BlazeAug 14, 2023

[AskEurope] Fellow Europeans, what is the aspect of USA lifestyle that surprises you the most?

https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/1865941

[AskEurope] Fellow Europeans, what is the aspect of USA lifestyle that surprises you the most? - tchncs

First of all, let’s try to avoid American-bashing, and stay respectful to everyone. I’ll start: for me it’s the tipping culture. Especially nowadays, with the recent post on [email protected] [/c/[email protected]] [https://lemmy.world/c/mildlyinfuriating] with the 40% tip, it just seems so weird to me to have to pay extra just so that menu prices can stay low.

Show threadJRaccoonAug 14, 2023
The expectation of everyone having a credit card as soon as they can get one and paying everything with credit to somehow “build” credit. Sounds such a great way to get people into financial trouble at a young age.
Show threadguazzabuglioAug 14, 2023
It’s a double-edged sword. You can definitely get yourself in trouble if you act like a credit card is magic money. On the other hand, my last vacation was paid for almost entirely with credit card points.
Show threadphilpoAug 14, 2023
Which is basically your consumer data …
Show threadguazzabuglioAug 14, 2023
Yeah that’s not lost on me either. Part of the double-edged sword I suppose.
Show threaddot20
But isn’t the whole concept of having to ‘build credit’ insane? In the Netherlands we don’t have that
Aug 14, 2023 at 9:51pmWeb
Show threadguazzabuglioAug 14, 2023
Of course it’s insane. Unfortunately it’s not exclusively a US issue.
Show threadDarkShaggyAug 14, 2023
How else would you know a person’s credit worthiness when you are being asked to lend them a million dollars? What would you use instead?
Show threaddot20Aug 15, 2023

If you have any outstanding debts, that’s recorded in a registry (BKR), so the banks won’t give you a loan (you won’t even be able to buy a phone on credit).

If you have no outstanding debts, you are not registered at BKR, so the banks will give you a loan according to their internal formulas (e.g. if you don’t have a high salary you won’t get a €1 million loan, but you might be able to get a €300.000 one)

Show threadSyndicAug 15, 2023
If we want to buy a house for example? A copy of your registry of fines where you get an entry for not paying an invoice or such, your income and your savings are taking into consideration over here.