Credit has become a means of getting what you think you want immediately, because society itself encourages us “now, now, me, me” mentality.
Credit is too easily obtainable, and it has taken me quite a few years to realise that any company that throws advertising “in your face”, wherever you look even when you aren’t interested is actually desperate themselves for your cash. By taking out a credit account with them they know that whatever you buy will also give them some extra money, and often, in the UK at least, you also have to pay an annual fee for the privilege of having the card in the first place, even if you don’t use it!
At one time, credit used to be in the form of “hire purchase” and was often called, “on the never never” by the poorer class within society. This was because if you defaulted on a payment you automatically had the object you were buying repossessed and no money you had paid was ever returned to you, it had been bought on the credit rating that depended upon you always being able to pay, and until it was paid it was never yours to own, just to “borrow”. Your payment each week/month was a form of “rent” for the object until you actually had paid enough, often at very high interest rates, to own it outright. As many people found work difficult to come by and often erratic, your neighbours seeing vans at the door taking out pieces of furniture etc was a regular occurrence.
Now this may not happen as frequently, but the present credit system is still based on this premise which is why we are heading for a downfall in society, “big time”. If you don’t have a credit card, or buy things regularly on credit, you end up having a poor credit rating and are unable to purchase things such as housing, cars, etc, because you are considered incapable of paying. The truth is, those who don’t have credit cards are more likely to be able to pay, because they pay for the items immediately, but as the credit system generates interest/administrative payments the idea of paying for something immediately with cash is unacceptable because the seller/credit company doesn’t get any extra money out of the transaction.
People in society are being positively encouraged to buy things on credit and immediately become debtors. Not a good attitude for a society to possess, unless of course the ones who run society are trying to possess the people themselves by encouraging so much debt? But that is food for thought in another article.