Advantages and disadvantages of credit cards

The credit card is an advanced automatic card, when you used it, you can get the products you bought without paying yet. Credit cards are a widely used convenient source of credit for restaurants, hotels, mail order, online shopping, gas stations, grocery stores, medical and dental care, church bazaars, as well as telephone and television advertised products. . Using credit cards has many advantages and disadvantages, but the consequences of misuse can be drastic and painful.

Advantage

Credit cards eliminate the need to carry large sums of cash

If you are away from home without cash, you can often receive a cash advance or have the option to purchase traveler’s checks with a credit card.

Places that are suspicious of personal checks often accept credit cards.

Credit cards act like a short-term loan if you find something that is a bargain and you don’t have the cash or the balance in your checking account to pay it off.

If you move to a new place, credit cards give you purchasing power until you establish yourself as a good risk in a new community.

If you charge for an item or service that costs $ 50 or more in Colorado (or within 100 miles of your home) and later discover that it is not working or has other problems, you can withhold payment from the credit card company if you have Tried to resolve the issue with the merchant.

You often get the best exchange rates when traveling to foreign countries if you use your credit card for purchases and your ATM card for cash. Check with your card issuers about surcharges before you go on your trip. A two to three percent overload can eliminate this advantage.

Credit cards can help coordinate receipts for tax purposes.

Accounting comes down to a monthly bill unlike checks.

Disadvantages

Some people have been scammed into giving their credit card numbers to dishonest sellers over the phone.

It becomes a loan when the credit expires and you don’t pay it back.

Adding monthly interest charges means you pay more for goods and services.

Consumers often have more than one credit card, and each one has a credit limit. When the credit limits for all the cards are added together, the total can be in the thousands of dollars. Consumers can get into the habit of using credit cards to expand their income.

Credit cards are easier to use than borrowing, even when a loan from a credit union, bank, or other financial institution may provide the funds at a lower interest rate.