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Apparently having good credit isn’t enough, unless you’ve already pledged loyalty to the debt system. (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Just went through a mess trying to finance a used car. I haven’t borrowed money since 2012, no debt, no credit cards, just living within my means. When I applied for a loan, I was told I was refused. Not because of bad credit, but because I hadn’t used credit recently enough.

The dealership advertises “no applications refused,” but apparently if you don’t have an active debt history, you’re too much of a mystery for the system.

Co-signer? Not allowed. Using my own bank account for payments? Denied. Their solution? Open a joint account with my dad just to satisfy a bank’s paperwork, pay hundreds in fees over 6 years just to make it work.

The credit system says you can't borrow money unless you've already been borrowing money, like somehow living within your means disqualifies you. It's not about good credit, it's about loyalty to the debt game. Screw you for standing on your own feet, I guess.

Just needed to get that off my chest. Anyone else run into this nonsense?

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)

No credit IS bad credit.

You don't have to carry debt to have a credit history, but you do have to use credit to have a credit history. If you haven't used the system, they have no knowledge of your crdit worthiness.

I use credit cards as a tool to protect my finances and purchases (fraud protection is greater with CCs than a bank account/card, as well as being able to dispute transactions where service was failed to be delivered or inadequate). I also always pay off my statement balance in full every month.

I do my best to only buy things I can afford to pay in full, but a home and automobile can be exceptions to that (even though I bought my auto in full due to a financial windfall). But I still participate in the system to gain the benefits of the system

www.nerdwallet.com is a great resource on credit education and provides a wealth of tools for starting build your bad credit to good credit.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Unfortunately this is one of those cases that you have to have foresight to game the system intentionally. You can bring up your credit pretty quickly, but nothing beats some long running lines of credit.

The financial system benefits greatly from people taking out loans and being unable to pay off the whole thing. They don't get any benefit from a person who just pays their debt off right away. Profits over humanity every single time.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 week ago (5 children)

It is stupid, but you can just get a credit card and always pay it off so you don't get charged interest

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago

Yeah this is the answer. Because of the 1 - 3% cash back, sometimes even more for gas, you're also leaving money in the table if you aren't using a credit card.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Last I checked, you don’t even need to use the credit cards, you just need to have them. IIRC, they only ding you for late payments and for having high balances.

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