Friday, June 27, 2008

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention

A credit card is a system of payment named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. In the case of credit cards, the issuer lends money to the consumer (or the user) to be paid later to the merchant. Credit card allows the consumer to 'revolve' their balance, but at the cost of having interest charged.

The reasons of overspent the credit card can be due to the user’s attitude. When you pay cash, you can "feel" the money leaving you. This is not true with credit cards. Flipping a credit card up on a counter registers nothing emotionally. Besides that, with using the credit card, it would be harder for you to know that how much you have spent so far, especially for those who are poor in manage their finance. In addition, if users cannot pay for the bills on time, the amount that you need to pay will become bigger and bigger since the interest imposed is high.

To prevent credit card debts become your burden, try to use less of plastic card. If you ‘have to’ use plastic, debit card can be an alternative way. Moreover, you should do a personal budget in order to understand how much money is available for you to spend and so on. Thirdly, yet importantly, clear all the card’s bills every months in order to avoid paying high interest amount. Don’t ever look down on the interest rate of 18%, this might trap you into debts.

Finally, hope that all the users can understand the pros and cons of credit card and think twice before sweeping your card.

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