This might actually be a good way to teach kids about credit and interest. Let them borrow a small amount at a high interest rate and walk them through paying it off.
It's one thing to tell them about financial responsibility. But watching a bad choice drain their piggy bank is the sort of trauma that leaves a scar.
But its just literally feeding McDonald's for no reason . Maybe the parents could rent money to kids in this way if you really wanna teach them that " lesson" for whatever reason .
The owners are Christian, but I think it's disingenuous to call them far-right or extremists. Compare their activities to Chick-Fil-A, for example; they're open Sunday and don't donate to hate groups.
Maybe I misremember but I thought they went crazy during covid and got into the whole antimask nonsense and refusing to comply with health and safety rules.
You could just ask easily be the bank yourself and save the "interest" for a birthday gift or something later on. This really isn't a difficult concept to use as a teaching opportunity without just screwing over a kid. Do you teach your kids to not walk into traffic by letting them get hit by a car too?
I mean, we're talking about borrowing 10 bucks for buying McDonald's here, I think they'll probably be able to recover from that just a little faster than they would from getting hit by a car.
As long as you make sure your kids know that you have their back and you'll support them through recovering from a setback like that, I think they'll be fine. Paying them back to erase all the pain of the loss might set an unrealistic expectation because at some point, you won't be there to bail them out anymore. Just don't add insult to injury by making fun of them or blaming them for their mistakes.
Oh I don't know if that was the reason for the one in the image. I agree with you that needing to finance ice cream is sad. I'm just thinking it could be a good intro to predatory finance for kids.
I just use credit for everything and hover in the 820s. Unless there's some substantial discount for paying cash I just don't see the point these days.
That being said, my wonderful credit score ain't doing shit for me. It's not like I get some magical super low interest rate. Maybe when things calm down it'll be worth it, but then there will be some other reason not to borrow money.
There are some nice perks to good credit outside of interest. It can qualify you for better housing, better perks on certain rentals, not having to worry about emergency situations killing your savings outright, and let's you take advantage of stuff like cash back and bulk purchasing discounts. An example is staple foods, being able to hit the once-a-year bulk deals on stuff like rice or Lawreys garlic salt can cut the price of those items in half or better (personal examples, but the thought should hold). Ancillary perks, but they do add up.
"Credit Score" exists purely to sell you more credit score. It's only there because they were forced to let you see your own credit history, and they figured "why not monetise that somehow", so now you'll be bombarded with ads for more credit and loans, which boosts your "score" while giving them a sliver in affiliate fees.
Actual lenders will examine your credit history, and apply their own score. The criteria for a phone contract, am unsecured bank loan, a mortgage, etc, will all have wildly different requirements. I have one credit card that I pay off each month, and that was enough to get a house.
Paying what you owe reliably is all they're really looking for.
Credit cards come with fraud protection and help you build a credit score, which will get you a lower interest rate on a loan, if you need one. So long as you only spend money you have on hand, and pay off your card every month in full, there's no down side.
is this a universal thing or are you just assuming that the entire world works like the US? Here in sweden i have never heard of anyone actually using a credit card.
The debt industry makes so much god damned money for the companies involved in it, it's not even funny.
Between student loans and credit cards, US citizens have a collective $1.73 trillion in debt. And let's just assume 15% interest on average (probably a low-ball to be honest): that's $173 billion going to these companies in interest payments per year.
Shit won't change here because too many people with too much power are making too much money.
In all fairness, it's not exactly something people talk about - and for the record, I've never ended up paying any interest on the card. It's just convenient, offering a layer of protection for charges, makes it easier for me to track spendings, and allows me to be earning interest on my paycheck by keeping it in a savings account until I need to balance the CC.