I used one for paying monthly bills and utilities and didn’t redeem rewards for a couple of years, it was a few hundred dollars by the time I got to it which was really nice but also risky to hold because my bank could arbitrarily recalculate the value of the rewards points
I agree they also have benefits like extended warranties, IMO the way to go is to have two lines from the same bank, one with low interest and a high limit locked to only be used for emergency expenses, and another card with a low limit that has good rewards
One can be a financial cushion and the other can be habitually used to skim rewards with relatively lower risk of ending up in debt
Yeah it’s definitely needed to start building a credit history but a low enough limit to avoid getting into debt unless the person getting it has a lot of restraint and diligence about tracking their finances lol
Bankruptcy button
The only good payment plans I’ve seen are the ones attached to an Amazon credit card that charge 0% for up to a year as long as no payments are missed (the trustworthiness of this probably varies by region). Which you select manually from a reliable website frontend.
The consequences of missing a payment for all of these are the same, they hit your credit score. But at least from the Amazon Credit Card ones I’ve seen, the payment is just part of your normal credit card bill payment.
A lot of people have problems with Affirm and other credit card companies fucking up auto-payments on their end and blaming the user, with automatic hits to their credit scores. At least with a credit card bill payments are reliable.
IMO saving up is always better, credit cards should be avoided, payment plans should be avoided, most people can only be trusted with the lowest interest card they can get with the smallest limit they can get away with. I also wasted a lot of money not understanding how my bank’s overdraft protection worked in the past.
Never do payment plans on basic necessities like this from Costco, they’re basically payday loans that know you won’t be able to pay them off. If you have to use them you can’t afford them.
Edit: basically avoid credit cards and financing as much as humanly possibly
The most impressive story-focused games I got on Steam Deck are
Looks amazing on Steam Deck and runs really well, more story focused FPS though it has a mixed tone, it’s $5 for a grey-market steam key from G2A. It’s also available through a DODI repack on 1337x.to or Fitgirl
CW: Very dark and very violent despite its mixed tone, does not sanitize Nazi violence against queers and other enemies of fascists, has story sequences from POV of child abuse and forced animal abuse
One of the best looking games ever and runs well on Steam Deck. Haven’t gotten too far into the story yet but it’s really good.
Steam Deck verified, haven’t tried it yet because I want a full week to get really immersed. It’s a classic Fallout style game set in the Soviet Union and it’s written by communists
You play as Norman Reedus doing sci-fi mutual aid to rebuild America through infrastructure by Hideo Kojima
Soviet FPS Fallout with survival horror elements, semi-open zones, story-driven, for train lovers and people that love the post-apocalyptic Soviet setting. You are incentivized to avoid combat when possible. Characters made positive comments about Mao and you are more or less part of a small commune, beautiful communist imagery and natural setting. (Doesn’t support Steam Cloud Saves, requires manual backup)
It’s Fallout New Vegas
Third person horror shooter inspired by classics like Twin Peaks and The Shining, made by Remedy, kind of reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other 90s cheese
This is the pack-in game for Steam Deck by Valve, but does not come pre-installed, teaches you about Steam Deck controls
The newer Resident Evil games run really well on Steam Deck and have more emphasis on their story and cutscenes
Takes some level of tinkering, low-medium settings with XESS enabled in the game settings to good 40fps performance but looks really impressive on Steam Deck
The themes are a miss but the cinematography and acting in this game is phenomenal
Side scrolling animated adventure, uses some gorgeous and innovative 2d animation systems, lots of eye candy I think it’s like a Metroidvania somewhat
First person sci-fi immersive sim like classic Deus Ex, haven’t tried it but it’s a niche classic
Classic Fallout is available and playable, may take some tinkering with setting and controller settings
You play a 1930s New York Detective solving murders, by Rockstar Games
It’s kind of like Zelda and the only really good games Ubisoft ever made, first game is like a fairy tale, later ones become more edgy
Fitgirl repacks on https://fitgirl-repacks.site/
DODI repacks on https://1337x.to/
How’s it going