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Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

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Re: Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

#331

Post by tialaramex »

raverbashing wrote: post #317
tarsinge wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In France we don’t have credit scores and credit monitoring companies, but everytime you take a loan you are asked for a ton of proof of solvability, and basically give your full bank statements to the credit lender so that they can check your incomes vs spendings (and see what you spend on btw). Don’t know what’s worse.

The interviews sucks, but do you think those credit bureaus (+ your bank + your credit card operator) don't have that exact same information? I might add it's one thing to buy a car or house on credit, another, very different is to gouge on credit cards and have them topped up beyond your repayment capacity.

In the UK at least the Credit Reference Agencies don't have any information except debts and re-payments.

The best of them (Experian) can see that I have a credit card and I pay it off every month. They can see I don't have any unsecured loans from major banks, and that I'm registered to vote (information available for personal inspection to anybody but supplied in bulk only to CRAs)

None of them has any idea that I own property, or that I have a large amount of savings, or that my salary is many times more than my expenditures. That's invisible. I could prove it if I needed to do so for some reason, but it isn't passively collected (in the UK at least).

Re: Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

#332

Post by navigatesol »

elcomet wrote: post #318
frereubu wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great 99% Invisible episode about how credit cards came about, and what it was like beforehand, where you would be interviewed at length by a store before being given credit to buy, for example, a piece of furniture. Credit cards were designed to outsource checking of credit-worthiness, stop intrusive interviews with stores and avoid embarrassment of being rejected in-store. Lax digital storage of informati…

Coming from Europe, it would never occur to me to buy furniture on credit, is this something common in the US ?

>it would never occur to me to buy furniture on credit

Ikea, and nearly any reasonably sized furniture store, has a financing arm. So I assume it's common (and a money maker).

Thing is, often these places offer 6 months interest free and what not, so as long as you pay off your debt in the allotted time, it's smarter than paying cash.

Re: Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

#333

Post by donogh »

pergadad wrote: post #326
jdietrich wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also European, but buying furniture on credit is perfectly normal in my country - indeed, it would be quite unusual to buy any big-ticket item and not be offered credit terms, usually with an interest-free option.

Being offered whether actually planning to buy on credit are different things. I'm German and would never buy furniture for which I don't have the money (exception maybe if the oven breaks and I don't have enough at hand) - but I'd never buy a sofa paying as instalments.

Culturally, Germany seems to have a strong aversion to personal debt. In the UK and Ireland, consumer behavior is very much in line with the US.

Re: Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

#334

Post by throwaway2048 »

bootlooped wrote: post #58
greedo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, most of us did opt in. If you look at the credit agreements we sign when we buy cars, open credit accounts, enter into a mortgage, we give the lender the privilege to share our data with these credit reporting companies.

I read or heard a phrase for this recently and it's "consent theater".

Free to make any choice, as long as its the choice already made for you.

Re: Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

#335

Post by Retric »

navigatesol wrote: post #332
elcomet wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coming from Europe, it would never occur to me to buy furniture on credit, is this something common in the US ?

> it would never occur to me to buy furniture on credit Ikea, and nearly any reasonably sized furniture store, has a financing arm. So I assume it's common (and a money maker). Thing is, often these places offer 6 months interest free and what not, so as long as you pay off your debt in the allotted time, it's smarter than paying cash.

Those loans can be a profit center as they make it really easy to miss a payment, and then instantly jack up the rates to ~20% APR. Think short window to make a payment and no automatic payments available. It’s probably not worth it for effectively a sub 1% discount.

Re: Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

#337

Post by navigatesol »

Retric wrote: post #335
navigatesol wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it would never occur to me to buy furniture on credit Ikea, and nearly any reasonably sized furniture store, has a financing arm. So I assume it's common (and a money maker). Thing is, often these places offer 6 months interest free and what not, so as long as you pay off your debt in the allotted time, it's smarter than paying cash.

Those loans can be a profit center as they make it really easy to miss a payment, and then instantly jack up the rates to ~20% APR. Think short window to make a payment and no automatic payments available. It’s probably not worth it for effectively a sub 1% discount.

>It’s probably not worth it for effectively a sub 1% discount.

The discount is small, I agree. But it's always worth it. It's riskless if you have the cash anyway.

Re: Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

#338

Post by robocat »

nostrademons wrote: post #142
throwawaycert wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit scores change constantly. What your 80 point drop told creditors is "This person might not have enough money to pay their bills, or is careless or forgetful.". You are perceived as higher risk because, statistically, you are a higher risk. Those of us who maintain excellent credit do it in part by making sure our money gets where it's supposed to. I check online to make sure payments post, or hand in payments…

I was surprised how much they change constantly, for silly things like how much balance you have on your credit cards. My wife & I both have excellent credit scores, and we pay all of our bills in full every month. Nevertheless, I've noticed a ~50 point swing in credit scores from month-to-month, all dependent on whether airline tickets, furniture, or charitable contributions happened to make it onto this month's bil…

> we can take steps to game it, like not putting any major purchases on credit card in the 3-6 months before getting a mortgage

I wonder how much your ability to game it indicates whether you are likely to be a good or bad debtor?

Re: Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

#339

Post by Erwin »

svennek wrote: post #303
beefield wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I am not that confident about that. I live in Europe, and to my knowledge we do not have that kind of credit score companies (there are databases about people who have defaulted their debts, though), and to my knowledge it is banks themselves that do the credit evaluation.[1] And credit for middle class is to my standards pretty cheap enough here as well. [1] More than happy to be corrected here with sources,…

Of course they do (exist in Europe). Most companies giving you a credit of some sort (banks, phone contracts, ...) are required to do vetting of you. To help them do that, they use credit rating bureaus. In Europe, you as a private person just don't know it and don't have access to your own rating. But you are likely to be rated anyways.. Here is one danish example (at least three exists) https://translate.google.com…

AFAIK the KreditRegisteret you linked to is required because Denmark, not part of Euro, does not have access to AnaCredit. So it's more of a tool for financial stability, and not private loan estimates. What is EU's AnaCredit?

> AnaCredit is a dataset with detailed information on individual bank loans in the euro area. The name stands for “analytical credit datasets”. The ECB launched the project in 2011 – together with the euro area and some non-euro area national central banks. It uses data and national credit registers to achieve a harmonised database that supports several central banking functions, such as decision-making in monetary policy and macroprudential supervision.

In Denmark I'm mostly aware of RKI, which seems to be owned by Experian now. If you fail to pay your loans, you end up on that bad payer list. Otherwise getting a loan is a private matter between you and your bank unless you want to use a third party lender

Re: Equifax removed the $125 claim payout option after millions submitted claims

#340

Post by Retric »

navigatesol wrote: post #337
Retric wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those loans can be a profit center as they make it really easy to miss a payment, and then instantly jack up the rates to ~20% APR. Think short window to make a payment and no automatic payments available. It’s probably not worth it for effectively a sub 1% discount.

> It’s probably not worth it for effectively a sub 1% discount. The discount is small, I agree. But it's always worth it. It's riskless if you have the cash anyway.

It’s up to you how many hoops you want to jump through for ~10$. Just be aware some companies do things like destroying mail without opening it.
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