Credit Card debts: cause and prevention

Credit card is a card issue for issuer leads money to the consumer to pay later to the merchant. When it is used properly is convenient. However, if abused, credit card can be the start of a years-long nightmare and stress.

Causes

Credit card debt can be causes by carrying a balance, though, is very costly. There will have high interest rate and minimum payment rate per month (usually about 2% of the balance).

Second causes are having a poor money management. Holders might have debt with the card issuer which is over their ability to pay. A monthly spending is essential to acknowledge holders where the money is going. They may be spending some unnecessarily money each month and end up having to charge purchases on which should have spent that money.

Beside this, saving too little or not at all also is one of the causes of credit card. The simplest way to avoid unwanted debt is to prepare for unexpected expenditure by saving three to six months of living expenses. With saving, job layoff, illness and so on will not cause immediate financial strain and increase of debt.

Prevention

The prevention for credit card debt is establishing a budget and follows that budget. For instance, don’t be tempted to charge plasma TV to credit card when haven’t budgeted for it this months.

Carry a credit card balance for no longer than six months. This is due to simple interest can produce a very expensive balance to pay off. It is help credit card balance getting more.

Beside apply a credit card, when you credit card interest rate is excessive try to get a low interest credit card. The better the credit card, the lower the rate for which you will qualify.

Application of Pre-paid Cash Card for consumers

What is a pre-paid card? Actually, pre-paid card is like a credit or debit card. The pre-paid cash card is a card that you can use to make purchases by just swap the card on the counter.

Since it is a prepaid card, you need to put money on the card which you can reload at the retail location where you pruchared the card or directly deposit of your checks. Besides, some of the pre-paid cash card can do over the phone or online before you using the card to do any purchases. You can continually put money onto the card if you want to, but you cannot spend more than the balance you have left.

Pre-paid cash cards provide a lot of benefits to the consumers. Pre-paid cash cards applications are best used by consumers who have a poor credit record or by young children. This is because, if the consumer has a poor credit record, the consumer may not be eligible for a credit card, as the credit card companies will not want to take the risk on lending money.

As for younger people, parents can get their kids used to using financial products by getting them pre-paid cash cards and putting money on it, however only in a small increment, which allows them to manage their money and use a cash card from a young age with no danger of getting into debt as you are not allowed to spend more than the balance you have on the card.

Besides that, by using pre-paid cash card consumers can bring less cash to shopping. With this, they no need to worry that the cash being stole by others. With pre-paid cash cards, you are protected from unauthorized transaction if the card is lost or stolen. Furthermore, the cards can be replaced if lost or stolen.


There are few example of the pre-paid cash card, such as, Touch n Go which normally use in major public transports, highways and selected parking sites in Malaysia. EZ-Link cards are another example which is used in Singapore. Another example is Octopus card that used in Hong Kong. It like Touch n Go card, however it can be used in more area compared to Touch n Go. So, most of the Hong Kong person are using this card because it very convenience.

Electronic Currency - Beenz.com

Electronic currency also known as electronic money which refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically. Typically, this involves use of computer networks, internet and digital stored value system

Beenz.com was a web site that allowed consumers to earn beenz, a type of online currency, for performing activities such as visiting a Web site, shopping online, or logging on through an Internet service provider. The beenz e-currency could then be spent online with participating Web merchants around the world. Beenz.com, originally founded in 1998, will close offices in Europe and Asia, but will keep its New York offices open in order to manage the sale of its assets.At the height of its operations in 2000, Beenz employed 265 in offices worldwide.

There are some hints over beenz will not stay long as two of the company's top executives - CEO Charles Cohen and president Don Maguire quit their post and joint venture operations in Japan, China, Korea and Italy were shuttered.

When beenz is closing down, the company is giving its customers a 10-day notice. The Beenz.com home page says that any beenz remaining in a member's account after 12:01 am (EST) on August 26th will be invalidated and the member will not be entitled to any compensation of the invalidated beenz.

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers’ adoption strategies.

One of the few mobile payment systems in Malaysia is from the collaboration of Nokia and Visa whom jointly released the world's first credit card payment pilot system in Malaysia, allowing consumers to shop and pay using their mobile phones. It builds on the Visa Wave smart card technology that uses radio frequencies to eliminate the need to swipe credit card into a reader. Customers wave cards or phones in front of the reader to make payments. Prototype phone to be used in the Visa pilot project is embedded with a chip using the latest cryptography, security and smart card technologies, making it highly secure and difficult to counterfeit.


Besides that there is a mobile payment system that from Malaysia for Malaysians, namely Mobile Money. Mobile Money provides merchants and consumers with mobile payment and mobile commerce platform. It has a lot of product and services, for example paying bills, topping up a whole range of prepaid, and shopping with your mobile phone. MM Mobile Payment platform allows everyone to pay anyone, at anytime from anywhere with just one SMS. It also allows one to receive money from anyone, from anywhere, at anytime.
In order for these mobile payment systems to be successful, consumers need to be exposed to the benefits of using such services. For example the benefits of not carrying cash around anymore if the consumers practice such systems. Besides that, advertising should be more extensive in order to introduce these systems to more people. Mobile payment system has great potential for growth as it will eliminates the use for cash or reduce the use of cash in the future.