Advantages of Credit Cards

The credit card can credit its beginnings with the idea of plastic money introduced by the Chinese, at the time when China saw Americans as capitalists. The first bank issued credit card was later invented by John Bigginsin 1946. It seems plastic mooney is here to stay.

Since that time, credit cards have easiest and most versatile ways of paying for purchases and regular bills.

The advantages of the credit card include:

• No need to carry around dirty, bulky cash
• Less likelihood of loss
• Ability to build up a credit history, useful when wanting to take out a home loan or other type of mortgage
• Convenient accounting system to track purchases to budget
• Ability to pay for goods remotely - by phone or online
• Some purchase protection

Credit Card Purchase Protection

In many countries, including UK, Australia and NZ, if you buy goods on credit card and those goods either do not arrive or are found to be faulty, the purchaser can apply to the credit card company for a 'chargeback'. This chargeback must be made within 2-3 months [depending upon the country]. This is particularly important when buying goods online.

There are of course disasdvantages of credit cards. However, these apply more to misuse of credit cards, rather than the credit cards themselves.

Next: Risks of Credit Cards

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