By now all of us should be aware of the danger of credit cards.  Here in South Africa they seem to be made easily available by various store groups, such as Edgars, Truworths and Woolworths.  There seems to be no check on the cumulative exposure that customers may have and the temptation to use the credit facility seems overwhelming.  One can only assume that the store groups make suitable provision in their accounts for bad debts.  However, I don’t care about store groups, I care about the customers.  It was Oscar Wilde who wrote “I can resist everything except temptation”.  This may have been all very well in one of his plays but it is certainly not at all well for the average man in the street who does not earn enough to cope with one credit card facility, let alone several.

Now we have what purports to be a credit card issued by Investec Bank.  But it is not a credit card at all.  It’s a debit card.  I use it and the expense immediately appears in my bank account.  I am not building any liability beyond my overdraft facility and that cannot be exceeded as I have discovered on several occasions, invariably due to my carelessness.  I am also aware of the amount of debt which has been accumulated worldwide, reaching extraordinarily high proportions.  My conclusion is that credit cards are dangerous.