讨论:你是卡的主人还是卡奴?

你是合理的利用信用卡还是已经成为卡奴,忙着支付永远没尽头的欠款? 又或者你没有信用卡,也并不支持用信用卡来"花明天的钱,圆今天的梦",虽然购物对你来说依然是件快乐的事情.

快来参与大家的讨论吧:>> >> http://bbs.hxen.net/thread-40470-1-1.html

Finally finish my work! Let me get my homework done.
Check the news first! A little bit long. Please be patient.

Try some budgeting

REMEMBER the good old days, back when you just filled out a form, signed your name, and got a cool credit card and a bunch of gifts right there on campus? Well, don't expect that to happen again anytime soon. Recently, China's major commercial banks stopped handing out credit cards to college students because of payment problems. In fact those problems with credit cards are a phenomenon that existed long before the banks recent decision.

Zheng Tao, 22, an economics major at Wuhan University, got four credit cards from four different campus sales reps in less than two hours last year, each with a 2,000-3,000-yuan overdraft per month.

For the first several months, Zheng bought things and meals with no worries about being short of cash. He found his "living standard improved a lot" by running the cards through a machine. Then, one ordinary afternoon, he calculated his debt and the amount - around 9,000 yuan - stunned him. His bank account had less than 2,000 yuan in it. Just a day before his card payment was due, he dialed his mom's number. Right after that, he paid off the debt - and cancelled the credit card.

Zheng says that the most dangerous thing about a credit card is that a person isn't always aware of the fact that he's spending money. "If I had that much cash in my hand, I'd think twice before handing it over to someone else. But, with a card, it seems like there's no difference between using a card to pay 2 yuan on a bus or paying 300 yuan for a meal," Zheng said, after he decided to give up the card.

Apart from the money, there's another thing students can easily lose by being "unaware", something that's even more critical to their future - credibility.

Li Sujuan, 23, a journalism major at Renmin University, for example, always waits until the last minute to pay off the debt, not because she doesn't have money, but simply because she "keeps forgetting".
In commenting on this, He Rong, a personal finance manager at a Beijing bank, says that the reason students don't pay the money on time is not that they can't but because they don't manage their account well.

"Students hardly bother to make a budget for their daily lives, and many don't see the credit card as a kind of money borrowed from others. It's more like a bank account and it's theirs to spend," she said. She says that students should be more aware of the fact that, if they get a bad record for falling behind on their payments, their credit record will suffer, and may even cause future problems with loans, insurance, even jobs.

But every story has two sides, including this one: some students actually learn how to manage their credit card use. Yang Sheng, 22, a marketing major at Shenzhen University, is one of them. He only spends about 50 percent of his monthly funds from his parents, which is about 1,000 yuan. And he pays off the debt during the interest-free period, "so that I don't pay extra for my purchases" . Meanwhile, the cardless Zheng is getting back to the old way of doing things with cash and now finds his spending becoming more rational.

Money management tips 
1. Make a monthly budget to get a clear picture of your finances
2. Choose a credit limit that fits your monthly budget
3. Pay off your money debt during the grace period
4. Make sure you don't have a sleeper card, one you hardly use but still pay an annual fee for, in your wallet. If you don't use the card at all, give it back to the bank

The reason why I choose this news is that I realize I’ve already become one of those credit-card slavers. It’s very pathetic that I have to transfer the money to my credit card account right after I get monthly pay. Just as it says, you won’t be aware that you’ve spent more than you could afford when you just run the card through pos machine.

Shopping time is always enjoyable. But when it comes to the time of paying back, it’s painful. So after several months of the sufferings, I am determined to discard the card. I could do more rational purchase without it. And it’s also good for controlling my budget.

Do you have credit card? How do you use the card? Share with us!