They also have "debit cards" (sometimes called "bank cards"), but those don't participate on your credit score, so if you want to rent or mortgage, you are forced to use credit cards. Sometimes e.g. to young students you will give a debit card, because there they can't get over the limit (that easily, but again they try to catch you on overdraft).
So yeah, this is the reason for why us people are on average so indebted.
What is the banks' rationale for debit cards not offering a good "credit" score by default? Someone who never takes credit has a better chance of repaying one (real estate, for example) when it happens. This situation is crazy
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The banks don't want you to return the money, they can squeeze more money out of people, if they get more people into debt. Also this whole system encourages more spending on stupid stuff, which in turn increases GDP of the country and so... welcome the the Keynesian world...
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