Are Credit Cards Really a Necessity?

Posted by Lorren on October 28, 2009

Money Dollars by all_items

My husband pointed out a discussion about credit cards over on Bible Forums. Credit card companies are evidently trying to raise their rates, and some people say that they need them for necessities.

Are credit cards really needed? Well, maybe if you’re rich you don’t need them, right? Can the poor get by without using credit cards. Well, I know that they can.

What did families do during the Great Depression? They didn’t run to their credit cards. Most people didn’t have them. In fact, it was shameful to even be in debt. Some people had mortgages on their homes, and that was about it. Nobody would consider buying something that wasn’t essential with debt. They would make due or go without if they couldn’t afford it.

I used to have credit cards… back when I was well-off. It was okay when I continued to be well-off, but when my family’s income was cut by 66% when I left the Navy, those nasty little credit cards ate up a big chunk of my income. Fortunately, we got out of it.

Partly due to the economy, partly due to the fact that my husband is in college and I am the primary caregiver/educator to the kids (I have a job writing from home, plus do freelance work), our income is even lower than what it was after I left the military. I’m so glad we don’t have credit card debt any more. We even paid off my student loan debt; after our house caught on fire, we took part of the insurance proceeds to get rid of that. Now, I don’t know how we’d even pay on credit card debt. When paying the rent every month and avoiding eviction for another 30 days is a miracle, you can’t afford to have a credit card bill.

Is it sometimes difficult to live without a credit card? Sometimes. Do things sometimes come up? Well, we did come within days of eviction last December, a couple of weeks before Christmas. We had to work out a deal with our landlord to make payments and pay the balance when dh’s school money came in. I’ve had to go without things that I’ve wanted. I’ve also thought that I’d have to go without and ended up getting an unexpected blessing. I thought that I would have to miss my grandfather’s funeral, but an unexpected gift from my grandma allowed me to go.

Credit cards always have to be paid off, with interest. Credit card companies are allowed to name their own terms. If you can’t afford to pay for an item now, you probably won’t be able to afford them later.