[adekok]

> Let's talk about how the ubiquitous use of SSN and credit reports puts a massively unfair burden on every US citizen.

In France, private credit bureaus don't exist. It's up to banks to track these things.

The country seems to work fine.

[csa]

> In France

> The country seems to work fine.

I hope you realize the joy you have brought to many people's day by writing this.

I would pay a large sum of money to see all of the replies that will go unwritten.

[toomanybeersies]

I know that everyone loves to laugh at France, but France isn't a bad country. It's hardly a dysfunctional hellhole.

[yesenadam]

Everyone? Only estadounidenses.

[astura]

Do the banks talk to each other about their customers? So if you don't pay a loan to bank A does bank B know about it and make their lending decisions based on that information? If so, it's functionally identical to the credit reporting agencies in the US.

Is the same type of credit with the same interest rates available just as easily in France as in the US?

[maxxxxx]

In Germany life is also not dominated by the credit agencies like in the US but there is a thing called "Schufa" that does some credit reporting. Not sure how it works though.

[chokma]

The Schufa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schufa ) provides data for their partners/customers on your credit rating and credit score.

Banks will usually not give you an account and shops won't give you credit if your rating is bad. For example, you are so late to pay your bills that the creditor has involved collection agencies or the courts to get their money.

Landlords will more often than not demand a document from the Schufa (supplied at your own expense) to consider you eligible for renting a flat or a house.

edit: grammar

[mschuster91]

> Landlords will more often than not demand a document from the Schufa (supplied at your own expense) to consider you eligible for renting a flat or a house.

Not just landlords, employers do Schufa checks too, same for phone/mobile contracts, cable TV, and for what its worth even power/gas companies. The latter is really bad because it locks poor people into the highly expensive "Grundversorgung" tarriff (regulated, the local utility MUST offer it) by the local utility, thus taking away even more of their money.

[tpolzer]

The important distinction is that Schufa is heavily regulated and cannot e.g. give banks disputed information as long as the dispute is not resolved.

[astura]

CRAs in the US are also highly regulated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Reporting_Act