A recent survey has indicated that more and more people use credit cards nowadays and that the number of tragedies arising from bad debts has been surging over the past few years. Write an essay outlying the advantages and disadvantages of using credit cards, and at the end state your personal view. Give your essay a title.
Credit cards : friends or enemies?
When checking what you should put into your wallets before going to work, you won’t miss credit cards which are as vital as paper currency. Nowadays, credit cards are one of our daily necessities. Credit cards enable consumers to purchase commodities or services without having them make immediate payment. Yet what lay behind the pleasure associated with such a free purchasing pattern are a multitude of problems arising from bad debts.
Undeniably, credit cards enable consumers to enjoy more priced items and services which may help improve their living quality. A ‘quality living’, as perceived by many, ought not to be one comprising various commodities like smartphones, tablets, exquisite meals, clothes, and even travelling packages. But these sources of joyfulness carry a monetary value which is beyond people’s immediate paying capacity as they receive monthly salaries. Fortunately, there are credit cards enabling consumers to purchase what they long for without having to make immediate payment in cash. Instead, the payment is made monthly or is even divided and made in separate periods for installments. With these tiny cards, consumers can attain a quality life more easily.
Consumers are obsessed with credit cards not only due to this advantage. Credit cards bring forth ‘convenient consumption’. A recent TV commercial shows a scene with a man who held a visa card dancing in different nations around the globe. This illustrates a practical function of credit cards. People can shop across oceans and continents by credit cards, and can thus advert troubles and inconvenience encountered when exchanging currencies. This function is also valid in virtual world since many online shopping platforms like Taobao, Groupons and Ebay require consumers to pay by credit cards. The purchase can be accomplished simply at home. Convenient shopping isn’t a distant dream if with credit cards.
Nevertheless, behind the glittering façade of credit cards, many people are inflicted by the problems derived from the cards. People are easily enticed into overconsumption by using credit cards, which means they will easily be in debt. Since the payment is made at the end of each month, people are less conscious of the exact amount of money they spend. What they concretely know is that they can buy without making immediate payment. Overconsumption and subsequent debts are the results. According to a survey commissioned by the Consumer Council, 65% of the interviewed credit card users suffered from debts incurred by excessive shopping. The undesirable financial burden associated with credit cards will strain consumers and deprive them of the ability to lead a ‘quality life’.
Moreover, the prevalence of credit cards among the new generations will undermine their capacities to monitor their finance. Compared with the previous generations, the contemporary ones are more influenced by materialism. With reference to a study conducted by the University of Hong Kong, the observed youngsters aged 19-25 are less likely to accumulate wealth but simply spend on what they desired for. Conspicuously, the new generations have weaker capabilities to manage their financial conditions and love to spend for entertainment. Credit cards will worsen the problem because of their one vital function : enabling consumers to purchase without the need to pay immediately. The desire to shop is aggravated by credit cards. They are, therefore, more susceptible to bearing debts. Credit cards will further distort their concepts of financial management.
Should we use credit cards cautiously, they can really bring forth positive influence on our life. The cards do enable us to obtain commodities which value much beyond our earning capacity and the immediate paying ability (determined by the amount of cash.). To prevent being in debt due to credit cards, we should manage our finance well and manipulate out desire. Credit cards are evil only if we succumb to our wants and have obscure concepts of financial management.
Credit cards have become the ‘must-have’ item in the wallets of many people. Whether it moulds our life in a better shape or it ruins us depends on how we ‘master’ these cards.