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Originally Posted by wjjkoevoets
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Originally Posted by P1et
Would you give money or provide services to people you don't know or trust? I take it you wouldn't.
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I do not have Comcast's budget.
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So why would a bank, a utilities company or an internet provider
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They don't necessiraly have to, but not on the basis of the information provided by the current credit score IMHO.
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Stop being paranoid? You're aware this country has a massive problem with people racking up debt and not being able to pay it back, right?
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I am not saying there shouldn't be checks in place, sorry for not being clear on that. There definitely should be some form of check.
The way things go back at home are IMHO, more fair while still being strict. If you apply for any type of credit, your credit provider will check your salary and check your "BKR" registration. It's basically a national database in which all your loans and mortages are registered. If you have sufficient salary to cover the loan payments and you have no "negative" BKR registration, you're likely good to go, no problem.
This is IMHO, a much fairer system where I, as a newcomer, am not considered to be someone who's likely not going to be paying his bills. Not guilty until proven otherwise if you will.
If I miss payments, my credit provider will ask BKR to alter the registration and put me in there as someone who has been a naughty boy. I believe that sticks for at least 5 years. And trust me when I say you do NOT want a negative BKR registration...
They recently amended the law so as to consider cell phone subscriptions with which you get a "free" phone to be loans as well. This worked great at preventing idiots from getting a new subscription every 3 months just to get the latest iPhone.
Now this sytem does not apply to regular non-credit subscriptions like cable. If someone doesn't pay, the service provider just disconnects them. They may also block you from getting a subscription at a later date or they may have you pay a deposit first. But it's only AFTER you've been a bad boy. The company loses 2 monthly payments over it, boohoo, they've got plenty of money and it's called "risk of having a company".
Having said that, it's hard to compare the US with my own country so I can kind of understand where you're coming from, but I don't really think that a credit system like you have is much of a solution. Especially not when the system does not prevent you from getting 6 different credit cards with which you pay off the bills of the other credit cards. Back home, you would be hard pressed to even get a second credit card (i.e. BKR database comes into play).
Sorry for being so overly negative again. It's just that I don't like being treated as if I'm some financially irresponsible coot when I know I have my financials under control. |
Americans are pretty allergic to having national databases, and really anything that puts us in any sort of a box. A BKR database for credit/banking stuff wouldn't fly. One could argue we already have it, but there are actually 3+ private companies that "manage" the credit system. America also has pretty generous bankruptcy provisions, which makes all companies more conservative in extending credit.