this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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If you count paying off a credit card, or paying a phone bill every month "arbitrarily debt" then you're pretty stupid.
Credit cards are the definition of arbitrary debt. If the correct way to use them is to pay them off every month, and the only reason is for points/benefits, they are completely arbitrary. Just another way to profit off of people in difficult situations or those with weak willpower.
They also take a percentage of every transaction. Your 'reward points' came out of your own pocket in the form of credit card processing fees that are baked into the price of everything you buy.
They are also often subsidized with interest from people who don't pay their cards off
Visa takes a cut from transaction, only a portion of that goes to the bank. I get 2.5% cash back on my transactions, but Visa only charges a 2.24% transaction fee. There must be more to cash back than the transaction fee.