A finance-savvy consumer's take on credit cards !

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Ershad Khandker
CREDIT Cards used to be a status symbol when a middle aged man of today was young which was five years before today , in the fanciful mind of a middle aged man ! However the fact is, it was some 25 years back that one fellow student of Dhaka University showed a credit card, clearly reveling at the privilege of being able to use one such card that this writer came to see up close and personal for the first time . It was a time when the banking scenario had not changed , most people took the public banks as the ones representing banking as it was , meaning long lines , token based service , large ledgers and long delays and ultimately less than acceptable standard of behaviour .
The emergence of credit card is the single most denominator of the "consumerist" revolution that the new generation banks have ushered in. There is now ample feeling that the ushering in of modern banks with these competitive urges, have been a positive development in the "consumer oriented financial services " aspect in the capital city of Dhaka . Of course the banks have introduced excellent modifications to the old style banking described above by having gleaming new offices, modern branding techniques, multifarious pakcages and products, wonderful working environemnt, profiliferation of credit facilities for the development of the eonomy , and consumer credit middle class and high class consumer that ultmately creates a chain of financial transaction that facilitates the percolation of money to the small businesses which have sprouted in so many markets in and around Dhaka . This consumer culture sustains many even smaller support businesses all around the city and outlaying areas.
Credit cards come with certain "side effects" which should be well understood. Those side effects can be avoided if we understand the different formalities attached to the credit card facility that the bank needs to be performed to make the "credit card experienece " a useful experience . Matters like interest rate set-up or just the fact that the credit card is actullaly money being given with interest charges applicable, repayment dates for the money charged on the card , fees and dues to be paid to the bank etc. and these fomalities need to be understood thoroughly before taking a credit card. Customers in Bangaldesh have been spared from the large gangs of tricksters found in developed countires simply because credit card is still not used in a very big way in our country. Credit card forgery, usage of stolen credit cards, copying of personal information for dishonest purposes are some of the chickenary perpetrated on unsuspecting consumers .
Users themlesves also can become addicted to shopping if one starts using the credit cards indiscriminately but such matters are not a fault of the credit card itself .
One has to understand that personal habits have got nothing to do with the instrument in use while abusive behaviours is being practised. But it is true that credit card can sometimes be detrimental to the personal financial situtaion as the user keeps using the card and may not have time to repay the bank in time or in more serious cases , can just find the ease of shopping with no cash to easy , thereby falling in the a debt trap . However , that is an inevitable side effect of the modern times that we live in where the consumer may want every thing that the consumer oriented society is offering .
That is the trap of the times and not a fault of the ubiquitous and most useful instrument that the cerdit card is .
Just to be sure that the bank is looked as a careing life partner as well , maybe there should be advisory notifcations in the credit card departments of banks warning consumers that credit card usage needs to be accompanied by careful personal habit like self assesseement of financial abilities and an eye to the formalities of maintaining credit cards . The "card executive " should be skilled in making the credit card experience for the customer a safe experience that enhances the bank's consumer friendly reputation . Credit card is a consumer friendly device after all.