Is Anything Free When It Comes to Credit Cards
A Credit Article Contributed by Mark Mcclelland
Nothing is "Free" When a Credit Card is Involved
"Free", as in for nothing, and "credit card", as in that thing you pay through the nose to use, have diametrically opposing meanings. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that's free when it comes to credit cards. This isn't to say that you don't have the freedom to use your card whenever you want so long as there's available credit, it's just that what you used it for cannot, in any way, be considered free.
Even Though You're Free to Use Your Credit Card, Should You
You've heard all the warnings about excessive use and abuse of card cards, but are you paying attention? Nothing can flatten your and your family's financial future faster than the mountain of debt you're piling up. Sure, you're free to use you credit cards any time you like, for what you want, anywhere you want, whether you need that newest gizmo or not. But it's not necessarily a good idea to exercise that right. Do you think that he who has the most when he dies, wins? . Do your kids feel the same about you? Does your spouse? Probably not.
As free as we'd like to feel, the realities of the situation are that others often rely on us to do the right thing, be strong, and make good decisions, financial and otherwise. Exercising our right to buy whatever, whenever, wherever may make us feel good, but the burden it's likely to place on others should make us feel like a heel.
Well, What about Those Credit Cards with Free Fringe Benefits
Let's think about that for a moment. Consider those fringe benefits you receive at work - for those of you that actually get fringe benefits at work. You can be sure that whatever the benefit, it costs something, even if it's just a little bit. So the benefit isn't free after all is it, since you're actually being forced to pay for it by not having the right to turn it down and receive a corresponding bump in pay (if you did have that right, it wouldn't be a fringe benefit in any case, it'd be a voluntary benefit).
Well, its the same with credit cards. If they tout some great benefit - say points, or miles, or cash-back, or vacations, or travel, or discounts, or whatever, you can bet the card issuer isn't spending a dime to provide that supposed benefit to you; you're paying for that benefit all the way.
Have you ever tried to tell the card issuer that you no longer want that 1.5% cash-back reward and therefore you'd like to have your interest rate reduced to that of their traditional cards (probably more than 2% lower)... if you did the sound of their laughter would ring in your ears until next spring. Why, because you're probably paying an additional 2% more in interest over their traditional cards for that 1.5% cash-back reward... netting the card issuer a smooth 5% additional interest income.
Nothing is free.
