Ah yes, the wonderful world of the self-employed. If you don't have a bank account, it's almost impossible to get one. Also impossible to get accounts such as a cell phone contract, unless you have a prior credit history. Total pain in the ass. We don't have state medical insurance here. So if you don't have health insurance, you go to state hospitals. The ones where the homeless people go. And you will die waiting in the queue.
So much for encouraging entrepeneurship.
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Isn't it ass backwards? You need to have good credit to be able to do things, but in order to build your credit report you need a credit card. And you can't have a credit card without having credit history. Thank god my mom saw the value in teaching me finances at an early age and co-signed a "credit card" for me when I was 13. It was a $200 limit and fully funded by her account if I failed to pay, but it taught me a lot at a young age and started building my credit so that I was able to have a good credit score by the time I was an adult.
So I guess I should be thankful the state does offer at least something here. Is there an option to pay for health insurance out of pocket if it doesn't come through your job? Can I go to the state hospital and pay to cut the line? I remember being offered a severance package from a prior job that gave me three months of health insurance. After the three months was up, it was $970 a month. That seems like such a ridiculous amount to pay monthly unless you're already sick and know you need multiple doctor visits.
The whole system is insane. Especially the day I was told, 20+ years after I opened my bank account, "we don't give bank accounts to self-employed people anymore". Not that I had ever had a zero balance, quite the opposite in fact. A few years later, I was told by a consultant, looking at my savings balance "oh, you qualify for a credit card, don't you want one?" I said no politely although I really wanted to tell her to shove it.
Wait, what? So, if you're self employed you've got to keep your money stashed under the mattress? No wonder there's so much crime there - there's tons of cash just floating around! That is ridiculous! They didn't try to take the account away from you because you were self employed, right? The trick with banks here is that if you have a low balance, they'll charge you a fee for their services. But if I keep just the right amount of money in there, it's free. Since leaving the work force, I dont think Ive been hitting that amount because I move money around a lot now. UGH I just realized this. I better go check!
There have been so many heists on cash vans, there was a big push towards getting everyone to use cards, with the banks making a killing on transaction fees. Luckily I got my account long before that. Now, if your account is empty, it's closed. You'll pay fewer fees if you have a fat balance. Card fraud is huge here and it's a huge rip-off all round. I'm always amazed to see foreign tourists hand over cards that aren't PIN-protected. That was phased out years ago here
That is a scary system! If your account is closed, then you have no choice but to get a credit card or use cash all the time? Sounds like they give you no leeway to fuck up in life there, otherwise itll be even harder to get back on top.
You'd never get a credit card. It's true how being between the cracks is such a long way up. Banks have been pressured to make fee-free accounts for the "unbankeable" though. Although of course you have to prove that you qualify for that too. Such a rip off. One of the many reasons why Africans have been at the forefront of developing non-traditional money transfer services
I mean, how do you expect anyone to get ahead in life if you dont give them a chance or teach them how to be "bankable"? Now that you say it, it makes a lot of sense why I see a lot of successful steemers coming from your continent.