In all sincerity, my knowledge of the workings of credit cards is quite minimal.
Reason being that, over here in my country, we pay for services in cash or using our debit cards. The use of debit cards exceeds that of credit cards. I am a little certain that lots of people here have little to no idea of credit cards and its operation.
From findings, and after I asked a cousin who used to work at a bank, she mentioned that only a small fraction of the Nigerian population which she doesn't assume to be up to 2% are credit card users. And even then, they're mostly those with huge financial strength and the higher-ups.
She mentioned though, that with her card, even if she spends everything in her account, she can still withdraw. That's the credit card fashion. But this time, I think i was strictly for the bank officials and would be withdrawn once they no longer work at the job. Not for the general public.
The debit card which looks like the credit card too functions in such a way that you can only get money from it if you've deposited into your accounts. You only can access money that you have saved.
Credit cards on the other hand allow you spend money that isn't yours. A sort of loan, only am not certain if collateral is needed. You can spend just as you please but I assume there's a limit, maybe depending on ones job and financial placement in the society, and you get to pay back as stipulated by the financial institution.
I believe that some of the reasons why credit cards aren't very common around here are because of the risks involved.
There are loan sharks and institutions out there that give out money to be paid back in interest. In the past few years, there's been numerous complaints about many persons refusing to pay. They take the loans but evade offsetting their debts. With that level of irresponsibility being portrayed, financial institutions as banks will not want to give out credit cards.
There's also the issue of fraud. Should a person's credit card go missing or get stolen, chances are that the thief would take advantage to get out some huge amount which would spell trouble for the card owner.
Even if people are enlightened better of the usefulness of credit cards, not many would sign up for it. First, for fear of the interests attached. But it can be really useful especially in cases of emergency. Second for fear of overspending and consequently running into huge debts. Right now though, the debit card works fine.
Since I've never used a credit card, I can't tell how good the incentives are but I trust these financial institutions to always have attractive offers for users. Very juicy ones. Meanwhile, there are only few institutes that offer credit card service(I did my research).
So, finally, here is my response to this week's #earnspendgive community prompt topic as given by .
Thanks for stopping by.
SOKA🖤