Debit Cards should be promoted instead of credit cards

If you must know, Marsha hates credit cards. Every time I see those credit card sales people, I run for my life! “Miss! Miss, do you have a XYZ credit card? We are now offering free lifetime credit card. And we have also XYZ bonus and free gift and XXX cash back redemption on these products….”, they holler and chase after me. I grab my kids’ hands and run for my life! Wait…there’s a very good reason wan. Yes, I agree that credit cards are so convenient because you get to purchase anything under the sun with a single swipe and a swift signing of your signature. But it’s way too convenient for me. I am too impulsive liao, you know. It’s like I see something that I like, I will swipe and swipe and swipe the whole day. Some more, this auntie-ah, used to be so hero, you know. Last time when we go out drinking with colleagues, I pass the cashier my credit card and wave my hands at her, “Keep it rolling!” Damn stylo, right? Rolling until I roll around in bills and irreparable damage to my finances. I had 6 credit cards, ok? Terror, right? I work in a bank mah…Legal line some more! Waaahhh….I know more lawyers than I have friends, ok? Don’t pway-pway with me. The lawyers all also have to listen to me, ok? Earning RM2,200….sigh…..act like earning RM2 million cause just started work mah. PLUS creative people like me, maybe, very bad with money and don’t know how to count. Or don’t bother! At the end of the month, I tell myself “Aiya, minimum payment only RM140 mah. Can afford lah”. Next month, “Erm….ok, minimum payment now RM268 ah. Can-lah, can-lah”. Next month, “Minimum payment RM 347? Since when?” and then before I knew what was happening, I was scared to open the bill liao by which time, the minimum payment climbed from RM412 to RM543…..until cannot control lor. Get another credit card, cover this one lor. Double interest rate, everything explode lor, lidat! Impulsive shopaholicism is dangerous when so-called person is armed with a credit card. Therefore, I spent many years eating *roti kaya, roti tau-sah, char-siew pau, roti sausage, roti ikan bilis, roti curry ayam…etc for lunch then dinner time, eat maggee mee….just to pay off double, triple, quadruple of what I actually spent! The pain so indescribable and regret so crippling that till today, credit card is one of my biggest enemies. So, today, I spit at the sight of credit cards! I solve the cash-less problem with a debit card. It’s funny to me that the government spends a lot of time helping the banks in Malaysia promote credit cards. They’ve not promoted debit cards at all and it’s, to me, very strange. If you want to help youngsters (like I was) keep a healthy financial track record, why not promote debit cards. You don’t have the money, you don’t spend it. The only promotion I see are the recent Mastercard Debit Card ads these days. GOOD GOOD GOOD! Promote it! I give you many reasons why a debit card is better than a credit card. · You don’t have money, you don’t spend it. This is true, isn’t it? You don’t spend what you don’t have….simple as that. · Safer to purchase stuff online. I’ve been purchasing things online with my debit card for ages now. It’s safer than using a credit card. With a credit card, if the limit is not up, the order processing will go through and then you will have to dispute it and go through hell just to get the order reversed and reimbursed. With a debit card, every time I want to buy something online or from a supermarket, I go online and transfer whatever I need into the debit card. Anything more than that, it won’t go through. · It’s separate from your savings or current account. Even though your debit card is associated with your savings account, it won’t go through unless you transfer the money into your debit card. · Can use paypal.com now…safer and cost-free. Last time cannot use www.paypal.com right or not and I had a lot of trouble accepting payments from US clients who found www.paypal.com convenient to use. So, I opened an account with www.2checkout.com which is safe but expensive. Paypal recently introduced a new withdrawal method for foreigners like me. I can transfer my paypal funds into my debit card and from my debit card, I transfer it to my savings or current account. The transfer from paypal to my debit card costs USD$5 each time irregardless of the amount but the transfer from my debit card to my savings account is free of charge. If you transfer from paypal to your credit card, I think you will be charged an ‘advanced cash fee’. Not sure and correct me if I am wrong. So, it’s easy funny that the Malaysian government doesn’t spend more time promoting the use of debit cards instead of the credit cards! With credit cards, the merchants feel secure (that payment will go through) and the banks will earn their insane income in the form of obscene interest rates. I hope that one fine day, the Malaysian government or the banks will try to make debit cards more acceptable (currently merchants have to apply for a different account in order to accept debit cards) and push all youngsters to use debit cards instead of credit cards.

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