Greentext

It's so much worse than I think you even realize, but you definitely nailed some of the key pieces.

It's correct that we don't opt in, that it's strictly not govt, it's corporations (3 of them), and that modern life in the US makes it impossible to avoid playing this game.

Some additional details:

• the 3 companies each keep their own records - usually they match each other closely, but not always
• wrong information in the consumer's credit report is arduous to correct and basically 100% the consumer's responsibility - too fucking bad, whatever outcome this may cause
• the only way to know if our info is being used to fraudulently open accounts is to periodically check these reports (noting the difficulty in correcting them)
• malicious use is such a problem that all 3 "services" ("extortion rackets" is literally more accurate) recommended "locking" one's credit with each of the 3, so no accounts may be created at all
• many stories of kids finding out their parents loaded them up with debt, very difficult to overcome
• the score is a measure of how much lenders can expect to profit off you - financial decisions that are good for the individual are not necessarily good for the score
• evictions, like other records, stay active for 7 years I believe, and having an eviction on one's record makes every part of renting worse and harder

And nothing I've said is even recent insanity, all of that's been true a long time. It's really staggering just how effectively the US has systematized destroying our working class. We've been the global leader in innovating oppression for decades, it's been interesting watching the rest of the world start to catch on just how severe it is here.

How do Americans tolerate this?

Brainwashing. Americans don't realize they live in a Dystopian shithole where, since the 80s, the rules are made by the rich to keep the common person down.

We're coming to the end game of this now.

First off, it's not a social credit score, it's a financial credit score, we're not talking about the system China has for it's citizens.

As with many of these deep dives on Americanisms, what you've found is generally worst case scenarios and also not universally applicable. Some states have restrictions on what your credit score can be used for and how it can impact you, car insurance and rentals being a prime example.

Also, by simply having a credit card (and not using it!) and not having any lapsed debts (collections or reported unpaid bills) you will easily have a score in the mid to high 700s. If you carry a balance month to month but regularly make your minimum payments you will have a credit score in the low to mid 700s. Hell. my wife had 5 bills in collection and still had a 650 before I met her.

As far as credit score applicability, it's often referenced by businesses as a measure of risk. If you have a 650 instead of a 750 your car insurance might be higher because your risk of payment is higher, but we're only talking about 10-15% more per year (US south east). Same with with rental, if you have a bunch of bills in collection or default your score will be bad, but a rental provider will be less willing to provide you service if you have a history of not paying your bills. You should still be able to find a place to live, but it will likely be more limited (for example if you have a 400, but not if you have something like a 650) or you may have a larger security deposit.

Overall your credit score likely won't be an issue 95% of the time, but if you habitually don't pay your bills then your score will go down and businesses that check your score won't want to do business with you. I can't make this clear enough, you have to be deliberate in your actions if you want your score to be low enough to cause a problem. My wife had $15k in student loans, $10k in credit card debt, and 5 unpaid bills that had been sent to collections and she still was in the 600s. The score system exists for a reason, I would argue that it should be a bit more forgiving, but the reason it exists is fair.

Non US citizens might have trouble relating to this, but people in the US take blatant advantage of systems a lot of times. I have a coworker that moved for a new job, but he didn't want to sell his house because he got it at a good rate and time. He listed his house for a decent rate and his first tenant stopped paying after the second month. He waited until 4 months hadn't been paid to take them to court and it took another 6 months to have them removed. Just before they were going to be escorted out by the sheriff they paid him the entire back rent in cash to try to prevent the eviction (they had the money the whole time!) After they were evicted he reached out to the local municipality for the water account and they found out the tenant had bypassed the water meter (basically they were stealing). The municipality then said he had to pay to fix the bypass, penalized him for the stolen utilities, and said that for any future tenants he would have to keep the account in his name rather than having the tenants file it.

American credit score systems suck, but they are generally fair and they prove themselves necessary because a certain percentage of Americans seem to have fundamental problems with following common and decent rules of this world.

I just read an article the other day that said Gen Z has the highest rate of credit card fraud ever seen in US history. As a group they just don't see any issue with ordering something online and then saying it never arrived and reversing the charges. I'm all for saying fuck the system and down with corporate interests, but it's hard to have a functional modern society that casually commits fraud and theft.

To be fair, the fact that you haven't heard of any Aussie credit is because companies keep it private to themselves. They definitely have financial information on you and utilize it to decide the interest rate on your loans.

Much less horrible than the US dystopia for sure tho