1y ago

Americans Are Racking Up 'Phantom Debt' That Wall Street Can't Track

www.bloomberg.com

Americans Are Racking Up ‘Phantom Debt’ That Wall Street Can’t Track

Consumers have embraced 'Buy Now, Pay Later' products that allow them to pay for purchases in installments, but it's not clear how many of these loans are out there.

Paywall removed: https://archive.is/9SYHz

25 comments

- https://shop.affirm.com/gift-cards/dominos-standard-egift/
  Sort of yes sort of no.
  
  https://www.nbcnews.com/business/personal-finance/buy-now-pay-later-daily-essentials-groceries-young-adults-rcna141718
  
  It is indeed bullshit.
- Rockefeller over here... I just finance government cheese on fire sale.
Phantom debt is debt that has not been reported to credit agencies. You know who hates not having that data on you? Credit agencies.
- Business cards are useful for this. I have enough revolving credit limits now that it doesn't matter, but at one point I preferred to churn business cards, since a month's worth of expenses could ding my credit.
Maybe the government should actually try protecting people who are obviously too stupid to avoid these predatory practices. Maybe we should invest in an educated country. Maybe this is all working out just fine for businesses tied to politicians and therefore nothing more to worry about.
- Woah slow down there with that spicy take friend.
  
  had a rough day, came in hot
Housing market collapse?
- Corporate ownership means the housing market will never collapse
  
  For sure, but there were individuals buying homes too. Also, no savings, no more Airbnb and maybe can’t afford rent. Corporations will lose money, but they can sit on properties indefinitely.
  
  It will if we all die and don't need houses
- It will be a some sort market collapse. Wish I knew which industries to bet against.
new debt crisis just dropped
Wells Fargo estimates that there's about 46 billion dollars in phantom debt, and that's just from "Buy Now, Pay Later.” And that's just in the US alone.
You can take out microloans for groceries which is nuts but the US is dumb as fuck so ofc they’ll do it.

25 comments