Chis has at least $7300 of unpaid credit card debt to his name that I can confirm.
Yeah, that largely jibes with what I have, and is a lot more internet trustworthy than the "nine thousand" estimate in the ebay thread.
I'm actually kinda shocked it's so common for retailers to have their own credit cards,
When you buy something with a credit card, the retailer has to pay a transaction fee to the creditor. Retailers would rather pay as few transaction fees as possible, so it makes a lot of sense for them to issue their own credit cards where they pay a chunk (if not all) of the transaction fees to themselves. And they make a handsome interest profit from people like Chris in the process. This is why you see all sorts of retailers issuing their own cards these days, even ones that make almost no sense, like Toys "Я" Us; there's no reason for them not to.
Retail credit is not a new thing. Time was when almost all retailers did business through credit, especially in rural areas, because their customers wouldn't themselves get paid until the next crop was in etc. The communications explosion has made it easy for retailers to go back to this way of doing business, but in card form.
Strangely, I don't think any of his credit card accounts have ended up in collections. All his closed accounts were listed as paid and closed.
Chris may not understand all the complexities of compound interest and credit, but he's smart enough to know to make payments on time. He may not understand very well that the minimum payment is just that: a minimum, and he could pay more (not that he would). He may just understand that that's the payment he needs to make on time to be able to continue to use the card, just like the electric payment is what he needs to make on time to continue to play his vidya. So Chris is probably very good about making monthly minimum payments, though that makes him very bad at actually managing his debt.
I was a little surprised he continues to make minimum payments on cards he's maxed out, seeing as he's not getting any benefit from them in that state. I suspect he makes minimum payments hoping for the balance to go down just enough for him to max them out again with another small purchase (such as that relatively inexpensive lego tree thing "the trolls" supposedly gave to him), thereby ensuring Chris continues to pay the largest amount possible in interest (
). This is probably why he begs for expensive, multi hundred dollar sets on the internet; making minimum payments only reduces his balance enough below maximum for him to make small lego purchases of relatively inexpensive sets.
The closed accounts jointly held by Chris and Borb were probably closed by Borb. I strongly suspect the others were closed through some sort of credit rollover involving some rollover incentive Chris wanted such as a higher balance with which to buy more legos. That's about the only way I can see someone like Chris building up a even a $3000 limit on that Capital One account.
Chris is the preferred credit holder in the US, because he doesn't manage his spending. That's why our country is in such shitty shape.
Also because he spends the maximum amount possible in interest by making minimum payments on perpetually maxed accounts, which is pure profit for his creditors. Chris is the bread and butter of the consumer credit industry.
It's gonna be real tough to buy all them games with only 800 a month, and still be able to eat and live under a roof.
You don't need to pay for a roof you don't have. I wonder, exactly how many legos can you fit in an old shopping cart?
take on water if you don't pay.