Credit

I hate the fact that I have a credit card, actually two credit cards, in addition to a student line of credit that I'm in a 6-month no-payment "grace" period for right now.

One of the cards is a Mastercard I got from Canada Post which is technically a debit card because it doesn't allow you to spend over the amount you load onto it. 

The other is a TD Visa card I spontaneously agreed to sign up for when I went into a TD branch to get help with an issue I was having with my debit card; how did I fall for the "rewards" marketing trick again? 

I have told myself on a number of occasions I will never use a credit card again, I will go cash only, but I keep caving to the convenience and short-term comfort of having the means to mindlessly buy whatever I want with the assumption that I will eventually be able to pay it off.

Procrastination and false hope are the principle values of the phenomenon of credit and the business model of banks and credit unions.

It's easy to forget or be ignorant of the fact that these financial institutions are businesses trying to sell you products and services just like any other business. 

They market what they're selling you as practically free money, free spending ability: you can buy a house, you can buy a car, you can go eat out wherever you want whenever you want, you can pay for the outrageous post-secondary tuition fees. 

But they only give you this ability because they assume you won't be able to pay them back in a timely fashion so they can charge you interest (at whatever rate they want when it comes to credit cards).

They are "banking" on people's spending mistakes, procrastination, or unfortunate circumstances because that's how they make their profit. 

Sure they also provide services such as securely storing your money in savings accounts when you have excess, but this is what gives them the means to be able to take advantage of people who have a shortage of money. 

If you put money into a savings account or some kind of investment, you are actually donating your money to a big corporate entity that is selling this money to people less well-off financially with you.

Of course, not everyone who takes out loans and credit are necessarily in a bad place financially. 

To start one's own business usually a person needs a large amount of financial capital to get started even if they may being doing well in terms of having the means to pay the living costs of themselves and their family if they have one. 

But because we're in a system where ultimately we're all drawing from the same money supply (ignoring the technicalities of the national bank being able to increase the money supply), this new business owner who can happily live their life with what they have already is taking potential funds for people who need it to be able to live without the mental stress of having insecurity around their ability to meet their survival needs. 

And sure, people may say that this new business will help the economy and therefore trickle down, aggregately improving the well-being of all people living in the same society, but is this actual true? I don't think so. 

Whatever this new business is whether it is a restaurant, a laundromat, a mobile app, a fitness studio, the people who are already struggling to meet their basic needs very likely won't be able to pay to enjoy the products or services offered by this new business trying to make a profit.

So why do we continue to run things this way and why do each of us as individual persons allow banks to take our money or emotionally manipulate us to "lend" (easily confused with "give") us money in the short term which we will be stuck paying back plus more in the future? 

As I mentioned before, for myself at least, it's convivence and comfort. I wouldn't call it necessity because I can go to a food bank to get my nutrition needs taken care of and I could find some tent or tree or building to sleep under without having to pay rent if no one in my social circle was willing to let me stay in places they own, but many people, including myself until recently, would not see food banks or sleeping rough as real options (definitely not pleasant or enjoyable ones but they would give one some stories and life experience for sure).

I attended a Zoom-inar yesterday about the "Better Tent City" initiative that's been shaped over the past year and a bit in Kitchener. 

One of the tenants of this tiny home community brought up a good point when talking about their experiences: if you don't have the ability to get credit, to go into debt, you have less ability to meet your essential needs. 

People who are able to get credit are almost always people who have debt already: one needs a good credit score to be able to get credit. 

If you came from a childhood where your parents weren't around or were working hard just to maintain survival it's very unlikely you've built up a good credit score, if one at all which is needed in most cases to get access to credit to pay rent or buy other things. As this person put it, it's a backwards system, it makes no sense to me now that I've learned how this system works.

Unfortunately, very little financial literacy is taught in school and not very many people in the world have the time or energy to read or learn about the system they live in, they are to busy trying to survive in it. 

I'm fortunate to have had the experiences I have had and be in a position right now where I do have credit and I am able to at least for the next little while take care of my basic needs (and I have parents and family who I really don't want to rely on anymore but who would support me with credit of their own or likely donations if I asked for it but they are in debt themselves).

So with knowledge and insight I have, should I try to live without credit? Should I deny offers of credit from banks and my family? Should I start relying on food banks once my fridge is empty and should I find free places to sleep when the rental prices become too high for me to afford?

What would the world look like if instead of this credit system, everyone did their best to maintain a monetary balance of $0: you work to earn what you need ​and then you enjoy the pleasures of life that money can't buy. 

Isn't this how societies in the past who didn't have monetary systems functioned? Did they actually live better quality and more fulfilling lives than many of us in money-centric, "developed" societies live today?

Why can't we have a system that rather than offering people credit in exchange for convenience and perceived comfort, offers people dignity, compassion, and true comfort for nothing in exchange? 

I think it can be done we just need to educate ourselves and change our attitudes.

Let us as humanity stop selling credit, and give ourselves credit for our ability to love and care for all people in our world.