Archive for March, 2008
The message is clear, just use our powerful plastic card, and you can have it all, and have it now. Forget what you can really afford, just live the good life.
I saw a credit card commercial on television this past weekend that really started me thinking about the message they are broadcasting to America. The wrong message in my opinion. You have probably viewed the ad. A young couple’s television finally dies out. The wife tells her husband that it is all right to go get that new TV set. The excited husband heads down to the electronics shop, credit card in hand. In the background, the music screams “I Want it All, and I Want it Now”.
The premise for this ad is the new credit card feature where you can immediately get your available balance via an instant text message on your cell phone. So you can see just how much you can buy.
The underlying message here is “The heck with what you can actually afford. As long as you have some available credit balance, go ahead and use it.”
The pharmaceutical companies can now advertise their products (i.e. drugs) to us, but they must clearly include the side effects. It is time we establish a similar regulation for the credit card industry. We must warn people of the side effects of using their card. This would not be new grounds for the financial industry. Commercials for investment companies have disclaimers regarding the risks of investing.
So what are the side effects of making that big purchase on a credit card? What does this commercial not tell us? They don’t tell us that you still must be able to afford to pay for that big screen TV. They don’t tell us that your big purchase will actually cost you more than the price on your receipt as you will be paying interest on that purchase. So your $1200 television will really cost you $2000 after you are done paying the interest.
They don’t tell you that as your credit card balance jumps towards your credit limit, the bank will use that as an excuse to raise your card’s interest rate, causing that big purchase to cost you even more.
This is the cycle for financial disaster that too many consumers have fallen into. This is exactly where the credit card companies want you; in the never ending cycle of debt.
Sure, we must take responsibility for our own actions. We must think before we pull out that plastic card. We must also however demand that the credit card advertisements stop sending a message of prosperity by simply using their cards. The bank should be required to give us full disclosure on the effects of using their credit cards.
When we use any other type of financing for any type of purchase, we are aware of exactly the terms and conditions of the purchase. With credit cards, we are clueless as to the actual cost of an item because the credit card companies change the rules and interest rates at their discretion. This needs to be disclosed in their advertisements. When people begin to realize that they really have no idea what that big purchase is really costing them, maybe then we will think twice before proceeding with that “I want it now” purchase.
By: Jim Vrana
About the Author:
Billed as The True Debt Advisor (True Debt Advisor), Jim Vrana’s mission is to educate and empower people to overcome their financial challenges. The time-tested legal procedures used to eliminate credit card debt have been used by thousands of people with tremendous success.
Contact:
Jim Vrana,
(800) 637-1785
True Debt Advisor
The advantages of seeing your free credit report online may seem vast at a first glance. However, in order to get these reports, you have to give out your credit card details, which may make you feel pretty apprehensive. Additionally, if you already receive a free report, you might wonder if that is good enough-if it is really necessary for you to also sign up for a free credit report online. When you really look at these websites, you will realize that there are advantages of seeing your free credit report online. The advantages of seeing your free credit report online include being able to see your credit report whenever you like. You can view it just before you go to bed and when you wake up to see how your score has improved. Another advantage of seeing your free credit report online is that you don’t have to wait for your annual report to come through the letterbox. This is important if you are planning to repair your credit rating-and want periodic updates to see if the steps you are taking will work.
There are also other advantages of seeing your free credit report online. Some people are put off by having to enter their credit card details. But with these online companies, you know that your details with be entered and processed through a secure server. This lets you know that your details are in the safest hands. There are many advantages of seeing your free credit report online and the above examples are just a few reasons why many people are using the online service of checking their free credit reports online. Some websites are boasting that they have over 14 million customers. Whether all these people are happy remains to be seen. But if you sign up and do not like the service, you can always cancel your account with a few clicks of the mouse.
There seem to be as many disadvantages as advantages to seeing your free credit report online. The disadvantages of seeing your free credit report online include the fact that you will have to pay a company if you wish to view your credit report online. So you are in effect paying to view something that is yours, which often does not seem fair. Other disadvantages of seeing your free credit report online include the simple fact that you get an annual credit report anyway. The annual report is free, too, so why bother filling out forms and surveys and giving out sensitive information to obtain a “free” credit report that essentially gives you the same information as your annual one?
This is a big disadvantage of seeing your free credit report online; of course, the companies will try to counter that by offering you other incentives, but some of these incentives are not worth the price. More disadvantages of seeing your free credit report online include the use of a credit card to even see your credit report. We all understand that this is the best way to verify yourself and to confirm that you are who you say you are. But there must be other ways to become a member without the use of a credit card. Maybe they can think about these for the future.
When deciding if you want to view your credit report online, you must weigh out the advantages and disadvantages of seeing your free credit report online. You have to remember that it is only free for 30 days; after that, you will have to start paying to use the website. If you are not concerned about your credit score, then you won’t need this service; and it will probably be a bigger hassle than it is worth. Instead you will be better off with your annual report that you receive from a credit-reporting agency. At least you wont have to fill out mountains of forms and enter into contracts to obtain it.
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