Those Plastics Cards

Do you remember how you felt when you first got your credit card? How did you choose your first credit card? Was it based on the perks, points, credibility of the banks? I remember clearly my very first credit card was HSBC. Why? Because at that point of time, they gave the best perks in terms of grocery shopping. HAHA! I am like a typical “aunty”. I am still not sure if I got the best deal for my grocery shopping, but I am still happy with my HSBC cards. Don’t know why. That time, we didn’t have the convenience of CreditCard Surplus where one can simply apply online and organize the cards by interest rates, best deals, gas rewards, etc. Now you can even transfer your balance to other cards simply by few clicks of the mouse. See what technology can do to our lives. The danger of such convenience though, people can simply put off their payments, let it roll over and accumulate it as one big chunk of debt. The banks love such customers, of course. The interests in late payments part of their bonus.

When it comes to credit card debts, I still strongly believe in the traditional way of dealing with it. Have none at all. Do you know the interest rate can be up to 24%? For every $10 you owe, you need to pay $2.40 in interest. That’s just madness. If you can’t afford the thing in the first place, don’t buy it. You don’t need to depend on the bank’s money to show the world you own something. Ultimately, it’s still not yours unless it’s fully paid. No matter what credit card you are using, ultimately you should be the ultimate master of your spending. Never ever let your financial well being to be controlled by those plastics. No wonder there’s a saying that “Cash is King” and we will never hear about credit card in the same way.