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Comment by prepend | Hacker News Reader

“Among the remaining 4 in 10 adults who would have more difficulty covering such an expense, the most common approaches include carrying a balance on credit cards and borrowing from friends or family”

Having to carry a credit card balance isn’t much of a struggle. This article needs to do more work to make a better headline so it’s not actually “40% of Americans would be inconvenienced...”

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Well if you don't have the money to pay it off right away, and it's on your credit card, then how are you supposed to find even more money to pay that off? What if another surprise bill came at that time? You'd be going down the debt spiral.

That’s why it’s inconvenient. I mean the average cc rate is 20% so every month you can’t pay off the $400 means you’re paying $70 in interest. It sucks but I don’t know how much of a struggle that is.

Carrying a balance isn't the struggle, it's paying off the accumulation that is.

> Having to carry a credit card balance isn’t much of a struggle.

Let's say you put $400 on a CC that has 18% interest rate. By paying only the minimum payment each month you end up paying a total of $598 after 4 years and 11 months. This means that for the next 4 years, a credit card is no longer a safe escape for you.

A better example would be an emergency Root Canal at $1,600. This would take you 12 years and 7 months to pay off.

It'd be less than $150 to have the tooth extracted.

Damn right. Frickin' entitled americans think they have a right to fix their body parts when the obvious solution is to just yank it out/chop it off to save cash.

All fine and well if that's a tooth that's in the back. If it's a front tooth, you are going to have to then pay to get a fake one to put in its place. Having holes in your mouth will mess up your teeth even more in the long term.

>> Let's say you put $400 on a CC that has 18% interest rate

Wow, that's a hell of interest rate. In Poland there's regulatory law that caps interest rates for credit cards (and all types of consumer credits, really) at 11%, or 4x base interest rate set by Polish central bank. Applying the same logic to US would give you what, 9% interest rate? But I guess Americans would see that as messing with free markets :)

18% is low. Most are closer to 21-24%

Lenders in Poland still need to make a profit, so are they more restrictive in issuing cards, or is it harder to default on a loan? Or does the government subsidize them?

At 11% interest rate you can still make a lot of profit. I don't think banks are restrictive on issuing them, basically anyone who is gainfully employed can get one.

Yes, it’s not fun. I agree. My point is that the article is not precise to be useful. If the article was about how 40% of Americans go through what you describe, that would make sense.

Right now it includes the scenario you describe as well as “charged it this month, waited to pay it off next month.” How many Americans do either is useful for knowing the extent of impact.

Many people haven't been taught the difference between spending money you don't have and spending money you won't have. The former is dangerous, the latter is nigh-suicidal.

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