U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B

Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by lizknope on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:14PM (#34645408)

We need more basic financial education in the US and probably the world.

I know people some people with thousands of dollars in credit card debt.

Currently I make about $50 a month in credit card rewards and after using them for 30 years I have never paid a penny in credit card interest. I looked at the credit card interest rate and it just seems ridiculous so I just don't buy things I can't pay off at the end of the month.

I know that most of the financial institutions purposely advertise and try to deceive people into going into debt so they can make more money from them.

I know that people run into difficult times but I see so many people buying things they don't really need with a credit card.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:U.S. credit card debt jumps 18.5% and hits a record $930.6B by unshavedyak on Friday February 03, 2023 @01:29PM (#34645677)

> We need more basic financial education in the US and probably the world.

We do, definitely. However wouldn't that also produce the same result as regulating the cards?

Ie i imagine cards are profitable for the responsible folk because they so heavily abuse the irresponsible and/or uneducated folk. If we were to educate everyone then the cards wouldn't exploit "anyone" and suddenly the card makers have no incentive to offer the profitable cash back/etc.

Now of course, we can't educate "everyone". And i'm not a fan of systems that build themselves on the back of the exploited.

Do i have the wrong framing here?

[ Parent | on HN ]