When did it become cool use a Credit Card/Overdraft irrisponsibly?

quantic

When I was growing up I used to see people pulling out their Credit Cards and something (marketing?) had brainwashed me into associating wealth and extravagence with credit cards, when ironically its the exact opposite.

I hear people bragging about using their Credit Card and Overdraft a lot these days. If you search Twitter for the words, "Overdraft" or "Credit Card", its shocking how many people seem to have the attitude that this is a cool thing to be doing. I can't be the only person who finds this quite scary?

Literally, thousands of people, all over the world, bragging about how financially illiterate they are.

When did this happen? Or perhaps a better question is why and how do we educate against it?

CLAPTON

quantic wrote: »

When I was growing up I used to see people pulling out their Credit Cards and something (marketing?) had brainwashed me into associating wealth and extravagence with credit cards, when ironically its the exact opposite.

I hear people bragging about using their Credit Card and Overdraft a lot these days. If you search Twitter for the words, "Overdraft" or "Credit Card", its shocking how many people seem to have the attitude that this is a cool thing to be doing. I can't be the only person who finds this quite scary?

Literally, thousands of people, all over the world, bragging about how financially illiterate they are.

When did this happen? Or perhaps a better question is why and how do we educate against it?

certainly before Shakespear's time it was fashionable to live above one's means but probably dates back at least 30,000 years
maybe the flight out of africa was driven by fleeing from debt collectors

System

Before credit cards there was Hire Purchase.
Every budget there would be agonising over whether the chancellor was going to raise or lower the minimum deposit, in order to control consumer spending.

The difference with credit cards is that the chancellor appears to exercise no control whatsoever.

Wookster

It became cool when I got a credit card that offers me 5% cash back for the first three months and 2% thereafter.

I use it for everything now.

oldvicar

I use my card for nearly everything. That way its not like spending money and I can convince myself that things like petrol, food etc are essentially 'FREE'.

Of course I wouldn't be a moneysaver if I didn't use a cashback card and clear the full balance every month. But that's just once a month and so it doesn't upset my "how much?!?!" organ anything like as much as spending real money every day

Andy_L

I like not having to carry large amounts of cash to buy stuff and the increased consumer protection over debit cards

quantic

Perhaps I should have clarified that I meant, when did it become cool to use a Credit Card or Overdraft irresponsibly (to buy crap people don't even need)?

Wookster

quantic wrote: »

(to buy crap people don't even need)?

I'd call that the bedrock of the global economy (sad as it is)!

Irresponsible spending is when you spend money you know you have no hope of repaying.

Mrs_Bones

I think credit cards became fashionable late 1980's and 90's. At one time people who paid cash were the ones consider wealthy then slowly perceptions changed with the introduction of credit cards and it was the people who had cards who were considered most affluent. Which as you say is totally bananas as credit cards are debt in a nice little bit of coloured plastic. I think it was that to start with you had to have a fair income or amount in the bank to even get a credit card that was before they started dishing them out to all and sundry.


That's not to say that credit cards don't have a place, they can be useful if used wisely like some of the above posters have put about paying off and using them for cash back etc. Sadly I don't think most people do use them wisely and so many people are in debt with the things now that's even seems to have developed it's own kind of coolness. People love to be part of a herd mentality and if others around you are in debt with cards or overdrafts it makes it all seem not so bad, so you get the stories on places like Twitter about overdrafts and cards and having debt becomes normalized.

ILW

Our Boe seem to have decided to inflate away debt (and savings) and at the same time engineer low interest rates on any savings. Seems that the ones being rewarded are the people that have borrowed irresponsibly.

GeorgeHowell

Certainly some financial education in schools is long overdue.

But this is one area where the baby boomers do deserve criticism. This is because they have managed to produce a generation that is used to having whatever it wants, when it wants it. BBs were typically told by their own parents, "Wait for Xmas, or for your birthday", or "We just can't afford it". But being generally more affluent they typically did not pass on the thrift and financial responsibility that they were brought up with, and to a large extent adhered to, to their own children. BBs started the trend of permissive parenting which has given us so many social problems, including the "Want it all now, mum" generations.

The banks of course must also take their share of the blame by pushing credit at people who can't afford to pay it back.