I ultimately ended up getting a secured card, just so I could rent cars from more car rental places; that card, presumably still secured, is my only credit card. I don't understand credit cards, at all.
I don't get "easy access to credit" with debit cards. Which is the part I don't understand! There have been many periods in my adult life where cash flow has been a significant problem for me and my family, but it has never even occurred to me to use revolving credit as part of a solution to those problems.
I'm not litigating whether unequal access to financial products is a bad thing. Inequity is a bad thing. We're on the same page there.
But when discussions like this come up and people imply that a bad credit score is somehow life-changing --- that just doesn't connect with my life experience? Like I definitely didn't come up rough or anything, but I feel like to the extent that there's value in access to these particular financial products, I'm well within the cohort of people who would perceive that value. And... I just don't get it? Like: a debit card from a good bank has actually pretty solid fraud protection? And lack of access to 2% rewards doesn't seem life changing?
> There have been many periods in my adult life where cash flow has been a significant problem for me and my family, but it has never even occurred to me to use revolving credit as part of a solution to those problems.
I don't support paying interest on credit card bills either, but some cards come with a "0% on balances for ~12 months" welcome offer [1], which might help a little if cash flow is tight, but the borrower knows that some income will be guaranteed in the coming months.
That the consumer bureaus get to decide who gets access to these benefits is something we all should be concerned with.