Are credit cards a scam?

 Posted on August 07, 2020 in Bankruptcy

When you start having issues with credit card debt, they can start to feel like a scam. Say you can't afford to pay off the entire balance. The fees are large enough that just paying them off is all you can manage the next month. This process repeats itself over and over until you realize that you've been paying for months without actually making any headway.

Certainly, there are credit card scams. People may try to give you fraudulent cards, they may steal your identity, or they may sign up for cards in your name. These scams do exist and you need to know what to watch out for.

On the whole, though, the idea of credit cards is not a scam in and of itself. In the example above, you're just experiencing the strict penalties that go along with failing to pay the minimum balance. That's not a scam, as you were told how it worked at the beginning.

What it is, though, is a financial situation that is designed to make money for the credit card companies. They charge you hefty fees and interest rates because it's profitable. It's not set up to make it easy to get out of debt. If you're just treading water, that's good for the credit card company. They're making money off of all those fees and interest payments, even if you're not actively using the card anymore because you can't afford it.

Financial issues like this get very complicated, and it may become clear that you need another solution. Are you thinking about bankruptcy? You need to know what options you have.