Comments on: Reward Credit Cards: Ripoff or Real Deal? http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/reward-credit-cards-ripoff-or-real-deal/ feeding your credit card addiction... Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:46:14 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: kitty http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/reward-credit-cards-ripoff-or-real-deal/comment-page-1/#comment-874 kitty Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:11:02 +0000 http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/reward-credit-cards-ripoff-or-real-deal/#comment-874 Totally agree. Whenever I hear about "people spend more with credit cards" statistics I remember this example about misuse of statistics: "on the average, this desease affects men in their 50s. There are two known cases - a 2 year old boy and a 98 year old man". This is very similar with cards: we know that many people carry balances, and a few carry large balances. This people spend a lot more than they would without cards. Take one person that spends 100% more using credit cards and 9 people spending about the same, and you'll get "people spend 10% more on average". I haven't seen a single study that actually looked at the distribution or that showed that those who pay their balancess in full spend more than they would otherwise. Another issue I see with all the "credit cards cause people to ..." messages is the desire to blame something other than oneself for one's problems. In this case - credit cards. Credit cards aren't magically enchanted to scream "buy, buy" or to pinch you if you walk out of a store without buying something. We have free will, and it should take more than a piece of plastic to rob us of it. Totally agree. Whenever I hear about “people spend more with credit cards” statistics I remember this example about misuse of statistics: “on the average, this desease affects men in their 50s. There are two known cases – a 2 year old boy and a 98 year old man”. This is very similar with cards: we know that many people carry balances, and a few carry large balances. This people spend a lot more than they would without cards. Take one person that spends 100% more using credit cards and 9 people spending about the same, and you’ll get “people spend 10% more on average”. I haven’t seen a single study that actually looked at the distribution or that showed that those who pay their balancess in full spend more than they would otherwise.

Another issue I see with all the “credit cards cause people to …” messages is the desire to blame something other than oneself for one’s problems. In this case – credit cards. Credit cards aren’t magically enchanted to scream “buy, buy” or to pinch you if you walk out of a store without buying something. We have free will, and it should take more than a piece of plastic to rob us of it.

]]> By: Eric http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/reward-credit-cards-ripoff-or-real-deal/comment-page-1/#comment-871 Eric Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:36:20 +0000 http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/reward-credit-cards-ripoff-or-real-deal/#comment-871 Hear, Hear!! My thoughts exactly. I'm going to spend more because I get 3% back??? I'm going to buy MORE gas for my car? The points/cash we get back is a bonus for stuff we already spend money on, it's a way to get a little something in return. And as far as difficulty in cashing in the bonuses I've had no problems at all. Those that have problems likely are not reading the written process sent when they applied for the card. Hear, Hear!!

My thoughts exactly. I’m going to spend more because I get 3% back??? I’m going to buy MORE gas for my car? The points/cash we get back is a bonus for stuff we already spend money on, it’s a way to get a little something in return. And as far as difficulty in cashing in the bonuses I’ve had no problems at all. Those that have problems likely are not reading the written process sent when they applied for the card.

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