Holy Sh!t! I thought we, stateside, had it bad.
I have what's known as a "secured" visa. I had to *PAY* them 250$ dollars to get a credit card with a limit of 200$ (It's now, after 4 years around 800). I'll never get that 250$ back, even if (when) I close the card. To make matters worse, I pay 7 quid a month, just to *HAVE* the card, I'm charged 21% interest (even after 4 years of *NO* late payments)and I have to pay a yearly fee of 75$, as a "maintenance fee".
All of this, just so I can "rebuild" my credit, but my credit is {bleep}, 'cos here, if you break a lease in an apartment, it's bad credit, even if you live in a shoddy apartment, which for all intents and purposes, is uninhabitable, due to a faulty stove. They let me move in, with the broken stove, said they'd fix it, but as soon as I signed the lease, they stopped answering my repair calls and ignored me, when I went into the office, to complain about it not working. The one time I tried to use it, the wiring caught on fire.
The funny things is, it's my "fault". When I complained to the State's Apartment Association, they said that even with witnesses and photgraphic evidence, I should have gotten a written work order and since I didn't have one, I owe them 7K, for a loss they received, even though they leased the apartment out one month *AFTER* I left.
I cannot stand Capitalism. :madashell:
