Richard O. Jones

Today credit card companies have setup a system where credit cards are a necessity rather you want one or not in order to be accepted as a human being worthy of trust. Credit card companies favor the poor and college students with the plastic prestige. It decreases the principle of delayed gratification and increases the temptation of instant gratification. An economical person who believes in saving and only buying items in which he or she can afford is no longer worthy of trust.

Every time I turn around these days some robotically desensitized clerk is asking to see my credit card and two pieces of ID. Unless I comply with the policy, I'm not qualified to rent the carpet shampooer, video, or DVD.  Why should renting petty items, which are being paid with cash, become a credit card matter? Merchants are forcing people to produce credit cards for business transactions that have absolutely nothing to do with credit. For instance, I stopped into a local gym and asked an employee the cost of using the facilities a couple times per week. "Fifteen dollars per month," he replied, "and you must be a member. To join you must show two pieces of ID and a major credit card." I just turned and walked away wondering, "Why do I need two pieces of ID and a major credit card to lift weights that I'm not even taking home? Why can't I just pay as I go?" The reason is because with a contact they can ruin my cherished credit if I don't continue for a year or whatever their contract demands. Even returning a book late to the library can ruin your vital credit.

Just to carry one credit card could easily cost the cardholder a monthly fee whether the card is used or not. Then to use the card, even an ATM card, the cardholder pays an additional service fee in most places. God forbid if you happen to make a major purchase and pay it off with the minimum monthly payments.  By the time you finish paying for a $400 TV set, you've spent nearly twice that much with interest fees. I think there should be a law that no person should insist that you own a credit card or show him or her your credit card unless you are applying for credit. Credit coercion has reduced society to a totally impersonal world. There are too many scams in circulation today and the unnecessary exposure of your credit card is an inroad to your private financial life. Besides what idiot started the rumor that everyone with a credit card was honorable and those without one were dishonorable?