Skip to main content

Credit Cards - Boon or Bane?

There are people who love splurging, thanks to credit card.

There are people who avoid credit card like plague, due to fear of overspending or online frauds?

There are people who love credit cards due to rewards they offer.

Which category do you belong to?

_____

Credit cards can be an amazing tool to manage your finances. Sure, the savings may not be huge if you don't spend much, but then, you can always enjoy those extra rewards that come along side.

Few ways this is possible:

1. All credit cards have a rewards system associated with it. Regular use of credit cards can help you accumulate points and later on redeem it for anything ranging from a pen drive to shopping vouchers to flight tickets to vacations.

2. Most credit card usually offer up to 48-50 days of credit period. Assuming that you pay 3 days before the due date, for a purchase made in any monthly cycle you can usually get 15-45 days of time to pay it off. Averaging this over long term, this is interest free money you are getting for this credit period. So effectively, if you spend Rs. 10,000 a month, over the year you get an equivalent of 1 month interest on Rs. 120,000. This may not be a huge amount., but can help you save!

3. Many credit cards have exclusive deals (cashback/ interest free EMIs/ Co-branded cards etc.) which don't cost any additional money.

4. Credit cards can be a handy way to keep a track of your spending which you may probably not be otherwise doing if you spend lot of cash.

5. Might be handy in case of emergency where you need some money urgently but liquidating any assets (FD/ MF etc.)  may take a day or 2.

So, if you have a good control over impulse buying & unnecessary splurging and do not use a credit card, do go for it. 

Comments

Shop @ Amazon

Popular posts from this blog

What if this is not 'this' ?

What if I suddenly realized that my life is going as per the script pre-decided by some novelist, and I actually don't have any control over it? What if my life is nothing but a non-stop uninterrupted TV show, running for 25th consecutive year with me unaware? Wat if I am actually living a century before, and am actually on my journey to know the future of the world? What if in reality ghosts are the only things that exist, and humans are merely an illusion ? What if time was actually not moving in forward direction? What if on one fine day I find that they are about to demolish the earth to build the inter-galactic superhighway? What if trees and animals suddenly interchange their roles and vegetarian plants eating only animals, while non vegetarian plants eating both plants and animals? What if I am suddenly arrested just for imagining these all as I am committing a thoughtcrime ? Seems like an overdose of fiction and movies! Am I getting, rather sinking deeper and deeper into th...

Downhill

That was the last of the drink left, and he gulped it down. They had finished it all. Had there been more booze, they would have gulped it too. It was around 3 in night, but then there was still a lot left in the night. The lights in the city below had faded along ago but it still looked beautiful. After all, the beauty of the city was not dependent on light. And from this place, located uphill somewhere amidst wilderness, human settlement was the last thing that could have come to their mind. But in the end, that was where they all had to go to. They walked back to their cars and planned to head back to their hotel, which was some 20 km away at Shimla. They were a group of 7 people - all college friends out on a trip to Shimla to celebrate the last extended weekend before getting out of the B-School. One of the guys had a car and all crammed into it and headed for the vacation. The owner of the car, Chandru as the fondly called him was too drunk to drive. But he had often been too...

The Shrill Voice

There was a shrill voice within, Longing to see the light With each passing moment It grew louder and bright. It didn't stay there for long As louder became its screams, Sounds of half-fulfilled wishes And long abandoned dreams. And then I asked those troubling voices What is your wish and what do you want? It spoke, and I replied -Y our wishes are unreasonable, And asking something that I can't.

The parrot

"You shall have your freedom", Said the generous master, As he opened the cage. The parrot was delighted, As he suppressed his joy, And controlled his rage, For so long he had wished, To be free and be Up in the sky. At last his chance had come, And towards his destiny, He shall fly. And then the realization dawned, That his wings were clipped, How shall now he even try?

All for a Car

"Boss, I want a car" "What? "Yes. I want a car" The boss thought for a moment. Ravi was asking for a car. Maybe he needed one. He could give him one for an hour or so. The boss was the owner of the agency, which dealt in dealing with distribution of FMCG products of a big company and was a person who had a soft corner for his employees, something which is rare in such type of work. Ravi was a small time computer operator earning Rs 5000 a month at the agency. The job involved sitting in front of a computer in an air conditioned room and punching orders and preparing the bills on the company software. But the demand for a car was a bit shocking. No employee ever asked him for a car. "Why do you need a car?" "Boss. I am getting married" "Good. Congratulations" "Thank you boss." "So do you ..." "Sir, I have told my to be father in law that I earn 35000 a month and have my own car. I'll be engaged soon. He ...