Credit Cards

Of late the Credit Card companies have been taking the customers for a jolly ride through irresistible sugar coated offers and employing hidden terms and conditions unfamiliar even to educated mass let alone the lay persons. For instance, they lure the customers with attractively packaged terms like monthly rate of 1.75% interest instead of 21%p.a. The 50 days credit means, the billing date is 25th of the preceding month and the pay by date is 15th of the current month. From cheque bouncing to delayed payment, there are hidden charges which are whoppingly high. For a default of Rs.200 you may end up paying Rs.300/- as late fee, 21% interest for the delayed days and 12.36% service tax on the interest. In short, it is a debt-trap if one falters even by a single step. It is a pitfall for human beings craftily designed to trap even a massive elephant.
The recovery methods of the credit cards are reportedly similar to a parallel mafia set-up where hefty percentages are paid to the goons to ensure the recovery even using third-degree methods. Even a nationalized bank is using this setup of illegal fast recovery of unpaid credit.
Sadly, the present control mechanism is not capable to regulate the Banks who have expertise to sell their credit cards using gimmicks like cash-backs, interest-free credit etc. The regulatories merely contented with issuing a few directives periodically which are circumvented by the devious bankers.
Given this, the only ideal way is to stay away from the credit card or be optimum informed about the visible lines and the invisible lines between the conditions of use for each card. For the middle-class the credit cards have become a necessary evil for revolving credit as if like a booby-trap around their neck. Therefore, the craze for credit cards will not vanish so easily. This is, in fact, the forte of the Bankers who always discover ingenious ways to attract new customers to their credit card business.