The Advantages of Credit Cards

The Chinese are given the recognition for inventing many useful things, including gunpowder, umbrellas, chopsticks, paper and paper money.

However, the honours of coming up with plastic money, or credit cards, goes to early American capitalists. John Biggins came up with the idea of the first credit card issued by a bank in 1946 and they have evolved to become one of the most versatile ways of paying of all time.

The reasons are simple: once issued with one, the need to carry around unsafe, dirty and bulky cash is significantly reduced. Not eliminated, though, because the transaction costs preclude som small traders gaining ful advantage of taking them on small purchases.

Furthermore, credit cards enable you to build up a credit history, but only if you always pay your credit cards bill on time every month.

In some countries, such as the UK, if you purchase goods using a credit card and the goods turn out to be faulty, they are insured for a period of time, usually a month or two (but up to six months) and some credit cards even insure againsg the loss of the items too.

Credit cards are safer than cash as you can have them cancelled and re-issued if they are lost or stolen. The credit card issuer also provides a monthly statement, which is a useful 'receipt'; a way of tracking expenditure or expenses.

Credit cards are definitely here to stay and they will gain ground on cash every year. In fact, these days many financial institutions will not trust someone who does not have a credit card, because they use a ownership of a credit card as proof of credit-worthiness. Heaven help you if you have never wanted a credit card!

That makes you not normal in todays's world. Getting your first credit card has become a right of passage.st people try to obtain one soon after becoming old enough - 18 in most countries, 21 in others. In fact, when used properly, credit cards are safer than cash, because credit cards can be cancelled in minutes if they are stolen. Nobody is going to mug you for your credit cards.

However, credit cards also provide an irresistable temptation to some people and they cannot stop themselves from spending to their credit cards' limit. They know that it is foolish, but they cannot help themselves. Fortunately, credit card companies place maximum spending limits on their credit cards in order to stop these people making yoo big a financial mistake.

Some people think that these maximum limits should be lower for young people until they have proved themselves, but it is a status symbol to have higher maximum credit limit, even if it is never used. It is a safety net and proof of financial standing. So, if you are not happy with your credit cards' spending limits, remember that they are there to help you keep within what you can afford and once you have a proven track record, you can ask for the maximum of your credit cards to be increased.