Have you seen how financial experts can go on and on about bad effects of the overuse of plastic money? They are actually not wrong. They are addressing individuals who don’t have much self-control whilst they are on a shopping spree. The shopaholics! According to these experts, these uncontrolled users of plastic money tend to overspend and accumulate a massive debt on themselves.
But do you know that responsible usage of this mode of payment can make you save a lot? And you won’t land yourself into any trouble too. I pay the monthly subscription bill of my Spectrum Internet packages via my credit card. And without having to spend any cash, I end up having tons of reward points. So get a credit card for shopping.
According to an estimate, more than 183 million Americans own at least one credit card. Stay put to know about the less-known benefits of using credit cards.
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Rewards System
Many financial organizations offer the facility of credit cards. Each one of these offers special incentives to the customers to make their purchases using these cards. All such establishments offer the facility of reward-points system. Most of them come with a promotional scheme of 3 months. The cardholders can use their cards to make purchases from various categories. And in doing so, they consistently accumulate reward points.
Once they reach a particular threshold, they get to redeem all those points and get a gift card. Some companies offer retail catalogues online and their clients can choose to order anything from it. in doing so, they get to enjoy huge discounts.
A Safer Option Compared to a Debit Card
Sounds surprising? It may. But it is true. No matter how careful we are with our belongings, an incident like a wallet-theft or dropping the card somewhere can happen to anyone. In an event of losing your debit card, the thief can withdraw all the money instantly or he can use the card swipe option to shop around. You can report the lender of the card about recovering the used amount. But all this procedure takes its sweet time. And in that interim period, you will have to survive without that money.
However, with a credit card, things are different. You simply have to report to your financier about the theft and you can refuse to pay the amount used in fraudulent transactions. They will handle the matter on their own and you won’t have to deal with the hassle.
Cashback
Another popular incentive system offered by credit card providers and banks is cashback. The process is fairly easy to comprehend. Credit card customers can purchase anything they want. Then they get a refund on the total spent amount. It is 1% of the total price of the item they have bought.
At the end of every month, the credit card holders receive a statement from the lenders. The document enlightens them about the total amount to be paid back to the financer. They have the option to deduct the total refund amount from the amount that they owe. And in this process, they end up saving money. among other benefits, this one is of prime significance.
Grace Period
Whenever you shop using your credit card, you don’t have to pay immediately. As mentioned earlier, you get a statement at the end of each month. It tells you about all your shopped items, their prices, and your payable amount. Even then you don’t need to clear your bill right away. You get a due date by your financier. And even that due date has a grace period of 2-3 days. This gives you a good deal of time to get your bills paid. Unlike debit cards, from which the amount is deducted immediately.
Insurance
This is another plus. Most of the financial institutions, which offer the facility of credit cards, are linked to insurance companies. People are not usually aware of these arrangements. This facility is especially useful when you make big purchases with your plastic money. For instance, getting a consumer product like a washing machine or the insurance of a rental car.
In such cases, you get to have extra coverage without having to pay for anything. It is usually over and above what the service providers and manufacturers have to offer. You get to save better in these processes. Using a debit card for the same purpose doesn’t offer this facility. I recently applied for a second credit card for my wife and the new benefits, which they offer are even more exciting. And contacting them was as easy as dialling our Spectrum phone number.
To find out more about the facilities offered by your credit card provider and explore the possibilities. You never know what other benefits you may be missing out on!
