Perfect 10? Nevermind That. Ask Her for Her Credit Score

[Orrex]

39. Ah, yes. The old "you should have planned ahead" mantra

One should certainly plan ahead when planning ahead is possible, but that's hardly the issue. The issue is what happens when one is unable to plan ahead?

I've had this discussion enough times to expect that you'll follow with a sermon about how it's always possible to plan ahead, and I suppose that's probably true, except for the hundreds of millions of Americans who live from paycheck to paycheck.

At this point, the sermon then becomes "cut expenses" or "get another job," both of which are likewise unrealistic for most of those same hundreds of millions.

I know people who drive 60K cars, have 250K mortages, and every new thing you can have ... TV/DVR/electric bottle openers FFS. Yea, you loose your job you are in a hurt quick ... that's your fault.

I know no one like that, nor have I ever known anyone like that, though I'm sure that they exist, just as I'm equally sure that they're irrelevant to this discussion.

However, I know a great many people who struggle with $525/month mortages with 20+ year old cars and second- or third-hand clothing and no smartphones or electric bottle openers. These are the people who routinely get totally and permanently fucked by situations entirely out of their control, and these are the people for whom credit scores are simply another bludgeon used to beat them into economic submission.