【L1】 【L6】

Good morning, everyone. First about your second assignment. I’d like to remind you that your second assignment should be in by next Friday. You can either put it in my pigeon hole or leave it with the department secretary. Now, let’s get down to the lecture.
    Today the lecture is on credit or, to be more specific, on credit cards. I’m sure you must have heard of some credit cards like the Visa Card, which is an internationally used card or the Great Wall Card issued by the Bank of China. In order to give a better understanding we’ll discuss it in some detail. Many businesses, such as department stores, restaurants,
hotels and airline companies use a credit system for selling their products and services. In a credit system the seller agrees to sell something to the buyer without immediately receiving cash. He receives the goods or services immediately and promises to pay for them later. This buy-now-pay-later credit system is quite old. There are two types of credit cards. One type is issued directly by a store to a customer. Many large department stores issue credit cards to their customers. The store credit card can be used to make purchases only at a particular store. For example, if you have a credit card from Store A, then you can only buy things in that store. Other stores would not accept it. The other kind of credit cards is issued by a credit company. Credit cards from credit companies can be used to buy things almost anywhere. If you have a major credit card, you can buy air plane tickets, stay in hotels and eat in restaurants with it. Most large credit companies are connected to large banks. So if you want a credit card from a credit company, you generally have to make an application at a bank. After an applicant receives a credit card, he or she can make purchases using the card. The credit company sends the customer a statement of purchases at the end of each month. Generally the customer has to pay 25 to 50 percent of his credit bill every month. The customer pays directly to the credit company and the credit company pays to the store or hotel or restaurant.
    There are some advantages and some disadvantages of using credit cards. The biggest advantage for the consumer is expressed by the phrase "Buy now, pay later". This means that the consumer can purchase what he wants when he wants it. There is no need to save up money in advance. Another advantage of having a credit card is that it protects the owner. If a credit card is lost or stolen, the owner only has to call the credit company, and the credit company will stop the credit card number. No one else can use it. So the owner doesn’t have to worry about losing the card.
    Another advantage of the credit card system is that the consumer receives a record of his or her purchases. Every month the credit customer receives a bill. The bill has a list of all purchases from that month. This makes it easier to remember when and where purchases are made. And another advantage is that credit cards can be used when something unexpected happens. Many kinds of professional people—plumbers, taxi drivers, doctors and dentists will accept credit cards in an emergency. This is very important if you don’t have any cash with you.
    However, having said all that, using credit cards has one major disadvantage, that is, consumers tend to overspend their money. They spend more than they make. If a consumer buys a lot of things on credit, he or she has to make large payments each month. Sometimes it becomes impossible to keep up with the payments. As a result, the consumer’s life becomes more and more difficult. If the consumer cannot make the payments, his card will be taken away. It will be very difficult for him to get another credit card in the future.
    To sum up briefly, we can see a credit buying system has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand it gives people convenience in life and on the other it tends to encourage overspending.