post by tertius »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #59
tertius wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd ask for a cash/direct debit discount instead. Cut out the middleman.

As an operator of multiple businesses, I much prefer customers who pay with cards than cash. There is a high cost to handling cash, making sure employees don't steal, counting it, getting change from bank, depositing it, etc. Therefore, it might not behoove the owner of the business to provide a cash discount.

Direct debit (or cash). Rental is more often done with direct debit than credit cards.
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