Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

noyb.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 271 posts

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#121

Post by [deleted] »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #86
harha wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

might be worth fixing the problem all together by making it easier to kick out people who don't pay rent.

Because landlords have never abused their power for financial gain, malice or outright to get sexual favours from desperate tenants It took nearly 10 for my previous landlord to face the justice. She was completely outrageous and shameless in her crimes - blatantly in violation of registration for HMC, violation of planning permissions, squalor, disrepair, the houses had rats and literal hole in the wall for rain and…

[deleted]

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#122

Post by mschuster91 »

formerly_proven wrote: post #107
ciclotrone wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it quite disturbing that high taxation is seen as a negative aspect of Europe. I lived in Italy, France and Germany, and I enjoyed public healthcare and education of very high standard at very affordable prices, and free in the limit that one cannot afford to pay for them. As a relative of a person with a chronic disease I can tell you that on the one hand if we are not bankrupt it is because of public healthc…

High taxes with no matching value behind them is undeniably a negative.

> High taxes with no matching value behind them

That is not the case for Germany. We have - even with all its shortcomings - a decent education system that's largely free and accessible for everyone, a decent healthcare system, a decent public transport system on local, regional and federal system, and a very decent social security network that covers unemployment, pension and elderly care.

The US in contrast has neither: parents have to pay five digits worth of money just for the birth of a child, pay through their nose for insurance, public schools are horribly underfunded, universities require six digits worth of debt, there's no high-speed rail worth the name, if you're unemployed you better have some savings, you have to take care about your 401k, and the best way if you need elderly care is to off yourself with a gun.

The only thing where the US actually is in front of Germany is allowing you to get a gun to off yourself. Here in Germany, it's almost impossible to own a gun, so people love to off themselves by jumping in front of a train, creating a huge mess for everyone else.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#123

Post by njarboe »

karpour wrote: post #103
interactivecode wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare is kinda shit in The Netherlands. Long waiting lists even for simple things. Never actually prescribing medication but instead over prescribing paracetamol. Only being able to get a set amount for appointments regardless of actual need. Sure if you’re in a car crash and urgently need care they will help you without going bankrupt but anything less urgent good luck getting an appointment this week / month /…

This, not nearly as bad in the US, but a mess of private insurances.

A mess of private insurances, partial payment by the government of private insurance based on income, and then full (or almost full) government payment based on veteran status, income, and age. It's more complicated than this of course.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#124

Post by yakito »

I remember a few years back, they themselves had proposed a system to use people's social media posts to create a "credit" system and rate individuals based on their postings. At the time, it was quite a mess. The public did not like the idea at all, and SCHUFA had to back down, but it's not the first time they've been involved in problems and controversies.

https://slate.com/technology/2012/06/schufa-s-plan-to-use-so...

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#125

Post by Unfrozen0688 »

ArmandGrillet wrote: post #37

Finally. Germany combines some of the worst aspects of the US (credit ranking, complicated abortion process, private healthcare if you want decent treatments) with the worst aspects of Europe (low digitalization, high taxation, recursive federalism: within the country and within the EU). A country like the Netherlands has its own issues (mainly housing) but doesn't have the myriad of pain points you can find in Germa…

low digitalization, high taxation

Sweden is highly digitalized, we pay on our phones, pay taxes on our phones, do government stuff on phone or webbrowser. No stores do cash anymore (also a negative)

High taxes is a positive if used right

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#126

Post by miroljub »

fabian2k wrote: post #71
panki27 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While choosing to be in the private system is an option, it only "makes sense" if you make at least 70k€ a year, so definitly not for everyone. The issue is not getting in - but getting back out before you retire and don't have enough available income to pay the rates anymore.

If you pay ~400 EUR for the public healthcare you make 70k or more. The cost for public healthcare is scaled by income, and is limited around 400 EUR. It's a bit higher now, but I would suspect that the OP is not necessarily talking about the most current values here and is hitting the older limit and therefore earning more than the "Beitragsbemessungsgrenze".

The limit is ~900 € per month, not ~400 €. People frequently forget the employer matching, which at the end comes from your pocket, since it's mandatory.

Also Freelancers and self-employed need to pay full contribution of 900 €, not "just" a half.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#127

Post by alexwhb »

formerly_proven wrote: post #107
ciclotrone wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it quite disturbing that high taxation is seen as a negative aspect of Europe. I lived in Italy, France and Germany, and I enjoyed public healthcare and education of very high standard at very affordable prices, and free in the limit that one cannot afford to pay for them. As a relative of a person with a chronic disease I can tell you that on the one hand if we are not bankrupt it is because of public healthc…

High taxes with no matching value behind them is undeniably a negative.

Agreed. Additionally taxation in our modern Fiat currencies is a farce, since the central banks can literally take as much buying power as they want from you. Taxation is literally just an illusion to make you feel like you are directly paying for government services.The real taxation is inflation.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#128

Post by miroljub »

Unfrozen0688 wrote: post #125
ArmandGrillet wrote: post #37

Finally. Germany combines some of the worst aspects of the US (credit ranking, complicated abortion process, private healthcare if you want decent treatments) with the worst aspects of Europe (low digitalization, high taxation, recursive federalism: within the country and within the EU). A country like the Netherlands has its own issues (mainly housing) but doesn't have the myriad of pain points you can find in Germa…

low digitalization, high taxation Sweden is highly digitalized, we pay on our phones, pay taxes on our phones, do government stuff on phone or webbrowser. No stores do cash anymore (also a negative) High taxes is a positive if used right

Sweden is a low tax land compared to Germany. In the past, it was known for high taxes, but one could argue that this progress came together with the tax reduction in the last decades.

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#129

Post by Unfrozen0688 »

jacquesm wrote: post #100
oytis wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Netherlands healthcare better? From what I've heard from people having lived in both countries, German healthcare is more accessible. E.g. in Netherlands you can't see a specialist doctor unless you convinced your GP you absolutely have to - which can be hard at times.

I'm 58 and not exactly in the best of health. I've had to rely on healthcare in NL quite a few times over the last 20 years or so and all of those were serious cases. I have nothing to complain about, but that's n=1. To increment that n a bit: I know lots of people here and almost all of them have had some health issues over the years and the vast majority of those have been dealt with in a serious and reasonably eff…

>when in other countries they'd spend a fortune to find out what's wrong with you in NL unless it's 100% clear you're going to have a hard time getting the care that you need.

Sweden here, I hear the same things. I have had good experiences with health care here as my problems have been "normal" and straight forward.

But what other countries? Really, name one.

Same with computers.

You want to fix a straight forward problem or a vague one?

Re: German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

#130

Post by mint2 »

Nextgrid wrote: post #113
formerly_proven wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High taxes with no matching value behind them is undeniably a negative.

Yes, that's my problem with high taxation, as someone who got burnt by it by virtue of living and paying taxes in the UK. I don't mind paying my fair share of tax if it means I get good value out of it, but the state of our healthcare here means that in practice the public healthcare system is no longer fit for purpose, so we are being forced to pay for a system that doesn't work and end up having to go private (and…

Except there’s a lot of services that are unsuited to being delivered by competitive markets as it’s nearly impossible to prevent monopolization.
Post reply on HN