I come from a country where most people don’t have a credit card.
I cannot wrap my head around [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vmh3_nSR1jU) documentary.
Now I get that credit card fraud *is* a big problem.
But if all you need is the card number to order stuff, and card numbers are so easy to come by as shown in the documentary, then why is not every single criminal in the US running a credit card fraud operation?
It seems super easy and low risk. Get a burner device, order stuff from public wifi, and don’t be stupid about the delivery locations.
In: 548
Because interest on credit cards is huge, easily over 10%/yr. Especially in the US many people don’t pay off their their credit card bill every month, but just pay a fixed amount. This means credit card issuers get to charge interest, which brings in a lot of money for them.
This also explains why many people in the US try to get out of this spiral by trying to completely pay off their credit card debt. It’s real easy to fall into the trap of almost only paying off interest every month, which means it is very hard to get out of depth.
I think the rules around consumer credit (so also credit cards) are much more relaxed in the US, so people can also get into trouble by getting multiple expensive credit cards. Banks and other issuers (like big shopping franchises) keep offering these to people who can’t really afford them because of this. The people involved are more likely to let debt accumulate, and thus interest payments. Which is very lucrative.
I personally think this sort of easy credit should be heavily regulated, Fwiw.
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