Credit cards are just so convenient.
I remembered when I had my first credit card. I thought I already know how to handle my money back then. I know using my new MasterCard means that I'm going to incur loans that have a very high interest rate. I'm not sure what interest rate my card has; I never bothered checking. I just know that it is high and I resolved to myself that I will only use it for emergencies.
I guess I made three fatal mistakes in what I mentioned above about my first credit card. The first one is that I assumed that I already know everything on how to handle my money. Maybe, getting a credit card is a mistake in itself. Take note that I live in the Philippines, a country wherein most payments are still done with cash, even though credit card use has increased over the years. You can still get around with little money without these cards to back you up.
Bottom line, I was naïve. I still don't know much about handling money back then. That's because the first time I used my new MasterCard, I immediately experienced its convenience. I used it in many ways after that, and to make the long story short, I accumulated a lot of debt stemming from just that first use.
My second mistake is that I know very little and I settled knowing too little about these plastic cards. As I said, I never bothered looking at how large an interest rate I will need to pay. As soon as I incurred debt, I looked at my monthly account statements and realized that I can't pay all of my debt in one sitting. I had to make minimum payments for a few months and realized as well that this is another big mistake, since my card bill amount doesn't seem to get any lower from the previous month.
As it seems, I'm only paying the interest of my total debt every month, therefore trapping me in an endless cycle of paying debt. And that is another sign of knowing too little in finances.
I remembered when I had my first credit card. I thought I already know how to handle my money back then. I know using my new MasterCard means that I'm going to incur loans that have a very high interest rate. I'm not sure what interest rate my card has; I never bothered checking. I just know that it is high and I resolved to myself that I will only use it for emergencies.
I guess I made three fatal mistakes in what I mentioned above about my first credit card. The first one is that I assumed that I already know everything on how to handle my money. Maybe, getting a credit card is a mistake in itself. Take note that I live in the Philippines, a country wherein most payments are still done with cash, even though credit card use has increased over the years. You can still get around with little money without these cards to back you up.
Bottom line, I was naïve. I still don't know much about handling money back then. That's because the first time I used my new MasterCard, I immediately experienced its convenience. I used it in many ways after that, and to make the long story short, I accumulated a lot of debt stemming from just that first use.
My second mistake is that I know very little and I settled knowing too little about these plastic cards. As I said, I never bothered looking at how large an interest rate I will need to pay. As soon as I incurred debt, I looked at my monthly account statements and realized that I can't pay all of my debt in one sitting. I had to make minimum payments for a few months and realized as well that this is another big mistake, since my card bill amount doesn't seem to get any lower from the previous month.
As it seems, I'm only paying the interest of my total debt every month, therefore trapping me in an endless cycle of paying debt. And that is another sign of knowing too little in finances.
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