Article – Is Credit Card a Godsend or a Scourge?
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Each time you go shopping, how often will you pay cash? Each time you dine in a restaurant, how often will you pay cash? To most people, the answer is negative. Then what paying method do they choose? Yes, you may have guessed it correctly. It is the credit card. Nowadays the number of credit card users is gaining in popularity. And credit card is all the vogue. Meanwhile, the number of tragedies arising from bad debts has jumped over the past few years. This prompted questions, why are credit cards so popular? What demerits do credit cards bring?
Credit cards are prevalent among people because they bring advantages to us. Credit cards provide us the ease of payment. It is a form of deferred payment that can substitute cash. People do not need to carry ample cash in hand for payment and can use credit card instead. This is especially conducive to paying highly-priced products. This implies that people can lead an easier life, without the burden of carrying cash around. This successfully reduces crimes and minimizes losses related to money as people carry less cash, they will be less appealing to criminals and they will lose less even if they unfortunately become the victim.
Credit cards also provide financial support, especially for emergency uses for cash-strapped people. These people may only have a paucity of money at the moment but need to spend. Credit cards enable them to satisfy their needs, overcoming their problem of shortage of funds for the time being. They can avoid embarrassments or predicaments of not having enough cash to use at the point of consumption. Credit card provides instant cash and also cash in advance that can assist people timely.
Credit cards offer the users a state of privilege as well. Users can often get gifts for using credit cards. Credit card users are often perceived as higher-income group and have a more opulent life. They seem to enjoy a higher social status, and can enjoy life to the fullest.
With that said, credit cards are incontestably advantageous to people, notwithstanding that they come with disadvantages.
Credit cards lure people into debts. Though people use credit cards regularly, they do not seem to realize that using credit cards will mislead someone to the habit of spending money without care. The infinite convenience of credit cards accompanied by the unconscious recognition of the real nature of credit cards bedevils the users. They are beset by the accumulation of debts. Lamentably most of them swept the problem under the carpet. The problem eventually snowballed and got out of control. They may be unable to handle the debts and go bankrupt without a choice.
As aforementioned, some of the debtors may be too pessimistic, or feel so troubled by the problem that they may get mental illnesses. They may also fail to get over the problem and commit suicide. They may also turn to loan sharks for money to repay debts, but they cannot manage to repay the loan sharks back and they may be harmed thereby. These all lead to tragedies.
Credit cards also have lurking risk of huge loss. They may become the target of hackers or thieves. Since credit cards are valuable, one may suffer tremendous loss if a credit card is lost. Credit cards also contain personal information; it is deplorable if others get to them so that they can use your information for illicit uses.
In conclusion, credit cards have both advantages and disadvantages. It is hard to determine which side outweighs the other. But what really matters is the users. Our attitudes and behaviors of using credit cards are pivotal in determining whether credit card is a godsend or a scourge. Only if we use them wisely will they be beneficial and helpful. We should learn how to get the hang of it, otherwise misuses will lead us to disasters.
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