Why is it so easy to get a credit card?

Being the owner of a credit card can be disastrous especially in today’s society where it is so easy to obtain one. In most states, in order to be eligible for a credit card you merely have to be eighteen. Companies today don’t care about parental consent or even if you are employed or not, they only care that you are eighteen and legally responsible to satisfy a contract.

Research done by The Education Resources Institute and The Institute for Higher Education Policy shows that, in today’s society,seventy two percent of college students own at least one credit card. This is a dangerous move because college students could be using the card irresponsibly because of the student’s financial history and experience.So why would a credit card company give a card to these young adults knowing that they’re at a high risk of not responsibly keeping up with their finances? The credit industry loans you money, just hoping that you mess up with your payments. They will drop you in a hole of debt without you even knowing and they are more than happy to do it because you have an obligation under law to pay them. Most young adults don’t yet understand how ruthless the credit card industry can be, and the effects that it could have on your life.

For example, a young man decides to buy a Visa credit card because he has a job and has money saved in the bank. He has already been through the weight of costs and benefits and he feels that this is a good decision because of the opportunity and transaction costs.He has money, longs the convenience of being able to make purchases online or over the phone, and having the money whenever you need it. For the first couple months things are great, but then he gets his bill to Visa on Dec. 5th when it was due on the 4th. The next month when he gets the bill he will have a late fee and his interest rate will have risen 15%.

Part of the ruthlessness of the credit card company is that the can raise you interest rate so drastically. They can raise it to any level that they want, however, they must realize that they are in a competitive market and people will look for the company that offers the best interest rate. What he doesn’t realize when looking for a better interest rate is that all the other companies in the market know how reliable he is through his credit score. All companies involved in credit and lending sends incidents like late payment to credit bureaus which then assign you a credit score. The more incidents, the lower your score will be. So, with a low credit score interest rate will be very high now matter where you go.

Credit card companies don’t just give anybody a card, but the actually try to suck you in to getting one.Also, once they suck somebody in, they try to keep you thereby only billing you for the minimum owed which is their interest rate and financing. They don’t send you what you actually owe them; they just bill you every month for allowing you to spend their money, for which another bill is just piling up faster than you would ever imagine. On top of the credit card debtmost people need to get loans for things that they want to do in the future. Major credit debt such as this can be dreadful for your future if not handled very responsibly. Just say that a man is in credit card debt and wants to now apply for a loan to get a new car. If he does get the lone it will be at a very high interest rate so the car will end up making any car you try to buy so much more expensive.

Credit card debt is so devastating to the hopes and dreams of many people because of the fact that cards are so easy to acquire and so difficult to get rid of in entirety. But credit card companies don’t want to get rid of you because the longer they have you, the more money they will get out of you, which is all they care about. That is what makes them so easy to obtain.