Cause and Effects of Credit Card Debt
The false advertisements and strong influence of credit card companies on the public tends to be the main cause of credit card debt.Dave Ramsey has once said, “You do not build wealth with credit card rewards and airline miles. You cannot beat the credit card companies at their own game.” This quote from Dave Ramsey shows exactly what credit card companies really bring to their customers and that happens to be debt. Credit card debt has made millions of people incapable of reaching their financial goals, forced people to take on loads of debt, and caused people to lose their financial security.
Credit card debt keeps many people from being able to reach their long term financial goals such as retirement. Retirement has always been one of the most common financial goals that people work to achieve. If a person has saved plenty of money to retire but have developed credit card debt, they will be forced to pay off their lifelong credit card debt with their retirement savings. Credit card debt has been proven to snowball if a person gets into a financial
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Interest rates contribute to credit card debt because people forget to consider that they owe a lot more than just the dollar amount of credit they have accumulated due to interest. Credit card companies love to say how they offer rewards for using their cards, but in reality the reward in most cases tends to be debt. Credit card debt seems to pile on top of itself. For example, a person who forgets to pay their credit card bill has to pay extra fees and deal with high interest rates. Then from that month on, they have to be constantly catching up with their credit card bills and eventually they will fall into debt. Credit card debt can be a never ending cycle of month to month payments. These month to month payments limit how a person can live and what they can
Debt is heavy. It sits on your shoulders and weighs you down. Debt is also addictive. It 's easy to throw something on credit when you don 't actually have the money to buy it. It gives you instant gratification, and that can feel good - in the moment. But, for many people, there comes a point where they can 't use their credit anymore and debt is all they are left with. The stress of having to pay it all off can take its toll on your happiness and health, so you must come up with a way to get out of debt and start living a debt free life. Following are two things that will help you get out of debt once and for all.
The first major point that Gretchen Morgenson makes in her article “The Debt Trap” is how lenders have found ways to make a bigger profit from borrowers in the recent years. Shes states that for example, “the rates that credit card companies charge borrowers rose from 17.7 percent in 2005, to 19.1 last year”. That difference added to billions of dollars charged annually. She stated that overall, these lenders increased “junk fees by fifty percent in recent years”. In the capitalistic society that we live in, these lending companies are doing everything they can to make as much of a profit as they can. If this means shoving Americans into the ground in the profit, they do not seem to feel bad about it one bit. This has created a problem with
Over-Utilisation of Your Credit Card Limit: People often over utilise their credit card limits and this result in a high credit balance in their account. High balances on credit cards are also a cause of low credit scores. It is always better to pay your credit card bills every month. If you are not able to control your spending habits, then it may make sense to go for a card with a lower limit. This way, you will not build up a large debt and easily be able to pay all your dues. Another thing to note, credit card bills have a minimum sum to pay along with the overall outstanding. If you are unable to pay off the total amount you owe, it makes sense keep paying the minimum amount due until then.
For debt, it begins with a simple late or missed payment. These missed payments allow companies to punish card owners without discretion. With this, lenders hike up interest and payments on their customers for negligence, regardless of what their reason may be. Whether it was a tough month for the family or someone died and expenses had to be payed, lenders do not care one bit. From 2013 alone, student debt was at 1.21 trillion dollars, and mortgage standing at a whopping 7.9 trillion (Miller, R. K., & Washington, K. (2014). These loans also feed into why we as a country are in debt, which currently stands at seventeen trillion. These missed payments also greatly affect interest rates from lender companies. Companies wait for payments to come late, which allows them to impose fees and hidden charges that must be paid along with the delinquent payment. With increased rates comes...
With the economy in the U.S. going so well, credit card companies are issuing more credit. Consumers are then using their new found credit to buy without even thinking of how they will pay for the products. They get the credit cards because of the appealingly low 5.9% introductory rate and go for it, but the credit card companies usually run those rates up to 18% or more in the first six months before the consumer pays off the purchase, (Insight into the News IIN, 1997). This in turn leads consumers into over-extending themselves. Although 96% of all consumers use credit cards responsibly, according to the American Bankers Association '97, the typical person who files for bankruptcy takes home less than $20,000 a year and has more than $17,000 in credit charges, and that's not overextending what it is.
