The Pros and Cons of Having Credit Card Essay : Plastic money is much in vogue today. Like many other conveniences of modern age, credit cards are a product of technology and clever thinking. These plastic devices have now become a ubiquitous feature of our mundane, day-to-day, buy and sell world. Credit cards are geared to make life easier for the common person, who is increasingly becoming a gargantuan consumer of goods and services.
The Pros and Cons of Having Credit Card Essay
Plastic money is much in vogue today. Like many other conveniences
of modern age, credit cards are a product of technology and clever thinking.
These plastic devices have now become a ubiquitous feature of our mundane,
day-to-day, buy and sell world. Credit cards are geared to make life easier for
the common person, who is increasingly becoming a gargantuan consumer of goods
and services.
A
credit card is a piece of plastic with some engravings and codes that help one
pay for goods and services even if one has no cash or currency notes on hand.
This part is easy. But this short process of buying and paying through the card
can become paying through one’s nose. Because, what happens invisibly while
transacting business with the help of a credit card is not always a
smooth affair in the long run. One must always remember that, ultimately, this
card is as good as your credit and each transaction made through the credit
card has legal implications. At times, it is an invitation to get into
debt with all the attendant complications.
Each
time your credit card helps you buy something, you, in fact, are
borrowing from your credit line with the credit card issuing company. As
a borrower one is expected to make monthly payments on the outstanding balance
to the credit card company. A credit card holder may be required to pay
just the minimum amount until the due date, usually once every month. If the
credit card holder fails to pay the required minimum amount, a finance fee is
charged to him/her. The fee is often hefty and inordinate.
Obviously,
there are advantages in having a credit card. One can buy a lot of things
without carrying wads of notes in one’s wallet or pockets. Keeping track of
one’s finances and expenses becomes easier because a single accounts statement
is made available by the company. Purchases can be made simply by mail or
phone. Payment of expenses can be made in easy monthly instalments. If the
product bought was defective, credit card allows one to withhold payment for
it. The convenience is extensive indeed—car rental, hotel, restaurant and other
reservations. At times, it feels like a great bliss in a complicated world
where time is short and chores unlimited. In an emergency, one can use the
credit card to obtain cash. One’s credit card history helps one to enhance
one’s credit-worthiness which can prove to be a boon when one wants to avail of
home loans and other larger borrowings.
But
one must not forget that a credit card demands to be used carefully and very
prudently. Like most modern devices, a credit card is neither good nor bad but
depends upon its user to make it so. Yes, the credit card has its pros and
cons. Only its advantages are immediately visible and readily availed of, while
disadvantages remain hidden. For impulsive buyers, credit card can become a
burden so utterly disproportionate to the weight of this plastic genie. It can
turn its reckless user into a compulsive over-spender and bury him/her into a
heap of debts.
Plastic
accounts are truly handy and serve the same purpose as money. With literally
millions of establishments the world over accepting credit card payments from
their customers, paying for goods and services has never been easier. Yet,
despite all the convenience that credit cards bring, and despite the purchasing
empowerment the credit card holders experience, there are still things that
need to be considered before securing a credit card.
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