Are Credit Cards a Boon, or Bane?

For thousands of years, mankind used bartering to obtain the goods and services they needed, ‘shoe my horse and I’ll give you a bag of potatoes’ type of thing. Later, coins of precious, then less precious metal were used until finally; nation states had grown to a position from which they could successfully guarantee the worth of paper money notes. This situation continued unchanged for hundreds of years, until 1946; when John Biggins invented the first bank card and turned the world of purchasing on its head. Since then, pushed by new technology and exorbitantly expensive marketing campaigns, credit and charge cards have now become one of the most common and versatile means of giving payment.

The advantages of having a credit card are legion. No need to carry large amounts of cash, the ease of making payments online, ability to spread out the cost of a purchase over a few months and ease of getting cash from ATM machines worldwide, are just a few of the advantages of having a credit card. But unfortunately, not everything about owning a credit card is beneficial. 

For one thing, technology is great, but only when it’s working. So, when you need cash on a Saturday night and find the ATM empty, do you still praise credit cards, or do think back fondly on your old, cash-stuffed pay packet? What about when traveling, there are still many places in the world, and many small scale merchants, who still insist on cash. This can be problematic to say the least when you are out in the wilds somewhere and need a meal or a bed for the night. And of course, while credit cards may make it easy to spend, they also make it easy to get into debt.

In deciding whether credit cards are a boon to enjoy, or a bane to bear, ask yourself; does my credit card work for me, or do I work for my credit card? After enjoying the exhilaration of buying, for far too many people the answer is that they work for their credit card, paying back much more than they spent. 

Credit cards are a two edged sword. Used wisely credit cards are a boon, but become blasé about using them, and they can quickly become a bane. The best advice is to use your credit card the same way porcupines make love; very, very carefully.

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