Credit card debt is one of this nation’s leading internal problems. When credit was first introduced, and up until around the late 1970’s, the standards for getting a credit card were very high. The bar got lowered and lowered to where, eventually, an 18 year-old college student with almost no income and nothing to base a credit score on previously could obtain a credit card (much like myself). The national credit card debt for families residing in the United States alone is in the trillions (Maxed Out). The average American family has around $9,000 in debt, and pays around $1,3000 a year on interest payments (Maxed Out). Many people have the concern today that these interest rates and fees are skyrocketing; and many do not understand why. Most of these people have to try to avoid harassing collecting agents from different agencies, which takes an emotional and psychological toll on them. While a lot of the newly recognized “risky” people (those with a doubted ability to make sufficient payments) are actually older people who have been customers of certain companies for decades, the credit card companies are actually consciously targeting a different, much more vulnerable group of people: college students. James Scurlock produced a documentary called Maxed Out on this growing problem, in which Senator Jack Reed of (Democrat) of Rhode Island emphasizes the targeting of college students in the Consumer Credit Hearings of 2005
Credit card debt is what’s known as unsecured consumer debt. Card debt is not necessarily collected through the use of a credit card. Debt can be accumulated from transfers, such as transferring money to make a payment or to another account. This can get you in a cycle of revolving debt meaning, what you owe can spiral out of control. Many people owe money because of the current financial situation of the U.S Economy. Credit card has a major impact on one’s personal wealth. People who have an asset have personal wealth; some examples of an asset are your house as well as your land. Many people may feel if the house burns down or gets destroy in a tragedy, then they have nothing left but that not the case. You still have your land, but asset also come in form of items that may be more personal such as a car, bank account, stocks and bonds or an item of value that has been passed down for generation.
The average household debt excluding mortgage is estimated fifteen thousand dollars, eight thousand of that debt comes from credit cards. (Paul Bannister, bankrate.com) Credit cards are becoming a huge problem in our society that it is affecting more than just consumerism. It’s affecting the way we live.
Within the class we use lessons from a man called Dave Ramsey who knows how to eliminate and stay out of debt. He has helped thousands of individuals and even started his own “university”, known as Financial Peace University, it’s a course to help ensure financial greatness in one’s future. If I apply lessons that I have learned and will learn from this, then perhaps I will be capable of having a stable financial future. One of the convictions he holds is that you should avoid credit cards entirely because they are a financial black hole. I find his view to be a tad extreme, yet it is founded upon solid principles and facts. Credit cards can very easily deceive one into debt. Some of the other ideas I’ve learned from consumer math include always having an emergency fund and putting money away for your future. While it is often tempting to spend the money left at the end of the month, it is very short sighted and provides little or no benefit for the
Marcus Carr Professor Christopher Maronde Religion 121 4-20-17 Babylon Babylon was an ancient powerhouse, and a prominent figure in the Biblical Old Testament. Its name means “City of god” and it has lived up to a name of that magnitude. They were a nation rich in history, and would grow to be rich in possessions. Their rise to power can be attributed to their location of natural resources, and to the great leaders they had throughout their centuries of existences. Unfortunately, most of its history has been washed away, as much Old Babylon is now underwater.
The debt will never get cleared up if charges keep appearing on the bill, and even when purchases stop the debt is normally so extensive it takes months if not years to pay off and it can completely plummet a credit score. Also, “College students who are unprepared for financial decision making may make risky decisions such as compulsive spending and debt accumulation. Financial stress impacts both academic achievement and retention.”Stores will try and get many to sign up for their cards and they do this by offering deals. The more cards owned, the more available to spend, which will lead right back into debt. However, a good idea to stay ahead is to pay as much off as much as possible each month. It does not have to be paid in full, but try to at least pay more than the minimum. Debt is all over the world, it 's not just with college students, but with older people as well but college students need to know what debt is good debt and when their limit is before they are drowning in
Social Issues in College Education and the Student Debt Crisis. Hayley Engelman Central Methodist University SO101-OA: Intro Sociology Professor Barwick March 3, 2024. Introduction For many high school graduates, receiving a college degree is a huge step towards achieving success in the workforce, in the United States.
Some of the arguments in the article say that the reason why people are in debt is because expenses are higher now than they were in the 1970 's. Another argument is that we are living in a materialistic place, especially in California and New York. Everybody wants to look good and have the best, so they use their credit card to make these expenses. Some arguments blame teens for using credit cards. Teens already use credit cards and spend money. Banks and financial institutions are also blamed for the rise in credit card debt because they lower monthly payments on credit cards. Others just think that Americans are comfortable with having credit card debts.
The lack of knowledge plays a big part in the debt young people are getting themselves into. Credit cards are often offered to young adults as soon as they get out of high school. Many take advantage of having a credit card without even thinking about the responsibilities that come with it, instead they think about the things they will be able to buy. In “Generation Debt” the author Tamara Draut says that young people are getting into debt younger than ever before. Two of the reasons that are more costly on young students that hit hard on the budget are car repairs, and travel for students who have families and friends in other states (231). From my experience I know first-hand what it was like to be offered credit cards right out of high school, and I didn’t hesitate to get any of them. I st...
...gency (CCMA) (2012), the main reasons people fail to pay a debt were poor financial planning (25%), high medical expenses (22%), business failures or slowdowns (15%), loss of control on the usage of credit cards (13%), and loss of jobs or retrenchments (10%). Therefore, Lea, Webley and Walker (1995) found that debt with economic, social and psychology factor are closely related.