Credit Perspectives: 3 Ways To Look At Credit Cards
Filed under: Credit Cards
I’ve heard a lot of bickering over credit cards lately. It appears there are two camps that are dead-set on pushing their conflicting agendas and everyone else is caught up in their fight.
One side is convinced that credit cards are great. They free you from the need to carry cash, they provide you with great rewards, and they give you the ability to tap your future earning power for today’s needs. If you have the means to purchase something now, start enjoying it now, and pay it back later, why deprive yourself of that joy?
The other would have you believe that credit cards are nothing more than little plastic enslavement devices. From early on, you’re conditioned to swipe a card whenever you need anything and then owe your soul to the company store. Eventually you owe more than you could ever pay back and you are essentially owned by whoever holds your account.
While these two factions rage on, there is a third wise entrant that keeps quietly on the sidelines. This group, to which I subscribe, knows that credit cards cannot be good nor evil, they are merely tools. Credit cards are useful, but just as potentially dangerous as a power saw: In the hands of a careful man, educated in how to use the tool, it is an invaluable resource if you’re trying to build a house. In the hands of a careless man, it cuts through human limbs just as easily as wood. Credit cards have the same capacity to be life-improving or life-damaging.
Over the next three days, I will examine the philosophies and reasoning of the different groups so you can decide for yourself. Stay tuned and bookmark this page as I update it with links to the articles portraying the various sides in this debate.
Coming up this week:
- Tuesday - Credit Cards Are Good
- Wednesday - Credit Cards Are Evil
- Thursday - Credit Cards Are Dangerous Tools
July 7th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Agree! Credit cards cannot be good nor evil, it all depends on how a person use it wisely. For instance, I knew somebody who got all his capital to start his business using his credit card. Then he paid it all after his business went successful. Another person I knew bought all the latest gadgets using his credit card, he’s now dead broke.
July 8th, 2008 at 4:27 am
I still prefer to use debit cards than credit card. Maybe, it is because of my previous experience of being a bad payer.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:11 am
[...] is the first installment of Credit Perspectives. Please visit the introductory post for the other perspectives provided in the rest of the [...]
July 9th, 2008 at 11:55 am
[...] is the second installment of Credit Perspectives. Please visit the introductory post for the other perspectives provided in the rest of the [...]
July 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
[...] is the third installment of Credit Perspectives. Please visit the introductory post for the other perspectives provided in the rest of the [...]
August 12th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Caveman - that’s a great comparison of credit cards to power tools… useful if used right, dangerous if used wrong. I actually write about credit cards as a hobby and I’m so glad I found your site. To be fair, I can understand both view points about credit cards. Consumers are angry when their low interest rate credit cards are jacked up because of a change in their credit record. Other people (like me, and it sounds like you too) realize they can be beneficial but we just need to use them very carefully.