Credit Cards: The Real Deal

Free meals. Rebates. Double or triple reward points. Travel mileage. Movie passes. Your favorite shoes or bag. All these can be yours, just charge your daily expenses on your credit card. Here in the Philippines, major credit card issuers have been trying to one-up each other with bigger and better deals that leave you thinking: how in the world can they still earn from that? Especially if you are paying off your balance at the end of every month, which means they won't earn interest on from you. It's been such a competition that choosing the card to charge for your expense that for some, it is now a decision that one pauses for.

Those deals are fine and good. But before you head out again to swipe that plastic, consider these:

1. Are you spending more now?

2. Are you advancing future purchases today?

3. Are you buying stuff you never bought in the past and saying to yourself these are part of your "regular" expenses?

If you are, then you might be too happy with the freebies that you've been getting that you hardly noticed that you're probably digging yourself slowly to financial trouble. And the road to credit card debt is a slippery downhill path, as many have found out the hard way. To fully benefit from the deals that are being offered, the use of your credit card should merely be a change in the manner by which you pay, which would be cash.

Of course, a careful analysis could probably show that you are really benefiting from all these promotions they've been offering. But it doesn't hurt to step back a bit and catch your breath.


Be Wealthy!