Some might refer to the good ol’ credit card as the Fantastic Plastic. As recent statistics have shown, credit cards in the western world are proving to be anything but fantastic, especially for those who succumb to its use. Debt quickly emerges and strangles the card owner somewhat like a Boa Constrictor strangling its host.
Deceptive Plastic
Perhaps it would be better referred to as Deceptive Plastic. Many card holders don’t realize what their balance is, on a day to day basis, or just how much interest they are paying on funds not paid in full by the due date.
Others should consider dubbing their credit cards Drastic Plastic. These are the people who call on their credit cards for emergencies, yet they have no management plan for the newly acquired debt. They resort to using their credit cards when times are lean, or when the temptation of a purchase makes their financial situation even more drastic!
Credit Card Debts
Credit card debt is at record levels, as the cash-strapped struggle to give up a certain standard of living, or forego a lifestyle that is not necessarily essential to their basic daily living requirements. Instead, they continue to over-commit themselves financially, and look to utilize a band-aid solution of putting it on the plastic. They believe they have survived to live and play another day. Another day, that is, until the debt escalates and becomes insurmountable.
Credit Cards Use
There are those who use their plastic to ‘keep up with the Joneses’. Others possess a…‘I would like to have’ mentality. When cash and household budgets are tight, cutting back on frivolous spending, and doing without should be a preferred way of thinking, especially when so much of life’s necessities are already being paid for by credit card. In harsh economic times, think smart, buy smart and save smart.
On average, students in the USA carry in excess of $4,000 on credit cards by the time they graduate. Indeed, education has its price. At the other end of the demographic, pensioners each carry an average of over $10,000 in credit card debt by the time they retire.
Savings or Credit?
There are ironies aplenty when one considers the credit card and how it is used. At the point of sale, the sales person or cashier, after swiping the card, is often heard to ask, Is that savings or credit? Understandably, the consumer is entitled to snicker – Savings? For many, savings is something that has gone the way of the Unicorn and the Dodo into folklore oblivion. Something of fictitious existence in a time no longer known.
The further irony of credit cards is the advice given by the financial sages of our day: Only use your credit card if you have the cash. Why use a credit card if you have the cash? Also, is cash not king? If so, the plastic is just that – plastic, false, and best used for making cheap ornaments, and not to be used as a method of transacting financial interaction between buyer and seller.
The concept of credit cards is seductively cruel. We hear it all the time: Buy now! Pay later. Beware! The promise could end up like financial herpes, as you keep paying, and paying, and paying to levels beyond your wildest dreams and for amounts well above what you originally signed up for.
The message with credit cards is clear. You need to ensure that your fantastic plastic is your servant and not your master. If you can’t clearly determine how this is done, it is best to slip it out of your wallet or purse and leave it at home in the dark corners of your bedside drawer.
This article has been provided by Creditor Web. At CreditorWeb.com you can compare over 100 credit cards from multiple banks and apply for
credit cards online.
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