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A few years ago I went to a Toyota dealership to consider purchasing a vehicle. I prefer used, but my wife insisted on new, so there we were. The dealership had a large maybe 7' tall propped up giant poster explaining that you could trade in your previous vehicle that you hadn't paid off and they would pay it off for you. They then would roll your remaining balance into a new loan with the additional balance for your new financed Toyota.
So it is a scheme to get you very indebted to Toyota finance with a second order loan.
Also sometimes Amazon has an option to pay for things over the next few months on credit.
Retailers get that giving you credit is the real way to sink their claws into you.
If it's zero interest and you're responsible there is not reason not to finance everything at 0% interest. I understand this is bad advice to dumb people who are not responsible but I've done very well just off inflation before opportunity cost into investments for financing many things.
Yes, the credit card issue. Conscientious people farm good credit scores by auto-paying their credit card debt off every month. It's free credit one month at a time. Or a few months at a time for furniture, etc. Time value adjusted $20 bills are lying around waiting for you to pick them up. Unless you are sort of low conscientiousness.
So credit companies rake in billions for the trivial price of constantly giving a few conscientious people free monthly microloans.
But it isn't actually "free" because the fees charged to merchants are passed on to the consumers. If everyone uses credit cards, everything costs more. (2% perhaps? Too lazy to look it up.) It's just hidden from you. The credit card companies aren't charities.
I could go on about how the agreements that merchants have to charge the same price to cash and credit customers are an abusive monopolistic practice, but not now.
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