Credit cards: Help or Hindrance?
By kbkbooks
@kbkbooks (7022)
Canada
January 27, 2007 8:52pm CST
Credit cards can be helpful if you know how to manage them. You can purchase things and defer the payment till a later time. This is fine if you know exactly how you will pay later but it's dangerous to speculate. The person who warned, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." knew what kind of trouble it would be to expect income to pay for things before you actually had the money in your hand. It can lead to mountains of insurmountable debt... bankruptcy... who knows? If you pay off your purchase the month after you make it, that won't happen.... So is credit more of a help or a hindrance?
2 people like this
13 responses
@arvee17 (730)
• Philippines
7 Feb 07
it's a big hindrance for anyone who don't know how to use it. but i think it is also a hindrance even for those people who knows how to use it... we always feel we've got a lot of money and don't care much about tomorrow. i had 3 credit cards before.. and because of those cards i was never able to save. i really despise having them... after i paid my debts, i cut off my cards and decided that i am better off not having them... and i never regret a single day without them.
1 person likes this
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
8 Feb 07
FOr us, it was helpful, and now it's a hindrance - we spent money we didn't have, and now we are trying to pay it off. We don't want to be in debt for the rest of our lives. It's going to be a long, hard path to getting out from under this, but once we're done, I'm sure it'll be better.
Right now we're not using our credit cards, but once we finish paying them off, we'll probably just be very careful about using them.
1 person likes this
@soldenski (2503)
• United States
8 Feb 07
It is a help when you are in need. But it is so easy to use credit card's that before you know it, you are in debt.
1 person likes this
@lulu897 (176)
• Canada
7 Feb 07
I think credit cards are a hindrance. They are way to convinient. I would rather pay cash. About 8 years ago we got in way to deep and almost lost the house and everything else. We learnt our lesson. Now we are very careful with our money and our cards.
1 person likes this
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
8 Feb 07
Credit cards are sometime a necessity. For instance... it is very difficult to buy anything on the Internet without a credit card.
There were very useful before we had teller machines everywhere to withdraw cash. These days... it is just as easy to use the card connected to your bank account.
The big problem with credit cards is that you go to a shop... see something on special and decide to buy it... even so you cannot afford it. You think that you are saving money because it is on special. But if it takes you 12 months to repay it... the interests will cost you more that what you did save on the special.
Credit cards are for people with discipline. But Mastercard or any other card... are not interested by people with discipline. They want people who will not repay their monthly bill... so that they can earn interests on the money.
A perfect example of this... is that people who repay their bill in full each month... rarely get a limit increase. While the people who only make the minimum payment every month... get a limit increase every 12 or 24 months. Why? Because Mastercard is making some great money from the interests and is greedy to make some more. They don't care about the fact that this person is obviously a compulsive buyer and is digging itself into a debt which it might never be able to get out of.
Sure... we can blame the person for not being very smart and for its lack of discipline.
But we can also blame Mastercard and other cards for preying on that type of people.
For my part... I don't feel sorry for Mastercard when someone default on their repayment and go bankrupt. In any case... Mastercard has an allowance to cover itself against that. It is built in its rate of interests. Which is why the interests are so high.
I think people have a legitimate reason to sue their credit card provider for driving them bankrupt. When someone own $10.000 on their credit card... and the provider increase their limit to $15.000 ... the provider is obviously greedy and does not care about the welfare of its customer.
1 person likes this
@milott (2646)
• India
29 Jan 07
Credit card is a boon for those who know how to use them wisely, else it is a monster who will slowly but steadily eat you out without you ever being known about it. Yes, it has more disadvantages than advantages for those misusers. Only mantra with credit card should be that you should not leave any amount left unpaid in it no matter what is the situation except in rare cases for one or two months it is okay, else you should pay out the entire balance fully, then you are safe with credit cards.
1 person likes this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
28 Jan 07
Credit cards are to me a convenience. I don't carry much cash with me and I can't be bothered writing a check for everything, plus I very seldom buy what I can't afford.
1 person likes this
@hoghoney (3747)
• United States
29 Jan 07
I have a credit card and I love it. but guess what it is a Pre-Paid card it gives me good credit report and I can use it anywhere that takes Master Card but I put the money on it myself and if it has none on it them you cant get bad credit from it and you cant start over charging things. I even have half of my pay checks deposited to it. I use it all the time for stuff. its the best thing they have come out with. and you dont get no monthly bill that you have to pay for either.
@amazing_Grace (479)
• United States
28 Jan 07
credit cards are a hinderance. They allow you to go in debt for your purchases if your not careful.
1 person likes this
@ag_abscruzmd (2283)
• United States
29 Jan 07
Before a person should apply for a credit card, he/she should also know the disadvantages or advantages that go with its use. It is good to use credit cards for purchases that could increase in value over time. Also, some credit cards give added points that could accumulate if you purchase from certain stores. In short, one should be responsible enough to use it and make sure that he/she doesn't spend beyond his/her means. For me, I would rather pay in cash. I am a compulsive buyer so it's best that if I don't have money to burn, I may as well not buy anything.
1 person likes this
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