Re: Great SWT Program
nebulous99@gmail.com wrote:
On Oct 21, 12:38 am, Patricia Shanahan <p...@acm.org> wrote:
....
If it is due to simple lack of credit history, you could do what I did
when I moved to California in 1975, and had no US financial history. I
started small, with a couple of low-limit charge accounts at shops I was
going to use anyway. As it became clear that I would never go over my
limit and always paid on time, the credit limits increased. After a few
months of that, I could get a credit card.
Alternatively, I believe some banks offer credit cards tied to a savings
account, so that the card cannot be used to charge more than is in the
account. You might check with your bank to see whether they can do
anything like that for you.
Two problems:
1. Sounds like a lot of work.
2. I don't want to borrow anyway. I want to pay up front. Why is the
system so architected that people can't? Why was the credit card
number, of all things, standardized on as the payment identifier (and
despite being very poorly suited security-wise in addition to non-
universal)? Why no online equivalent of cold, hard cash that is
interoperable with any bank and with any vendor, and requires no
circumstances other than possessing a normal bank account to obtain
and to use? Of course it's too late to change any of that now; inertia
has set in big-time. But why?
I have NEVER used a credit card to borrow, in the sense that I have
always had the money to cover any charge in either my checking account
or in a savings account with overnight transfer to the checking account.
I worked out, in 1975, that life in California was smoother and more
convenient for people with credit cards than for people without, and
decided that the gain in convenience was worth the effort. With the
development of e-commerce I have become even more convinced I was right.
You need to make that trade-off for yourself. Remember we live in the
world as it is, not as you would like it to be.
There is a sort of equivalent of what you want, wire transfer, but it
tends to be used only for relatively large transactions because the
banks charge fees on it. For example, a British bank needed to send me
some money. I sent them a bunch of code numbers, and the money appeared
in my checking account. So did a $10 charge, not a problem relative to
that transaction, but prohibitive for routine purchases.
Patricia