Credit Cards Are A Heated Topic

Credit cards are a hot topic! You’ve got the people who love them, the folks who absolutely hate them, and all sorts who are in between.  In the past couple of weeks I’ve written that credit cards suck, that credit cards users are the ones who suck, and that credit cards are just a tool more for our convenience.

Here are some of the credit card discussions that were sparked:

I Pick Up Pennies writes: Sorry, But Credit Cards Don’t Suck.

Frankly, I think a lot of the anger directed at card companies is a disguised form of entitlement — the same entitlement that led so many people into debt in the first place. It’s almost as though people seem offended by card companies getting money from them. I sometimes wonder what they expected to happen. Perhaps they thought the company would make them an exception?

Bizzia/Yielding Wealth writes: Credit Cards – Take Responsibility.

Sure, credit card issuers work hard to trick you into getting cards at low rates, only to jack them up. However, no one forced you to get the credit card. And, certainly, no one forced you to spend money and neglect to pay the balance off each month. Yeah, credit card minimum payments are meant to be low — to keep you paying for as long as possible and squeeze the maximum interest out of you. But you can choose to pay more than the minimum each month.

Frugal Urbanite writes: The Blame Game.

No one forced you to get that credit card and buy crap you didn’t need, no one forced you to go to college without saving up money first, no one forced you to buy more house than you could afford. If no one in your family taught you how to be frugal, you’re more than capable of learning how not to overspend on your own. If you chose to go into a field that doesn’t pay much and are struggling to pay off your loans, well, you chose to do it. If you decided to freelance but didn’t get health insurance, it’s not the hospital’s fault you can’t cover your bill.

Finance Freelance Life writes: Credit Card Reward Offers Can Change Any Time.

Of course, it’s in the company’s best interest to have a lot of different programs and to make people feel like they’re getting the best deal by using the card. As consumers, we can (try to) go elsewhere.

What matters most is that we take all of this into consideration when we use credit cards. Don’t buy things you wouldn’t buy in cash just to get rewards. Those potential rewards could evaporate.

MSN Smart Spending writes: Stop Blaming the Credit Cards Companies.

We’ve been hard on the credit card companies for changing the rules in the middle of the game — upping interest rates and dropping credit limits on customers they used to value. (They’re the ones who carry a balance and make minimum payments, thus fattening the companies’ bottom line.)

But we didn’t explore another side of the equation — consumers who abuse the privilege. “Free From Broke” does in a post called “Credit cards don’t suck, you suck!”

Arohan’s Investing Life writes: Citigroup Getting From Bad to Worse.

Freefrombroke recently wrote an article that Credit Cards don’t Suck, You Suck. I will have to add to this by saying sometimes credit cards don’t suck, you don’t suck, but the credit card company sucks!

Here are some great comments the articles have received:

Sun says:

Those who don’t know how to use credit cards responsibly suck! They should just stay away from credit cards instead of blaming credit card companies for their problems.

Weakonomist thought:

I’ve always thought that the American people are really good at pointing the finger but not so good at being at the end of the finger. The CC reforms are fine but they won’t help too much.

Brandon states:

It is really hard to take responsibility for whatever situation you find yourself in…financially or otherwise. We humans have a TERRIBLY hard time simply saying “I was wrong” We really want to believe we are right all the time and that someone took us for a ride when things doing go quite right.

Kevin writes:

The best credit card is a cut up credit card.

Mike let us know:

It seems as though there is generally a causal relationship between the suckiness of you and credit cards. If you suck and use credit irresponsibly, then credit cards really do suck. If you’re smart about using them, they suck a whole lot less. Kevin’s comment about universal default being a terrible thing is definitely true, but doesn’t really matter if you use your card right. I could care less if my credit card company jacks up my rate, since I would never carry a balance or pay late.

I love all of the arguments that were posted!  In a lot of ways there are no right answers to credit cards.  They suck.  They don’t suck.  They are as we use them!  The more we discuss credit cards the better off we are.  In discussing them we take a big step in being more responsible with them as well as learn more about them so we don’t fall prey to credit card company tricks.

photo credit: Andres Rueda

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