Managing Credit Cards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Managing Credit Cards - Essay Example However, there are a few things that go un-noticed. Credit cards come with a premium. Prompt repayments will help avoid undue tension and misunderstandings. Experts believe that the majority of U.S. citizens have at least one credit card, if not two. Credit cards are an important source of identification as well; a credit card is mandatory for renting a car. Used wisely, a credit card provides a cushion on purchases by a long way before charges are levied. But yes, there are a few things to be kept in mind before one considers making a purchase, and there are ways to control the way one uses his/her credit card to avoid heavy debts. The purpose of this study is to find ways to protect students from falling into greater debts by following certain principals. This forms the focus of this paper. Many consumers find themselves in serious trouble over repayment. Only a few are able to take advantage of the benefits offered by credit cards, primarily because they follow the simple procedure of repaying their credit on or before time. Many fall back on the centuries old practice of carrying a balance for months, paying a part of the principal amount and an accrued interest. One thing that they fail to notice is that they could end up paying an all-time high of 23% at some point of time, a huge dent in one's pocket. Most credit card holders are so addicted to using the card that they end up being impulsive buyers. For the record, a survey in 1999 showed that American consumers were charged approximately $1.2 trillion on their general-purpose credit cards! (How Credit Cards Work, Howstuffworks. 2006) This has since gone up considerably. How does the credit card work When a customer uses his/her credit card at a merchant shop, the bank that issued the card, credits the account of the merchant on the sale slip(s) receipts. This amount is then billed to the card holder at the end of the billing period. The cardholder, in turn, pays the bank either the entire amount or in monthly installments with interest. When backlogs on installments occur, the interest increase and repayments become harder. This is one area that credit card users should strive to stay away from. Regular repayments will help stay away from trouble. Credit is an important economic force of great social magnitude. Cultural expectations with rewards for good payment records and sanctions for violating creditor expectations are all too familiar. Thus, promotion of consumer credit and punishment for nonconformity with creditor expectations emerges as a significant dialectical relationship (Klein, 1999). 3.0 Solution to the Problem Students find credit cards extremely user -friendly and handy. Most of their transaction in campus and elsewhere are performed by using a credit card. Students need to avoid unnecessary expenses, such as on clothes, entertainment and travel. Students wanting to get away for the weekend end up hiring automobiles to commute to places away from the campus and incur heavy bills. Students end up paying these bills through their credit cards. Always assess the comfort zone limit of credit that one can avail before embarking on a